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Nokia becoming the next Samsung from its new Vietnamese manufacturing base?
Update: Microsoft renames Nokia Vietnam Company [News VietNamNet, Dec 20, 2014]: Nokia (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company was renamed Microsoft Mobile (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company, according to an official decision of Microsoft Vietnam released on December 18.
Microsoft had earlier changed the name of the Nokia Lumia cell phone line to Microsoft Lumia. The first mobile phone line with the Microsoft brand was sold at the end of November. However, Microsoft and its retail stores will continue to sell old phone lines with the Nokia Lumia brand.
Nokia officially inaugurated its factory in the northern province of Bac Ninh in October 2013. Since Microsoft’s takeover in April, Nokia has produced nearly 74 million mobile phones by the end of November.
The factory is considered to be Microsoft’s main global supplier after the American software giant transferred its smartphone production lines from China and Mexico to Viet Nam in August 2014.
Microsoft Mobile Vietnam has exported more than five million Lumia mobile phones to the rest of the world thus far. The factory currently has more than 10,000 employees, which include highly skilled engineers.
Samsung has been the pioneer of exploitation of much cheaper manufacturing opportunity in Vietnam. While its production capacity in 2009 was 1.5 million units per month there (from October), it increased to 6 million per month by the end of 2010. Now it is standing at 20 million per month with total of 240 million this year out of the planned total of 510 million.
Relative to that Nokia’s new plant was launched with 5 million units per month capacity for 2013 which could be raised to 15 million units per month by the end of 2014 as the earliest, or by the end of 2018 as the latest.
After loosing the overall phone marketshare this year to Samsung it is now Nokia’s turn to play the catch-up game in manufacturing efficiency and economy like Samsung was launching a similar game against Nokia in 2010. To understand Nokia’s opportunities in this regard one must understand the circumstances which I will explain via the headlines of collected publications you can read further on in detail:
– “Nokia will be merged into another company, 40 per cent probability”[Ilta-Sanomat, June 20, 2013]
– First Nokia exports dial in a new manufacturing era [Vietnam Investment Review, June 10, 2013]
– Nokia’s Vietnam factory opens in Hanoi City [VMPoweruser, April 17, 2013]
– Nokia – Samsung the battle of the two tigers [News VietNamNet, May 18, 2013]
– Unboxing the cheapest Nokia phone manufacturered in Vietnam [Vietnam News World Vietbao.vn, June 21, 2013]
– Samsung Secures Tax Breaks for Vietnam Handset Factory [cellular-news, June 20, 2013]
– Work begins on Samsung’s largest cell phone factory [VietNam News, March 26, 2013]
– Samsung aims to sell 510 million phones [The Korea Times, Dec 23, 2012]
– Samsung Vietnam SEV-Project [SAMOO Architects & ENGINEERS, 2011]
– Samsung Boosting Handset Output in China to Beat Nokia [The Korea Times, March 22, 2010]
– Dial Vietnam For Cheap Labor [The Nikkei Asian Review June 12 edition, 2013]
– Why Vietnam is the new China for the global electronics giants[whathifi.com, Feb 19, 2013]
Let’s start with the news that “Nokia will be merged into another company, 40 per cent probability” [Ilta-Sanomat, June 20, 2013] as translated by Google and Bing with manual edits
Nokia is combined with another company 40 percent chance in the next two years, estimates research firm Strategy Analytics.
Rumors of Nokia’s sales to another company have been moving for a few years already. According to research firm Strategy Analytics, the probability of combining Nokia with another company in the next two years is 40 per cent.
– Nokia has an impressive distribution network and an extensive patent portfolio, which many companies would benefit from, according to [Strategy Analytics] director Neil Mawston assessment.
Mawston says Samsung, LG, Huawei, Microsoft, Google and Cisco, for example, could afford to buy Nokia, and they also benefit from the sales of the company.
Nokia this week contacted Huawei and Microsoft. On Tuesday, the newspaper Financial Times reported that Huawei would be considering the purchase of Nokia. However, the company denied the allegations later, according to the news agency Reuters.
– I think it is very unlikely that Huawei would be acquiring Nokia at the moment, estimates Director Ben Wood of CCS Insight research company.
According to him, Huawei might be interested in the future in some of Nokia’s operations, if Nokia’s business deteriorate dramatically. In addition, he believes that the Chinese manufacturer would have major legal obstacles if it is going to buy a Nokia.
On Thursday, in turn, the newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported that Nokia and Microsoft negotiated in mid-June, the company store, where Microsoft would buy Nokia’s mobile phone business.
According to the newspaper the sales of the company got bogged down due to the weak market outlook for Nokia, among other things.
We have to have in our mind the other news that First Nokia exports dial in a new manufacturing era [Vietnam Investment Review, June 10, 2013]
Nokia has exported the first volume of made-in-Vietnam mobile phones, as the Finnish company plans to expand its investment and operations in Vietnam.
Ivan Herd, general director of Nokia (Vietnam) LLC, told VIR that the handset maker has started production at its $302 million factory in Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park in Bac Ninh province, about 20 kilometres from Hanoi, after one year of construction.
Although some of the factory’s facilities remain at construction process and the factory is expected to be launched sometimes in August or September, Herd said “we hope Nokia Vietnam would become one of the largest factories of Nokia in the world”, implying a possibility to further expand investment in Vietnam. He declined to give further details.
Near the factory, Nokia’s rival – Samsung Electronics – has been aggressively expanding its mobile phone manufacturing, raising total investment from $670 million to $1.5 billion. The South Korean firm is also turning Vietnam into one of its biggest manufacturing hubs in the world, starting construction on another $2 billion manufacturing complex in Thai Nguyen province in March.
The first shipment from Nokia factory marks a milestone as for the first time a Nokia handset made in Vietnam has been exported globally.
“We will start with our Nokia 105, and as our capabilities improve, we will move on to other more difficult products,” said Herd.
“Our factory in Vietnam will be part of the global supply network so the expectation is that a maximum 5 per cent of our products will be exported to domestic market,” he said.
Nokia received investment certificate for this factory in late 2011 and the new factory is expected to attract more electronic component suppliers to Vietnam.
So far, Nokia has recruited over 300 employees for this factory. “By the end this year, our employee number will be thousands,” said Herd.
“Nokia does not focus on one cost element but total supply chain costs, infrastructure, our extended supply chain and customer locations. These are the main reasons we moved to Vietnam,” he said.
In the very first news about Nokia’s Vietnam factory opens in Hanoi City [VMPoweruser, April 17, 2013] we had more information as well:
Nokia Vietnam has indicated that their new Hanoi City factory, which broke ground last year, is now up and running, posting pictures of the facility and staff on their Facebook page.
The factory is located in the Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) in Bac Ninh, a province in the north of the country, and may employ up to 10,000 workers by 2014, churning out 45 million handsets per quarter [180 million yearly].
The handsets are predominately expected to be low-end, but hopefully it will increase Nokia’s capacity overall, and help eliminate those annoying supply issues which has dogged Nokia’s popular Windows Phone smartphones recently
Later the Vietnamese were assessing Nokia – Samsung the battle of the two tigers [News VietNamNet, May 18, 2013] as follows:
VietNamNet Bridge – Finnish Nokia still holds the biggest mobile phone market share in Vietnam. However, its Number 1 position has been shaken with the rise of Samsung.
Nokia plans to put the factory in the Vietnam – Singapore Industrial Zone in Bac Ninh province into operation in June 2013, when it would churn out 30 million products. The productivity would increase gradually to 180 million products by 2018.
Of the total investment capital of $302 million, $67 million would be disbursed in 2013, while the figure would be $100 million in 2014 and $102 million in 2015.
In order to attract Nokia to Vietnam, the country has to offer a lot of investment incentives, including the preferential corporate income tax of 10 percent for the first 15 years of the production, and the corporate income tax exemption for the first 4 years and the 50 percent tax reduction in the next 9 years.
With the investment capital of over $300 million in total, Nokia is hoped to generate 10,000 workers.
The fact that Nokia has closed down some of its factories in the world, but sets up a new factory in Vietnam can show the attractiveness of the Vietnamese market. This might also be the reason for Samsung to develop its projects in Vietnam.
According to GFK, a market survey firm, Nokia held 54 percent of the market share in 2011 and 56 percent in 2012. However, if considering the value, the giant has made a step back with the market value decreasing from 52.6 percent in 2011 to 45 percent in 2012.
The decline of Nokia has brought the golden opportunities to other manufacturers, including Samsung, to arise.
In 2011, Samsung only accounted for 15 percent of the total mobile phone products consumed in the market. The figure rose to 23 percent in 2012. However, if considering the value, Samsung’s share market increase is sharper, from 17.8 percent to 30.6 percent.
Especially, in the last months of 2012, Samsung, while accounting for 21 percent of the market share only, had its products’ value accounting for 34 percent of the total market value.
It seems that Samsung has left the popular mobile phone market segment opened, while concentrating on smart phones. The popular mobile market segment is believed to be less profitable than the smart phone segment. The South Korean manufacturer targets the high income earners who like using fashionable products.
Also according to GFK, in terms of quantity, in the popular mobile phone market, Nokia’s market share increased from 55.9 percent in 2011 to 65.5 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, Samsung’s has been hovering around 15.1-15.3 percent.
In the smart phone market segment, Samsung’s market share has been expanding steadily from 22.7 percent in 2011 to 46 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, Nokia’s decreased sharply from 46.6 percent in 2011 to 24.2 percent in 2012.
The fact that PSD, which was a distributor of Nokia’s products in Vietnam with 45 percent of market share, said goodbye to Nokia and joined hands with Samsung after that, is an evidence showing that it’s very difficult to obtain the market, but it’s even more difficult to retain it.
PSD began distributing Nokia’s products in mid 2007, when there were three other Nokia product distributors already, including FPT.
In 2009, the amount of Nokia phones distributed by PSD and FPT was equal. Both of them distributed the number of products accounting for 95 percent of the total Nokia’s products sold in Vietnam.
As such, the parting of PSD would be the bad news for Nokia when implementing its business plans in the Vietnamese market.
NCDT
And lately we had the first product review in Unboxing the cheapest Nokia phone manufactured in Vietnam [Vietnam News World Vietbao.vn, June 21, 2013] as translated by Google
Cheap phone Nokia 105 were present at the shelves nationwide priced at 450,000 [$21.4]. This is the first phone to be manufactured in the factory of Nokia Vietnam Bac Ninh.
Boxes for Nokia 105 – Nokia’s first phone manufactured in Vietnam.
Right on the box of the product, you will easily see the words: “the first Nokia phone made in Vietnam”. We can say that this product line is the first important step of the Nokia factory Vietnam to continue rolling out other products in the future, ensuring good price, suitable for Vietnamese consumers .
Nokia 105 has candybar design with a lightweight of 70 grams, but the machine is quite thick with dimensions of 14.3 mm. The cover of the Nokia 105 good plastic material used to manufacture, ensuring that the machine works well when accidentally falling or collision.
Nokia equip 1.45 inch color display with resolution of 128 x 128 pixels and supports 65,000 colors. Capacity 800 mAh battery provides talk time up to 12 hours and 30 minutes. At the same time, the machine also supports the practical functionality for everyday life, like the popular phones like its previous FM Radio and flashlight.
Currently Nokia 105 to be sold at the price of 450,000 Vietnam dong [$21.4].
Nokia 105 comes just charger.
Front with 1.45 inch color screen and buttons with rubber material.
It has a thickness of 14.3 mm.
The back break with the Nokia logo.
Nokia 105 integrated flashlight as the phone lines of its previous high.
Bottom edge is a microphone.
SIM slot.
Screen interface.
Menu interface.
Playing games on the Nokia 105.
Vietbao.vn (According Zing News)
At the same time we had the news that Samsung Secures Tax Breaks for Vietnam Handset Factory [cellular-news, June 20, 2013] which is showing quite well how Samsung has about 3 years of advantage in terms of exploiting the Vietnamese manufacturing capability:
Samsung Electronics has secured a range of tax breaks for its new factories being constructed in Northern Vietnam.
The company’s US$2 billion cellphone and tablet assembly plant won’t have to pay tax for the first four years of operation and will get a 50 percent break for the next 12 years.
The company also plans three more factories, including a US$1.2 billion investment in a semiconductor facility and each of those will see their land rent reduced by half.
The four factories are based in the Yen Binh Industrial Zone in Pho Yen District, and the first — the handset factory is due to start production by the end of this year.
Samsung’s exports from Vietnam last year were worth $12.7 billion, more than 11 percent of the country’s total exports — although it also imported around US$11.3 billion of components. The company employs around 24,000 staff in the country.
Vietnam is increasingly seen as an alternative to China, where rising wages along the coastal regions and increased international pressure on workers conditions are making the area less appealing for future investment.
And Work begins on Samsung’s largest cell phone factory [VietNam News, March 26, 2013]
THAI NGUYEN (VNS)— Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung yesterday applauded Samsung’s decision to expand operations in Viet Nam, adding that it would contribute to the strategic partnership between Viet Nam and South Korea.
He was attending the Samsung Group’s ground-breaking event for the construction of a US$3.2 billion high-tech complex in the northern province of Thai Nguyen.
The complex, which will house Samsung’s largest mobile phone factory, is expected to provide jobs for thousands of local people.
It will also contribute tens of billions of US dollars to the country’s annual export turnover, while boosting the development of the electronics support industry in the northern region of Viet Nam.
Dung spoke highly of South Korean businesses’ operation in Viet Nam and pledged to create favourable conditions for them and other foreign businesses to do business in the country on the basis of friendship, co-operation and equality.
The same day, the Prime Minister held a working session with provincial leaders where he urged Thai Nguyen Province to use its potential and advantages in agro-forestry and industry.
Dung affirmed the Government’s policy of creating the best possible conditions for Thai Nguyen to develop into an economic, political, cultural and educational centre in the northern midland and mountainous region.
On the province’s famous tea trees, the leader said Thai Nguyen should develop industrial-scale processing for the product, which was key for the locality’s poverty reduction.
He also urged Thai Nguyen to improve the investment environment, reforming administrative procedures and attracting high-tech projects.
Last year, the province recorded an economic growth of 7.2 per cent, generated jobs for 22,600 people and reduced the percentage of poor households by 2.93 per cent.
Particularly, tea trees have been a lifeline for poor families in the province with the crop growing on a total area of 18,500 hectares. — VNS
Samsung aims to sell 510 million phones [The Korea Times, Dec 23, 2012]
GUMI, North Gyeongsang Province – Samsung Electronics, one half of the global duopoly on smartphones, claims 2013 will be the year when it separates itself from bitter rival Apple.
The Korean technology giant is the world’s largest maker of mobile phones and aims to ship a record 510 million handsets next year.
That would be a 20 percent increase from the estimated 420 million devices this year, according to sources from the company and its suppliers. It shipped around 288 million handsets through the first nine months of the year and is expecting a global Christmas bump.
”Of the 510 million handsets it plans to sell, 390 million are slated as smartphones and 120 million, feature and budget phones,’’ according to an executive from one of Samsung’s key suppliers.
Aside of its Galaxy smartphones and tablets, which have emerged as the main competitors to Apple’s iPhones and iPads, Samsung is planning to release a lineup of devices powered by Microsoft’s Windows 8 mobile operating system. It will also push products that support TIZEN software, which Samsung jointly developed with semiconductor rival Intel.
”There are some possibilities that smartphone demand will slow in general. But we are seeing new demand for devices using Long Term Evolution (LTE),’’ said Kim Hyun-joon, an executive at Samsung’s telecommunications division.
Another source said that Samsung expects to manufacture 240 million devices at its Vietnamese factory, 170 million in China and 20 million in India to complement the 40 million to be produced in its Korean factory in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province.
In order to effectively save costs on manufacturing, logistics and delivery time, Samsung will spend $2.2 billion on its handset factories in the Vietnamese towns of Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen by 2020 to boost output.
”By offering better pricing to consumers in developing nations, we will find new growth. This will also enable consumers in developed nations like North America and Europe to buy our LTE devices at more affordable prices,’’ said a Samsung official.
The plan contrasts a previous outlook by leading market researcher Gartner, that predicted the Korean firm to sell between 250 million and 300 million smartphones next year. In 2011, Samsung sold 97.4 million smartphones, up from 23.9 million and 0.6 million in 2010 and 2009, respectively.
Analysis from HIS iSuppli, another research firm, noted that Samsung is set to seize the global mobile handset market’s top ranking this year, ending the 14-year reign of Nokia.
The report projects Samsung will account for 29 percent of worldwide mobile shipments, up from 24 percent in 2011, while Nokia’s share will drop to 24 percent, down from 30 percent last year.
”Samsung’s proven ability to quickly produce and replace a wide range of handsets aimed at several different markets contrasts with Nokia’s struggles and Apple’s difficulties that are mainly related to parts sourcing problems,’’ said Hwang Min-seong, an analyst at Samsung Securities.
Hwang expects Samsung’s handset division to raise its profit to 21 trillion won [$18.16B] next year from an expected 19 trillion [$16.43B] won this year.
Samsung Vietnam SEV-Project [SAMOO Architects & ENGINEERS, 2011]
Location- Hanoi, Vietnam
- Program
- Industrial
- Area
- 80,727㎡
- Floors
- 2 Stories
- Year
- 2011
This was started 3 years ago with the declaration that Samsung Boosting Handset Output in China to Beat Nokia [The Korea Times, March 22, 2010]
Samsung Electronics plans to produce over half of its mobile handsets at its three Chinese facilities this year.
For better logistics and labor costs, the world’s second-biggest manufacturer of mobile phones is giving more responsibility to its Chinese affiliates, while the company is leaning toward high-end and pricy phones for its local line, officials told The Korea Times Monday.
According to Samsung and industry officials, it has been set to make over 210 million units or some 80 percent of the total outside South Korea in 2010.
Shin Jong-kyun, president of Samsung’s telecommunication division, which is in charge of mobile phones, earlier said the company will sell a maximum 270 million handsets including 18 million smartphones by the end of this year.
Samsung’s factory in Huizhou, China, is expected to produce 72.9 million units (27 percent), while another China-based factory in Tianjin will manufacture 70.2 million (26 percent).
The other Chinese facility in Shenzhen will produce some 7 million handsets, the officials said.
A plant in Vietnam will handle 37.8 million units (14 percent), while 59.4 million (22 percent) will be produced from the local line in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. Lines in Brazil and India will produce 19 million and 10 million, respectively.
Over the past five years, the proportion of Samsung’s mobile handset output that has been manufactured overseas has risen dramatically.
The consumer electronics giant is seeking to cut costs and use these savings to invest in the development of new technologies such as touch-screens and powerful mobile software used to drive the devices’ operating systems.
It can be used to compete with other international brands such as Nokia, Apple of the United States and Research In Motion (RIM) in Canada.
Samsung’s proportion of overseas mobile phone production is forecast to reach a record 78 percent throughout this year. The proportion has steadily risen from 25 percent in 2005 to over 70 percent in 2009, they said.
“The biggest change was that Samsung has given more production authority to its Huizhou affiliate. Better cost cuts in logistics and labor had been the top considerations,” a high-ranking industry official said.
Samsung Goes South
Samsung Electronics has lowered its portion of mobile phone production in Tianjin to 26 percent from last year’s 33.5 percent. In contrast, the company raised the levels in Huizhou and Vietnam, respectively.
“Due to cost factors, Samsung’s key lines in mobile phones are going to the south. Better prices for labor and logistics mean better cost competitiveness, boosting edges in low- and mid-tier phone segments,” a Samsung official said, asking not to be identified.
Huizhou is a city located in central Guangdong Province. The city looks out to the South China Sea to the south, while the city Tianjin is near China’s capital city of Beijing.
Officials say an increased output plan at its factory in Vietnam has also been matching Samsung’s realignment moves in production.
Last October, Samsung opened a $700 million manufacturing plant in the northern province of Bac Ninh, Vietnam. It is its first foreign-owned handset factory and the 7th Samsung plant operating outside South Korea.
The factory’s estimated production capacity in 2009 was 1.5 million units per month, however, that will increase to 6 million per month by 2010, and 9 million by 2011, according to representatives.
“It’s natural to give more authority in production to regions that have competitive edges in costs as Samsung has been expanding its output in the global market,” a company spokesman said.
Its local line is handling high-end and pricey phones such as AM OLED-embedded devices. Samsung is pushing for the so-called AM OLED phones to emerging and some of developed markets.
The company has a plan to ramp up the production of AM OLED-embedded smartphones domestically, though the chief of its phone business Shin Jong-kyun declined to comment.
“By sending most of its production outside South Korea, Samsung is managing to keep costs low enough to appeal to consumers while keeping its profit margins healthy by selling premium devices in developed markets such as North America and Western Europe,” So Hyun-chul, an analyst at Shinhan Financial, said.
Nokia in its Sights?
Analysts and Samsung officials say the transitional efforts will help the handset powerhouse narrow the market gap with the Finland-based Nokia.
Last year, Nokia sold 431.8 million handsets worldwide, taking up 38.2 percent of the market share.
But this was a decrease of 1.6 percent from the previous year, according to research firms.
Samsung, however, saw a 3.3 percent increase to 20.1 percent during the same period.
“Samsung is injecting more resources for its smartphone-related sectors. But at the same time, it is concentrating on shipping more feature phones for bigger shares,” the company official added.
It lagged with its fewer smartphone offerings, but has vowed to attack the market aggressively in the U.S. and elsewhere.
Samsung is hoping to pick up smartphone market shares from faltering Motorola, but the U.S. company itself has been waging a comeback of sorts with its new Android handsets.
Unfortunately, it only has a 3 percent of share in the smartphone market, according to recent reports.
From 2005 to 2009, Samsung’s overall mobile phone shipments grew by 101 percent from 103.8 million units in 2005, according to BMI research.
The company expects to raise its global market share from 21 percent to around 23-24 percent. Meanwhile, Nokia’s market share is predicted to remain between 37 percent and 38 percent level in 2010.
Lee Seung-hyuck, an analyst at Woori Investment, expects Samsung will take up a record 21.5 percent of global shares in the first quarter of this year by shipping 63 million handsets during the January-March period.
Which was reviewed recently by eager Japanese as well in their Dial Vietnam For Cheap Labor [The Nikkei Asian Review June 12 edition, 2013] article:
HANOI, SEOUL, TOKYO — About 30 minutes from an international airport, one of the world’s largest consumer electronics makers has created a town in what is, despite its proximity to the airport, rural Vietnam. It is complete with restaurants, cafes and apartment buildings. And let us not forget the big production plant where the town’s 30,000 or so residents work.
While the Mekong River basin is becoming increasingly linked, Vietnam is also advancing on its own, taking advantage of its strategic location and Asia’s changing business conditions. The growth of manufacturing in Vietnam is illustrative of how labor costs in China, the world’s factory, are becoming too expensive for some global goliaths.
Powerhouse
The company town in the Yen Phong Industrial Zone is about half an hour from Noi Bai International Airport, and perhaps a bit closer to Hanoi, the country’s capital. On a map, the three places look like the points of a triangle. The town was built by Samsung Electronics Vietnam, a unit of South Korean powerhouse Samsung Electronics Co.
This new facility in Bac Ninh Province produces many of the company’s handheld devices, such as the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note II, around the clock. Its output came to 120 million units last year, accounting for 30% of Samsung’s worldwide handheld shipments. This year, the number is expected to climb to 240 million units, with smartphones making up much of the increase.
Heart of the action
The global smartphone market will expand to 918 million units this year, according to estimates from U.S. research firm IDC. Samsung’s Vietnamese production base will likely supply more than 20% of this volume.
This puts the Southeast Asian nation hot on the heels of the giant economy to the north, which has been responsible for roughly half the world’s smartphone output. And Vietnam is not just where the final product is being assembled; it is also becoming a hub for electronic parts makers, mostly to feed Samsung’s smartphone production.
Samsung decided to set up shop in northern Vietnam to take advantage of the region’s low labor costs as well as its proximity to South Korea, Taiwan and China, where most key smartphone and mobile phone parts are still made.
Samsung also flies in DRAM memory chips, organic electroluminescent panels and other core components from South Korea.
A facility has been set up in the town for the sole purpose of handling Samsung’s cargo. Customs procedures, X-ray inspections and other clearance steps normally carried out at airports are done right beside the factory.
It is estimated that nearly 3,000 metric tons of Samsung products are exported from Noi Bai airport every month, accounting for 40% of all cargo leaving the airport.
To handle all the Samsung shipments, Korean Air Lines Co. lands six large cargo planes a week at the airport. Asiana Airlines Inc., another South Korean carrier, comes by three times a week. A lot of the shipments stop in South Korea on their way to Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Ikebe believes that because Greater Hanoi is only 1,000km or so from China’s Guangdong Province, the entire region has the potential to develop into a single economic bloc, with specialized manufacturers operating symbiotically on both sides of the border.
Vietnam exported $12.7 billion worth of handsets and parts in 2012. That is double the previous year’s total and 11% of the country’s overall exports. Thanks to the surge, Vietnam recorded its first trade surplus in 19 years.
More coming
The country is about to become an even bigger smartphone production base. Nokia Corp. has decided to build its own plant in Bac Ninh. The world’s No. 2 cellphone maker could begin production there this summer.
For Japan’s electronic parts makers, Samsung has become a major client on par with Apple Inc. Inspired by the Korean giant’s big footprint in Vietnam, some Japanese companies are rushing to expand their own production in the country.
Meiko Electronics Co., a maker of printed-circuit boards, is expanding the capacity of its Hanoi factory. It will double the facility’s production capacity by bringing in equipment from China. And from fiscal 2014 onward, it will go on a Y4-5 billion ($39.6-49.5 million) per-year investment binge, all the money going into production equipment.
Toko Inc. is a midsize company that makes high-performance coils used in smartphone power circuits. It has been supplying Samsung and other companies from its factory in Da Nang, a port city in central Vietnam. Current production is 130 million units per month, up 10% from the end of last year.
Foster Electric Co., which makes the earphones that come with smartphones, is mechanizing the manufacturing of diaphragms at its factory in Vietnam.
And Panasonic Corp. last year set up a factory for multilayer printed-circuit boards in Vietnam. It sees potential in supplying the key part to Samsung.
Samsung has suppliers within the Samsung group for the components that go inside its smartphones. But the company is expected to buy even more parts from outside suppliers now that its smartphone sales are going ballistic.
Given that so many of today’s smartphone parts are feather light, Samsung can still make a tidy profit even if it flies in parts from makers based in Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan.
That said, if the number of smartphones produced in Vietnam continues to increase, it will be cheaper to mass-produce the parts locally. Toward that end, Vietnam’s government is already busy showing foreign parts makers around the Yen Phong Industrial Zone.
— Translated from an article by Nikkei staff writers Manabu Ito, Kentaro Ogura and Yoshio Takatsuki
The trend is obvious, but Why Vietnam is the new China for the global electronics giants [whathifi.com, Feb 19, 2013]
There’s a problem with China.
It’s not the oft-rehearsed arguments about British jobs being exported there, products bearing ‘once-great’ British names being made in Chinese factories or even whole British companies falling into Chinese hands.
No, the problem with China is that it’s getting a bit too expensive for its own good, thanks to rising standards of living, the demand for production capacity there, and the growing aspirations of Chinese workers – they’re now not just making the products we all buy, but thinking of being able to buy them, too.
And that’s leading ever more companies to look for new countries in which to manufacture, with serious investments being made in the likes of Brazil – where one company is planning five new plants – and Vietnam, the target of substantial further investment from South Korea’s two consumer electronics big-hitters, LG and Samsung.
It’s one of the clichés of the modern age: products once made by proud British craftsmen in brown shop-coats and flat caps, the stub of a pencil behind one ear and a roll-up behind the other, now being put together by slave-labour Chinese teenagers working night and day for a pittance.
The truth – as in this IAG factory where Audiolab, Quad and more are made – is often far from that myth, but the fact remains that yes, Chinese wages are still much lower than in Europe or the US, for example.
20% annual wage rises
However, they have been rising, and fast – by up to 20% a year for the past half-decade.
For example Foxconn, the Taiwan-based company that’s both one of the biggest employers in China, with a million-plus-strong workforce in its 13 factories there, and one of the best-known – due to the fact it makes iPods, iPhones and iPads alongside Kindles, Wiis and PlayStations and much more – , hiked its workers’ wages by 16-25% last year.
That was just the most recent of several wage increases on a similar scale, and such rises have led some economic forecasters to suggest that China is in great danger of pricing itself out of the market, predicting that the cost of manufacturing there could double, or even treble, by the end of this decade.
Cheaper in America?
Indeed, some commentators even suggest that if the costs of shipping, and Chinese workers’ wages, continue to rise as they have, within a few years it’s going to just as cost-effective to make products in North America as in China.
Certainly the companies once looking to China for cost-effective – oh, OK then, cheap – manufacturing are casting their net wider.
Foxconn has announced that, although it’s planning more factories in China, it’s investing almost $500m in five new plants in Brazil, creating 10,000 jobs, and three more in Malaysia, to add to other operations in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Mexico – not to mention the joint-venture Sharp LCD plants in Japan, which it now more or less runs, and which it is expected to acquire completely at some point.
And for both LG and Samsung, Vietnam seems to be the new frontier: both companies already have plants there; both are planning significant investment and expansion in the country.
LG is already manufacturing all four of its major product lines – TVs, fridges, washing machines and air conditioners – at factories in Vietnam, but is now set to invest $300m in a new plant in Haiphong, the country’s third city.
The new facility, set to be up and running by 2020, will enable LG to integrate its existing operations in the port city, east of Hanoi, and surrounding areas, enabling it to meet growing local demand as well as having capacity for exports.
It’s also considering the manufacture of mobile phones at the facility.
The plan will see production being shifted from China to the new plants, LG citing lower labour costs and the availability of skilled workers, and the company hopes it will be sweetened by Vietnamese government incentives including reduced prices for land leases and extended exemptions from corporation tax.
Not to be outdone, Samsung already has in place plans to build at least one more plant to assemble mobile phones and other hi-tech electronics in Thai Nguyen province, north of Hanoi, and possibly a third.
It already has a factory employing 24,000 and making 11m products a month in Vietnam, and expected to export goods worth $10bn this year.
Since opening that first plant (above) in 2009, it has just about doubled output each year, although some Vietnamese commentators question whether this is giving the country a mobile phone industry, or just an assembly one for foreign investors.
One expert on the country’s mobile phone industry last year bemoaned the fact that only the plastic casework for mobile phones was actually manufactured locally, and accounted for just one percent of the value of the finished product.
Samsung’s new plant in Thai Nguyen, the land lease for which was signed a couple of weeks ago, is the subject of a $700m investment, with Samsung chairman Lee Kun Hee, seen above visiting Samsung’s existing production plant in Vietnam, saying that there are plenty of further opportunities for investment in the country.
He’s probably right – after all, economic analysts are already describing Vietnam as having the potential to become the ‘new industrial factory of the world’.
The process by which recent industrialisation started in Japan, moved to South Korea, Taiwan and the like, then on to Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, and has settled for now in China. will, it seems, just keep on rolling.
Writing this piece, I couldn’t help but be reminded of a press trip to the Far East many years ago, when a number of journalists were helicoptered into a factory in Thailand – one of three we visited that day owned by a Japanese company making speaker drive units.
One of our number commented on the large number of young Thai women working on the production lines, and our host, the factory boss, explained to us that they were brought in from agricultural areas all over the country.
They’d never left their rural homes before, had taken some time to adapt to the conveniences of modern living – especially the ‘conveniences’, our Japanese host stressed – and had been specially chosen for their small nimble fingers, especially suited to handling the tiny precision components used on the lines.
‘Not to mention being very, very cheap,’ muttered one of my fellow travellers…
Written by Andrew Everard
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ARM Cortex-A12 CPU cores and Mali-T622 GPU cores with Process Optimization Packs (POPs), plus Mali-V500 video block for mid-range mobile devices of the end of 2014
in order to cover (very competitively) the hole existing in ARM-based SoCs so far:
AnandTech’s judgement about the Cortex-A12 announcement:
… The Cortex A9 is too slow to compete with the likes of Intel’s Atom and Qualcomm’s Krait 200/300 based SoCs. The Cortex A15 on the other hand outperforms both of those solutions, but at considerably higher power and die area requirements. … The Cortex A15 island in Samsung’s Exynos 5 Octa occupies 5x the die area as the A7 island, and consumes nearly 6x the power. In exchange for 5x the area and 6x the performance, the Cortex A15 offers under 4x the performance. It’s not exactly an area or power efficient solution, but a great option for anyone looking to push the performance envelope. Today, ARM is addressing that hole with the Cortex A12. …
AnandTech’s judgement about Mali-T622 and Mali-V500 announcements:
… The Mali-T622 is a 2-core implementation of the 2nd generation Mali-T600 GPU architecture that we first learned about with the 8-core T628. Each shader core features two ALUs, an LSU and a texture unit. … On the video front, the Mali-V500 video encode/decode block is a multi-core engine used for all video acceleration. The V500 allegedly supports up to 100Mbps High Profile H.264, although details are scarce on more specifics. ARM claims support for up to 120 fps 4K video decode with an 8-core V500 implementation. Mali-V500 also features a protected video path, necessary for gaining content owner support for high-bitrate/high-resolution video decode. The V500 also supports ARM’s Frame Buffer Compression (AFBC), a lossless compression algorithm that can supposedly reduce memory bandwidth traffic by up to 50%. There’s presently no frame buffer compression in Mali GPUs today, but ARM expects to eventually roll AFBC out to Mali GPUs as well.
Announcement information from ARM:
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ARM Targets 580 Million Mid-Range Mobile Devices with New Suite of IP [press release, June 3, 2013]
News Highlights:
- Faster time to market and less design risk with suite of IP including:
ARM Cortex-A12 processor, Mali-T622 GPU, Mali-V500 video solution and POP IP technology;- 580 million mid-range smartphones and tablets are forecast to be sold in 2015
- Cortex-A12 processor delivers 40 percent more performance than Cortex-A9 and brings premium features such as virtualization to the mid-range mobile device market; efficiency profile also makes it ideal for DTV and home networking;
- Cortex-A12 processor brings optimum performance and maximum efficiency of big.LITTLE processing to mid-range smartphones and tablets;
- Mali-T622 GPU offers an efficient and qualified OpenGL ES 3.0 solution and smallest Full Profile GPU Compute solution, putting even greater compute power into the hands of more mobile users;
- Mali-V500 video IP solution reduces system bandwidth and power, while enabling the protection of premium video content with TrustZone support.
The essence is that the first Cortex-A12 based SoCs are expected by mid-2014
– for mid-range devices (smartphones and tablets) in the $200 … $350 price range by late 2014 to early 2015
– with Cortex-A7/A15 architectural compatibity, thus in big.LITTLE configurations with either core, supporting 40-bit addressing (up to 1 TB) and virtualization
– plus providing the highest efficiency in pairing with Cortex-A7 core
– as the follow-up with +40% performance to the current SoCs for mid-range devices based on Cortex-A9 SoCs
The SoC ramp-up of about one year or so is compared to not less than two years ramp-up for Cortex-A9 based SoCs. This is the result of significant progress with Process Optimization Pack technology of ARM which was first time developed along with the processor and GPU cores themselves. It is available now for TSMC 28HPM process technology for lead partners. Six of them are already starting their SoC design. Moreover it will also be available at GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28-SLP HKMG process technology in Q4 2013. So it is also first time as such complete sourcing from two foundries will be available for SoC vendors so early on. GLOBALFOUNDRIES is even going to achieve up to 70 percent higher performance in comparison to a Cortex-A9 processor core using 40nm process technology. Competition between those 2 foundries will understandably be very strong as the 2015 mid-range smartphone and tablet market is expected to be not less than 580 million units.
In comparison the Cortex-A9 core was announced in October 2007 and released in 2008
– now contributes to approximately one-third of all smartphone shipments worldwide
– real development opportunities began in H2 2009 with possibility to go even against Intel Atom (source: Computex 2009 – Warren East Presentation [ARM Holdings, June 1, 2009]):
with improving Cortex-A9 performance on 45nm process achieved through:
– 56% improvement from processor and physical IP optimisations
– 44% improvement from other techniques
The first SoC products based on 45nm technology came in 2011, namely:
– NXP PNX 847x/8x/9x set-top box SoCs sampling in January 2010. However a month later the business related to these products was sold to Trident Microsystems (see the PNX8490/PNX8491 datasheet of February 2010) and as Trident had experienced continuing operating losses it filed for bankruptcy in January 2012. Its set-top box SoC business had been taken over by Entropic Communications, Inc. in April 2012. Although only the PNX8475 is currently offered by Entropic the original Cortex-A9 related SoC know-how is flourishing quite well there (see also: 1, 2, 3 and 4).
– Samsung Orion application processor, later renamed into Samsung Exynos 4210 then further into Exynos 4 Dual, announced in September 2010 for sampling in Q4 2010 and mass production in H1 2011. It first came out with the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone announced in February 2011 for May 2011 delivery. Other Samsung smartphone and tablet products then followed.
– Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 and OMAP 4440 (later renamed OMAP 4460) application processors announced in February 2009 for sampling in H2 2009 and expected production by the second half of 2010, but actually debuted a year later in February 2010 with sampling available and expected production in H2 2010. The first product based on OMAP 4430 was the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet announced in September 2010 for early 2011 availability but becoming available in June 2011 only. Smartphone products from Motorola (a lot, also a few tablets) and LG (a few) followed that, as well as a number of tablet products from Archos and most notably the Kindle Fire from Amazon, and the Nook from Barnes & Noble.
ARM is representing and projecting the evolution of the market since then as follows:
More information about that was provided in:
Cortex-A12: Diversification in the Mobile Market – Serving the Mid-Range [ARM Smart Connected Devices blog, June 3, 2013]
Mobile devices have become indispensable in North America, Europe, and much of Asia, and are becoming the primary compute platforms for people in emerging markets. We are entering a new era of computing, the post-PC era. ARM® technology has been at the heart of the mobile revolution for over twenty years and continues to be the bedrock of all innovation and change in this space.
Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are connecting billions of people. In 2013, we are expecting:
– Over 1 billion smartphones forecasted to ship*
– Smartphones for <$50 and Tablets >$800
– Tablets out-ship notebook PCsWhat becomes clear when looking at mobile devices is that we are seeing segmentation into multiple markets, which is an opportunity for growth for ARM partners:
– Premium devices: Price range > $400
– Mid-range devices: Price range between > $200 and < $350
– Entry-level devices: Price range up to $150Source: Mixture of ARM and Gartner Estimates
Premium smartphones and tablets receive a great deal of attention, but it is the entry-level and mid-range markets are expected to grow the fastest over the next years. ARM delivered the Cortex®-A7 processorin the fourth quarter of 2011, and it is now shipping in large volumes in low-cost, quad-core devices. It will be followed by the Cortex-A53 processor, which is soon to be released to lead partners. Both are high-efficiency processors, that are efficient by simple in-order eight stage pipelines which are highly efficient and tuned to deliver very good performance for their size. In the mid-range mobile device market, the industry had tremendous success with devices based on the higher-performance Cortex-A9 processor, which uses a partially out-of-order, nine stage pipeline to achieve high performance tuned to the power constraints of smartphones. The Cortex-A9 processor was released in 2008 and now contributes to approximately one-third of all smartphone shipments worldwide.
The market segmentation is driving the diversification in mobile and resulting in many different requirements needed to achieve the highest performance and lowest power within a sustained thermal envelope. These requirements make it mandatory to provide the functionality previously available only in premium devices, but within the power budgets of mid-range devices. Looking at how to serve those markets, it is clear that one size does not fit all anymore.
Today ARM is introducing the Cortex-A12 processor, the highest performance mid-range CPU that is specifically designed for the next-generation mid-range mobile market. The Cortex-A12 processor brings its own mix of high performance and energy efficiency to 2014 SoC designs: more performance than the Cortex-A9 processor with the same mobile-tuned power efficiency. The Cortex-A12 processor is designed to deliver the best mobile experience:
– Highest performance at lowest power consumption and cost
– Highest efficiency within mid-range thermal envelopes, i.e. achieve highest performance at uncompromised area
– Premium feature set in mid-range mobileThe Cortex-A12 processor is the successor to the Cortex-A9 processor and increases single-thread performance by 40 percent, while matching the best-in-class energy efficiency. Measured in 28nm, the Cortex-A12 processor is about 30 percent smaller in area compared to the Cortex-A9 processor in 40nm technology using the same configuration. Additionally, the Cortex-A12 processor brings today’s premium smartphone features into the mid-range, allowing new use cases and great mobile experiences. Some key added features include:
– big.LITTLE™ processing enables the extension of the dynamic range of the Cortex-A12 processor with the addition of the Cortex-A7 processor
– Virtualization and TrustZone® security support enabling new use cases like BYOD (bring your own device)
– 1TB addressable memory, providing close to no boundaries on memory spaceThe Cortex-A12 processor extends the performance capability in mid-range devices without sacrificing energy efficiency when combined with the Cortex-A7 processor as a big.LITTLE CPU subsystem. big.LITTLE processing provides a highly efficient, high-performance processing solution that can scale to many different use cases. The first iterations of big.LITTLE processing featured the Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7 processors for high-end solutions. Now, the Cortex-A12 processor is bringing big.LITTLE processing to increase the dynamic range of the mid-range by enabling SoC designers to push the Cortex-A12 processor further while using the Cortex-A7 processor to reduce power well below levels of the Cortex-A9 Processor. This results in an ideal combination of compute resource for efficient workload distribution, running lightweight tasks on the Cortex-A7 processor and high-performance tasks on the Cortex-A12 processor. Early results show up to 2x increased efficiency.
Even though it is designed for mid-range smartphone and tablet devices, the Cortex-A12 processor leads with an excellent efficiency profile, making it an ideal fit for other use cases like home networking, residential gateway and auto infotainment systems.
ARM has also designed the Cortex-A12 processor to work efficiently with a complimentary family of high performance, low power ARM CoreLink™ System IP components:
The system diagram shown above illustrates the system IP components that will typically support the Cortex-A12 processor in a mobile SoC. To deliver effortless 1080p30 graphics with 1080p encode/decode the system also features a Mali™-T622 GPU supporting OpenGL/ES 3.0 and a Mali-V500 video accelerator.
The CoreLink CCI-400 cache coherent interconnect provides an IO coherent channel with Mali and opens up a number of exciting possibilities for offload and acceleration of tasks. When combined with a Cortex-A7 processor (not shown) on the ACE port, CCI-400 also allows big.LITTLE operation with full L2 cache coherency between the Cortex-A12 and Cortex-A7 processors. Efficient voltage scaling and power management is enabled with the CoreLink ADB-400 enabling efficient DVFS control of the Cortex-A12 processor.
CoreLink MMU-500 provides a hardware accelerated, common memory view for all SoC components and minimizes software overhead for virtual machines to get on with other system management functions. In this system, the Cortex-A12 processor also enjoys a secure, optimized path to memory to further enhance its market-leading performance with the aid of CoreLink TZC-400 TrustZone address space controller and DMC solution. All interconnect components and the ARM DMC guarantee bandwidth and latency requirements by utilizing in-built dynamic QoS mechanisms.
ARM POP™ IP supports the physical implementation of the Cortex-A12 processor and Mali GPU to enable best power, performance, and area so critical to success in the highly competitive mid-range SoC market. ARM CoreSight™ debug and trace on-chip hardware, coupled with the ARM DS-5™ software development toolchain, enable the debug of random, time-related software bugs, and the non-intrusive analysis of critical areas of software. The ARM Development Studio 5 (DS-5TM) toolchain also makes use of performance counters embedded in the processor, graphics processor and interconnect to enable system-wide optimization.
The ARM Cortex-A12 processor is the highest-performance, mid-range CPU. It is specifically designed for the mid-range mobile market, and is broadly supported by a range of other ARM technology IP including ARM system IP, POP IP and development tools to enable ARM Powered® solutions that contribute to the very best user experience in terms of responsiveness and battery life. At the same time, it allows ARM partners to accelerate time to market for mid-range SoCs, while freeing development time to add their own differentiation. The Cortex-A12 is a highly tuned processor that will bring the performance of high-end mobile devices into mid-range smartphone and tablets, as well as into other great market opportunities we haven’t even considered.
* Source: Bank of America
Related Blogs:
ARM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES to Optimize Next-Generation ARM Mobile Processors for 28nm-SLP Process Technology [press release, June 3, 2013]
New ARM POP technology provides core-hardening acceleration for Cortex-A12 and Cortex-A7 processors
Milpitas, Calif. and Cambridge, UK, June 3, 2013 – In conjunction with the launch of the ARM® Cortex®-A12 processor, ARM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announced new power, performance and cost-optimized POP™ technology offerings for the ARM Cortex-A12 and Cortex-A7 processors for GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm-SLP High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) process technology. The Cortex-A12 processor was introduced by ARM today as part of a suite of IP targeting the rapidly growing market for mid-range mobile devices.
The companies will combine ARM’s next-generation mobile processor and POP IP with GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm-SLP HKMG process solution, enabling a new level of system performance and power efficiency with the optimum economics necessary to serve the mid-range mobile device market. The new initiative builds on the existing robust ARM Artisan® physical IP platform and POP IP for the Cortex-A9 processor already available on GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm-SLP, signifying another milestone in the multi-year collaboration between ARM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES.
Central to this increase in functionality for mid-range mobile devices is the new ARM Cortex-A12 processor. The Cortex-A12 processor provides a 40 percent performance uplift and direct upgrade path from the incredibly successful Cortex-A9 processor, while matching the energy efficiency of its predecessor. The Cortex-A12 processor provides best-in-class efficiency as a standalone solution, but additionally supports the innovative big.LITTLE™ processing technology with the Cortex-A7 processor, bringing this energy-efficient technology to the mid-range. GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm-SLP process technology and associated ARM POP IP for the Cortex-A12 processor enables up to 70 percent higher performance (measured single-thread performance) and up to 2x better power efficiency in comparison to a Cortex-A9 processor using 40nm process technology. Designers can achieve even higher performance by trading off for lower power efficiency, depending on their application needs. Click here for more information on the Cortex-A12 processor.
The newest POP technology enables customers to accelerate core-hardening of Cortex-A12 and Cortex-A7 processors on GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm-SLP HKMG process. POP IP for Cortex processors has successfully enabled ARM-based SoCs with more than 30 different licenses since being introduced over three years ago. POP IP is composed of three elements necessary to achieve an optimized ARM processor implementation: core-specific tuned Artisan physical IP logic libraries and memory instances, comprehensive benchmarking reports, and implementation knowledge that detail the methodology used to achieve the result, to enable the end customer to achieve the same implementation quickly and at low risk.
“With 580 million mid-range smartphones and tablets forecast to be sold in 2015[i], consumers are increasingly looking for the right combination of performance, low power and cost effectiveness,” said Dr. Dipesh Patel, executive vice president and general manager, Physical IP Division at ARM. “With the Cortex-A12 processor and suite of IP announced today, ARM is delivering an optimized system solution leveraging the most innovative technologies available for this market. The POP IP solution on GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm-SLP helps designers balance the performance, power and cost tradeoffs to achieve their targets for this growing market.”
GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm-SLP technology is ideally suited for the next generation of smart mobile devices, enabling designs with faster processing speeds, smaller feature sizes, lower standby power and longer battery life. The technology is based on GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ “Gate First” approach to High-K Metal Gate (HKMG), which has been in volume production for more than two years. The technology offers a combination of performance, power efficiency and cost that is ideally suited for the mid-range mobile market.
“GLOBALFOUNDRIES is committed to a deep relationship with ARM to enable best-in-class solutions for our mutual customers. Our collaboration on the ARM Cortex-A12 processor implementation is a direct result of this focus and collaboration,” said Mike Noonen, executive vice president of Marketing, Sales, Design and Quality at GLOBALFOUNDRIES.
GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ next-generation 14nm-XM FinFET technology is expected to bring another dimension of enhanced power, performance and area for ARM mobile processors. A Cortex-A9 processor implemented on 14nm-XM technology, using 9-track libraries, is projected to enable a greater than 60 percent increase in frequency at constant power, or a decrease of more than 60 percent in power consumption at constant performance, when compared to implementation on 28nm-SLP technology using 12-track libraries. Similar results are expected for Cortex-A12 processor implementations. Click here for more details on GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 14nm-XM FinFet technology.
For further discussions about GLOBALFOUNDRIES process technologies or ARM IP offerings please visit the companies’ respective exhibits at the Design Automation Conference (DAC), June 3-5, 2013 in Austin, Texas. ARM is located in booth 931, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES can be found at booth 1314.
New Nokia Asha platform for developers
This is a very throroughly designed platform with carefully defined Nokia Asha Design Guidelines providing all the details as well as a comprehensive set of tools supporting that. From Series 40 to Nokia Asha is giving advice about migrating earlier S40 and Asha apllications to the Asha platform. It is also worth to have a look at that as by doing so you can compare the new Nokia Asha with earlier Asha Full Touch and Asha Touch and Type.
Preliminary reading:
– The New Asha Range [global Nokia microsite, May 9, 2013] with separate Fastlane, Design and Browsing pages
– The Asha Apps Revolution [Nokia Conversations post, May 9, 2013]
– New Asha platform and ecosystem to deliver a breakthrough category of affordable smartphone from Nokia [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 9, 2013] my composite post of the all relevant launch information
– Nokia’s non-Windows crossroad [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 2, 2013] my composite post analyzing the technologies which are provided now with the new Asha platform
Nokia Asha — Platform overview [May 9, 2013]
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The key features of the platform are:
- Platformised in software and hardware — complementing the Nokia Asha software platform is an increased focus on platformising the phone hardware, developers will now have greater certainty that a hardware feature they want to exploit in an app will be available across the new Nokia Asha family.
- Firmware updating — smartphone users expect regular firmware update to bring new features and functions to their phones, the Nokia Asha platform has been built with this demand in mind and updates are already in development.
- User experience — a engaging, sophisticated UI, optimised for 3″ (61.0 x 45.7 mm [unlike 66.0 x 40.0 mm on the previous Asha Full Touch devices]) QVGA (240 x 320 pixels [unlike the 240 x 400 pixels on the previous Asha Full Touch devices]) displays. The UI employs a swiping style for navigation between apps and the home screen, and within the home screen. It also enables apps to use the whole screen by hiding the status and menu bars until they are swiped into view.
- More advanced, fully featured apps are easier with Java. Harness features such as 2D and 3D graphic, accelerometers, and location information among others giving you more options to deliver the quality of apps consumers expect on a smartphone.
- With web apps online, content is delivered using up to 90% less data, while offering users an interactive, engaging UI because, unlike other proxy browser system, Nokia Asha web apps can update their UI locally on the phone.
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Java highlights
- All new Oracle VM.
- JAR files up to 5Mb and up to 3Mb heap memory (recommended).
- New Asha UI for intuitive, fast interaction.
- Mobile Internationalization API (JSR-238) and new Nokia specific APIs for features such as image scaling and network state.
- Earn from you apps with paid downloads, advertising, and in-app payments.
- Updated tools, with updated emulator and WiFi based on-device debugger.
- Comprehensive documentation, training, code examples and more.
Web app highlights
- Powered by the latest Gecko rendering engine.
- Rich UIs with dynamic list and fixed and scrollable regions.
- API to build hardware back-button navigation into your app.
- Ability to capture photos and videos.
- Discovery through the Nokia Store.
- Earn from you apps with paid downloads and advertising.
- Updated tools with new simulator and code examples.
- Comprehensive documentation, training, code examples and more.
UX Overview – Nokia Asha Design Guidelines [April 17, 2013]
Nokia Asha is built around the concept of stacked layers that can be directly manipulated by the user.
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Base layout – Nokia Asha Design Guidelines [May 9, 2013]
Nokia Asha UI combines the use of the swipe gesture and back hardware key for navigation, and therefore apps have no mandatory control areas on screen. Each app view can be easily designed for its main purpose, maximising the amount of relevant content on the UI. The base layout in Nokia Asha has two main areas: status bar and content area.
In addition to using the content area for app content, apps can add optional controls, Category bar (with tabs or actions) and Header bar. When the view offers few, rarely used options only, placing them under the Options menu is possible. The Options menu is accessed by swiping from the bottom of the screen. When the Options menu is available, the screen shows an Options menu indicator at the bottom.
NOTE: When using LCDUI List, TextBox, Alert, or Form, the Header bar will be automatically added to the top of the view. When drawing on Canvas, the Header bar can be left out.
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Developing applications with Java – Nokia Asha Design Guidelines
[May 9, 2013]
Nokia Asha provides a few alternatives for developing Java applications. The following information can be used to select the best approach for designing and developing your application.
CHOOSING YOUR APPROACH
Custom UI on Canvas
Using LCDUI high-level components
Using LWUIT components
Full screen apps or apps with chrome (Status bar and Header).
Everything drawn on Canvas pixel by pixel.
Good approach for game development.
LCDUI high-level components and Nokia UI API’s are in use.
Components are styled with Asha look & feel.
Custom components can be created with CustomItem.
Offers a more comprehensive component set with many customisation options.
Components are styled with Asha look and feel, but also custom theming is easy for branded look and feel.
Custom UI on Canvas
Canvas class is the main template for customised MIDlet functions. Using Canvas, the MIDlet can use any drawing primitives provided by the LCDUI Graphics interface and can receive key events. The drawback is that the MIDlet will not be as portable as ones created using only high-level APIs.
A common example of a MIDlet that uses Canvas is a mobile game that requires pixel-accurate drawing and access to low-level keypad events. Read more information about Canvas from the Java Developer’s Library.
Using LCDUI high-level components
Limited Connected Device User Interface (LCDUI) is the base of any Graphical User Interface (GUI) created in Java™ ME (Java Platform, Micro Edition). It has a similar role to the Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT) and Swing APIs, which are used in Java SE (Java Platform, Standard Edition) and Java EE (Java Platform, Enterprise Edition), but offers a more restricted and resource-efficient approach to UI development.
LCDUI has a simple screen-based approach, where a single Displayable is always active in the display area of the application user interface. This Displayable can contain predefined screen elements, or be manipulated in more specific ways.
On a logical level, the MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile) UI is divided into two levels: high and low. In general, the choice is made between the easy, quick and portable high-level APIs and the more customisable low-level APIs.
Figure 1. LCDUI overviewRead more about the LCDUI from the Java Developer’s library.
Using LWUIT components
LWUIT (LightWeight UI Toolkit) is an open source alternative that provides a comprehensive selection of customisable UI components, layouts, and effects. Use of the ready-made Nokia Asha theme for the components is recommended, but developers can also easily create their own custom themes for branded look and feel. LWUIT is highly portable, as it scales to different screen resolutions and orientations, and has built-in support for touch and non-touch UI.
LWUIT applications are created on top of LCDUI Canvas. Though LWUIT has been optimised for Nokia Asha phones, LCDUI is a better option for performance critical applications, especially on phones with cost-optimised hardware. Also, when a compact application binary size is crucial, LCDUI should be considered instead, because the LWUIT library is added to every LWUIT application and it increases the application size by 200-800 kB (depending on the application features).
Figure 2. LWUIT overview
Nokia Asha — Java — Tools [May 9, 2013]
Nokia Asha SDK 1.0 (beta)
Create apps for the Nokia Asha family on Nokia Asha software platform using the Nokia Asha SDK 1.0 (beta). Then test your apps in an emulator based on the Nokia Asha 501. The Nokia Asha SDK 1.0 (beta) offers:
Nokia Asha UI emulation
The Nokia Asha SDK 1.0 contains an emulator based on the Nokia Asha 501, providing mouse based emulation of the phone’s touch features making testing easy.
LWUIT for richer Uis
A Nokia Asha platform optimised implementation of the LWUIT is included as a plug-in. Delivering rich UIs has never been easier.
Integrated HERE Maps API
It’s now even easier to add rich maps to your location based apps, as the HERE Maps API for Java ME is integrated into the SDK.
Enhanced location features
The emulator delivers updated location details from the integrated Route Editor to your Java apps, enabling richer testing of your location based apps.
Multiple-touch simulation
The Pinch-to-zoom simulator enables multipoint-touch gestures to be recorded and sent to the emulator.
Sensor emulation
You can simulate fully the orientation of a Nokia Asha phone in the emulator, enabling the testing of apps and games using the Mobile Sensor API (JSR-256).
Enhanced media playback
The emulator offers accurate media playback enabling complete testing of media delivered through your apps.
Keyboard input
Enter text directly from your PC keyboard into fields in the emulator, to speed up testing.
Emulator tools
Simplify and speed up your testing with the diagnostic window, MIDP speed simulator, configurable MIDP monitoring, and events generator among other tools.
Java API emulation
The emulator provides full support for MIDP and CDLC, along with the APIs provided in the Nokia Asha platform.
Real phone emulation
As the emulator is based on the Nokia Asha 501, it provides you with a realistic implementation of UI, user apps, messaging, and network communication features. Now you can accurately and conveniently test your apps on a PC.
Selecting your SDK made easy
The exclusive Device SDK Selector makes it easy to locate and install the SDKs you need to target earlier Series 40 phones. Pick SDKs by platform or phone model, download and install to get coding.
Nokia IDE 2.0 for Java ME (beta)
While the Nokia Asha SDK 1.0 (beta) is designed to work with the NetBeans and Eclipse IDEs, for the easiest and most straightforward development experience, the SDK includes the Nokia IDE 2.0 for Java ME (beta). Building on the power of the Eclipse platform for Java development, the Nokia IDE for Java ME delivers exclusive features for your Nokia Asha platform and Series 40 Java apps.
Welcome to your new IDE
A comprehensive welcome screen provides details on developing Java apps for the Nokia Asha platform and Series 40, available APIs, links to key Nokia Developer resources, and more.
Selecting your SDK made easy
The integrated Device SDK Selector makes it easy to locate and install the SDKs you need to target Nokia Asha and Series 40 phones. Pick SDKs by platform or phone model, download and install to get coding.
Nokia specific JAD editor
A customised JAD attributes editor makes it easy to add the information you need to effectively target your apps’ build to the Nokia Asha and Series 40 platforms.
In-app purchase and location templates
Get started quickly with your apps that take advantage of in-app advertising or location with new templates that includes everything you need.
Access to examples
Load any of over 40 example apps straight into your workspace. Covering many aspects of the Java APIs on the Nokia Asha platform, these examples can kick-start your development.
Nokia Hub
Quickly find more information on publishing apps, remote access to phones for testing, Nokia Developer news, and code examples though the Nokia Hub menu.
Remote Device Access
Test on a range of Nokia Asha and Series 40 phones
With the Nokia Developer Remote Device Access Service you can connect to a comprehensive range of Nokia Asha platform and Series 40 phones over the internet. Install your app then run it, just as you would on your own phone, to check out its behaviour on different hardware and UI form factors.
And don’t forget that Nokia Premium Developer Program for Asha membership give you access to more phones, so you won’t have to wait to start testing.
Nokia Asha — Web apps
[May 9, 2013]
The Nokia Asha software platform provides a powerful, data efficient web apps environment. Targeting this environment, you leverage your web development skills to create connected apps that deliver web content with an engaging, interactive UX that’ll appeal to consumers globally or can be targeted at specific local markets.
- New user experience — the Nokia Asha UI builds on the popular Series 40 UI. Delivered through a 3.0’’ (61.0 x 45.7 mm [unlike 66.0 x 40.0 mm on the previous Asha Full Touch devices]) QVGA capacitive touch screen (240 x 320 pixels [unlike the 240 x 400 pixels on the previous Asha Full Touch devices]), it supports two touch points for pinch-to-zoom and similar gestures. The UI swipe paradigm has been extended to include the Options Menu and fast access to the Home screen. A hardware back-button enables consumers to easily navigate an app’s hierarchy.
- New APIs — so you to make most of the Nokia Asha UI, web apps include an API to listen for the hardware back-button. In addition, enhanced HTML tag support also means you can add image and video capture to your web apps.
- New tools — the Nokia Asha web app tools deliver a Nokia Asha software platform option to the simulator and fresh examples that show you how to use the latest APIs.
Start with the Nokia Asha web app tools 3.0
See how to create, test, package, and deploy to a phone your first Nokia Asha web app.
Follow the step-by-step guide ›Start with Xpress Web App Builder
Xpress Web App Builder offers a no-code approach to creating Nokia Asha web apps and delivering them directly to your Nokia Publish account.
Watch the video ›
When Nokia Asha web app tools 3.0 graduates beta you will be able to use it to target all the phones that support Xpress Browser. During the beta phase the ability to capture images and video will only be available on the Nokia Asha 501. You can target all other features at Series 40 phones with Nokia Asha web app tools 3.0 or download Nokia Web Tools 2.3.
…
Nokia Asha web apps UI [May 4, 2013]
Nokia Asha web apps UIs benefit from the features of the Nokia Asha UI, such as its swipe interaction to reveal the Options Menu, which enable web apps to focus the entire phone screen on content. When designing a web app UI, you have the freedom offered by web technologies coupled with the dynamic UI features offered by the Nokia Asha web apps runtime, such as the ability to dynamically update lists or set fixed and scrollable areas within your apps. Web apps can also make use of the hardware back-button to offer users safe and simple navigation of an app’s hierarchy.
A great UX is about more than simply implementing a UI style; whether you are new to design or a seasoned pro, access a range of resources to help you create the best and most engaging experience in your apps and games. To get started check out the Nokia Asha web app design library before discovering other useful resources, such as design guidelines, UI stencils, and icon templates in the Design and User Experience Library.
What’s new in web app UX design [May 4, 2013]
The Nokia Asha software platform 1.0 offers a significantly updated UI compared to its predecessor, the full-touch UI on Series 40. This section describes the key UX changes that effect web apps:
- screen size – the New Nokia Asha UI on the Nokia Asha software platform 1.0 supports 240 x 320 pixel screens. For more information, see the Displays topic.
- multiple page support – the Nokia Xpress Browser 3.0 supports up to four active browser windows, enabling up to four web app to be run at once.
- touch gestures – the New Nokia Asha UI extends the platform wide mechanism for accessing key features using a swipe from the edge of the screen. As this mechanism overrides application behaviour, care needs to be taken in the design of web apps to ensure gestures within the web app aren’t confused with the system wide gestures. Ffor more information, see the Touch Gestures topic.
- back button behaviour – the New Nokia Asha UI employs a physical back button, this back button implements back-stepping in platform and Java apps. For web apps a new Mobile Web Library method addBackNavListener() enables the key to be captured so that web apps can implement the same back-stepping behaviour. For more information, see the Navigation Controls topic.
- Options menu – the Options menu is opened with a swipe gesture from the bottom of the screen in the New Nokia Asha UI. The menu by default contains the Data counter item, but no longer includes an exit item. For more information, see the Options Menu topic.
- launching web apps – from within the Nokia Xpress browser web apps will be launched from the Featured Apps option. For more information, see the Launching web apps topic.
- file upload and download – the Nokia Xpress Browser Download Manager is available from within web apps. For more information, see File uploads and downloads topic.
- passwords – web app passwords can now be cleared from the phone’s Settings feature. For more information see Passwords topic.
- Data Usage option – web apps can now access a report on their data use. For more information see the Data Usage topic.
Nokia Asha — Web apps — Tools [May 9, 2013]
Nokia Asha web app tools 3.0 (beta)
Nokia Asha web app tools 3.0 (beta) delivers a suite of applications that assist in the development, testing, packaging, and deployment of Nokia Asha web apps, including preparing them for distribution through Nokia Store. The key components of Nokia Asha web app tools are Web Developer Environment (WDE) and Web App Simulator (WAS).
Download Nokia Asha web app tools 3.0 (beta)
During the beta release the features to provide the capture of images and video from within web apps won’t be available on earlier Series 40 platform phones supporting Xpress Browser.
Web Developer Environment [WDE]
Built on the Eclipse platform, Web Developer Environment delivers the code creation tools needed to efficiently create and package web apps.
Extensive templates for new projects
Nokia Asha web app tools 3.0 offers wider variety of templates for common web apps styles, which you can use to quick-start the development of your web apps. Import existing projects to take advantage of enhanced editing features.
UI Designer
With the UI Designer you can build web app interfaces by dragging and dropping UI component snippets and laying them out visually, enabling you to create web apps UIs faster.
Powerful code editing
With code completion and full validation, your coding will be quicker and more accurate, enabling you to build Nokia Asha web apps faster.
Comprehensive range of examples
The range of web app examples has been further expanded in Nokia Asha web app tools 3.0, to illustrate use of the hard back-key and media capture. You can now easily access more examples of how to code common web app APIs and features.
Targeted HTML/CSS validation
Validation of HTML and CSS includes specific Nokia Asha web apps rules. You get better feedback to ensure your web app will work optimally on Nokia Asha platform and Series 40 phones.
Partial web app upload
When uploading a web app to the preview server, the Web Developer Environment only uploads changed content. This makes starting a cloud preview fast, minimising the time needed to test your web apps.
Packaging
Your web apps are automatically packed by the tool and delivered in the format required for distribution through Nokia Store.
Published web apps’ JAR
Once your web app has been published to Nokia Store you can request a copy of the deployment JAR. This enables you to distribute your web app on websites and through other app stores.
Deploy for phone testing
Completed Nokia Asha web apps can be deployed directly from the Web Developer Environment over a USB connection for testing on a Nokia Asha platform or Series 40 phone, while for Series 40 phones deployment over Bluetooth is also available.
Web App Simulator
Run your Nokia Asha web apps on a computer during development using the Web App Simulator. It simplifies functional testing and final design validation.
Phone simulation
Preview your Nokia Asha web apps to see how they’ll look and behave on Nokia Asha platform and Series 40 phones, and interact with the web.
Control phone features
Take control of your simulation and test your web apps against all the UI variations available on the phones that support Nokia Asha web apps.
Automatic reloading
Local preview are automatically reloaded as code edits are made — speeding up testing by ensuring Web App Simulator always show the latest changes.
Location simulation built-in
Web App Simulator enables you to define location information to your simulated Nokia Asha web app, making testing of location-aware apps a breeze.
Debugging made easy
Web App Simulator includes a custom version of Web Inspector for the easy debugging and performance analysis of your Nokia Asha web apps.
Xpress Web App Builder
Xpress Web App Builder is an online tool that guides you through the process of creating rich web apps, with no coding required. Select from a variety of templates, customise your theme, and then add clipped web content, RSS feeds, and social media information. The key features of the tool are:
- layout templates to present content, including single pane, tabbed view, and accordion view, as well as focused templates for news, pictures, and video content.
- a wide range of content widgets for clipped web content; RSS feeds; video from YouTube; pictures from Flickr, Picasa, and other photo sharing sites; and blogs from Tumblr and WordPress.
- the ability to add SMS and call capabilities, static HERE Maps, and in-app advertising from Nokia Ad Exchange.
- the option to customise your app’s colour scheme, including header and font colours.
- static and dynamic previews of your app, for all supported screen resolutions.
When you’ve completed your web app, the tool provides a short URL for testing the app on your phone, and lets you submit the app to Nokia Publish to start the process of publication in Nokia store. However, if you want to customise your web app further, you can download the source code and import it into Nokia Asha web app tools.
Remote Device Access
Test on a range of Nokia Asha and Series 40 phones
With the Nokia Developer Remote Device Access Service you can connect to a comprehensive range of Nokia Asha platform and Series 40 phones over the internet. Use your web app’s short URL to launch it in the Xpress Browser then run it, just as you would on your own phone, to check out its behaviour on different hardware and UI form factors.
Learn more ›
And don’t forget that Nokia Premium Developer Program for Nokai Asha membership give you access to more phones, so you won’t have to wait to start testing.
… Nokia In-App Payment
[May 9, 2013]
We have also introduced the new Nokia In-App Payment tool, designed to make it easier for you to sell content from within your apps. It provides a simple and secure purchase experience for consumers and transparent payments for developers. Nokia In-App Payment will also be available for existing Asha and Series 40 phones*(from 6th edition platform and above, except C1-01 and C1-02. Nokia will release a public beta of Nokia In-App Payment in the coming weeks, and you can sign up for the beta here.
Nokia In-App Payment invitation-only beta program [May 9, 2013]
In-App Payment is one of the dominant monetization models in the mobile app industry. This model also referred to as ‘Freemium’ model, helps you build apps with higher and recurring revenue opportunity.
The model enables you to attract a larger user base with a free baseline experience and then extend this experience by offering digital content for sale. Nokia In-App Payment marks Nokia’s renewed approach to In-App Payment. The solution has been designed afresh with several new features and it enables you to sell digital content to Asha consumers from within your application.
- The best payout in the industry
- Easy to integrate and maintain
- Single click payment
- Nokia brand adds credibility to the transaction
- Unparalleled coverage of devices
Sign up to invite beta
Frequently Asked QuestionsThis translates to more consumers, more purchases after download and higher payout per purchase – all leading to more recurring revenue for you!
We are pleased to announce the Nokia In-App Payment invitation-only beta program. With a beta invitation, you will get to:
- Try the Nokia In-App Payment Beta library
- Publish apps with Nokia In-App Payment
- Share your feedback
Please sign up to be eligible to join the Nokia In-App Payment invitation-only beta program. We will start sending out invitations starting May 10th 2013.
Integration of Nokia In-App Payment in your app is easy!
- Download and install Java Development Environment for Asha and Nokia In-App Payment library
- Implement in-app payment feature in your application using the test product IDs
- Test your app in the emulator or on device with the test purchase flow
- Register in-app purchase products, declare price points with Nokia Publish
- Update your application using the product IDs
- Test your app using the in-app purchase flow
- Submit your final app to Nokia Publish and be ready to generate revenue!
The Nokia In-App Payment includes several improvements
- Access to a larger consumer base through Series 40 backward compatibility**
- Simpler consumer purchase experience through single click payment
- Support for faster development and testing.
The introduction of Nokia In-App Payment means that the current in-app purchasing solution will be deprecated. In the near term, the intake of new apps using the deprecated in-app purchasing solution will be closed on June 10th 2013. However, published apps that use the deprecated in-app purchasing solution will continue to be available on Nokia Store until 2016. Please refer to the ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ for more information.
** For more detailed device coverage during the invitation-only beta, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions.
New Asha platform and ecosystem to deliver a breakthrough category of affordable smartphone from Nokia
… by bringing premium experience to the entry-level smartphone market:
Update: In H2 CY12 we will witness whether it is possible to create a stable “bottom” smartphone segment with this exceptional added value on really bottom hardware or not!
The Nokia offensive of a year ago with “simple” Asha Touch was halted in Q1 CY2013.
(Note that Android smartphones are in the “free-fall” for the last 12 months and you can observe a “race to bottom” phenomenon among those vendors. See here, here and here.) New Nokia Asha 501 Television commercial [nokia YouTube channel, June 26, 2013]
Fastlane – Nokia Asha [nokia YouTube channel, June 28, 2013]
Living with Fastlane on the Nokia Asha 501 [Nokia Conversations, July 5, 2013]
… You’ll now get two home screens: Fastlane, and ‘Home’, which is the main menu. All you have to do is swipe left or right to access one or the other. … You can still customise the main menu so icons and apps can be easily accessed, but once you’ve been using the Asha 501 for a while, Fastlane means that you rarely need to access the second screen.
[July 5] The current lowest price is with a coupon offer for Rs. 4731 [$78.5]
[June 22] Pre-order Asha 501 at Rs. 5,199 [$88]; [June 15, list price] Rs. 6000 [$101]
(at the same time Lumia 520 in India is from Rs. 8,893 [$150], at Rs. 10,097 [$170] at the same Nokia Shop as the Asha 501 pre-order where the list price is Rs. 11,289 [$190])
see also: Nokia Asha 501 starts worldwide rollout [Nokia Conversations, June 24, 2013]:
… [Asha 501] goes on sale this week in Thailand and Pakistan, … Next week, the rollout will continue in India and progress onto countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. In late summer, the Nokia Asha 501 will start selling in Latin American countries like Brazil. …
End of update
Peter Skillman (Head of Ux Design for Mobile Phones & HERE at Nokia) demonstrating
Swipe and Fastlane experiences on a greatly enlarged touchscreen,
actually from a ladder, at the May 9, 2013 launch in New-Delhi, India
- At its heart is a landmark new feature called Fastlane which was inspired by the much-loved swipe motion gestures on the iconic Nokia N9. Fastlane is designed so that you’re never more than a swipe away.
- Fastlane was inspired by how people really use their phone. Recently accessed contacts, social networks and apps, unique to each person, are stored and presented in Fastlane.
- Fastlane is an interactive second home screen which tracks your past, present and future, showing up to 50 of your most recent activities. It brings all the different elements of your smartphone experience together.
- It continues Nokia’s focus on the ‘smarter Internet’ with an updated version of the Nokia Xpress browser with a fresh new user experience
- There is Nokia Xpress Now, a new Web application that recommends content based on location, preferences and trending topics.
- Fully leverages Nokia’s investments in Smarterphone, which it acquired in 2012 and builds on the best aspects of Series 40 to create something fresh and innovative. It also comes with design cues from Lumia.
- Nokia gives developers the chance to make more money through the global reach of Nokia Store and tools like Nokia In-App Payment and Nokia Advertising Exchange (NAX), as well as Nokia’s unparalleled operator billing network. So developers will be incentivized to deliver quality apps, previously found only on high-end smartphones.
At the launch in New-Delhi, India there were the following notable remarks as well:
- ~80M people are using the Nokia Xpress browser now
- 20M Asha Touch devices were sold since its launch 10 months ago
- Nokia expects to sell 100 million of the new generation Asha smartphones over the coming years, beginning with the Nokia Asha 501
- Nokia expects to sell 100 million of the new generation Asha smartphones over the coming years, beginning with the Nokia Asha 501
- Nokia gives developers the chance to make more money through the global reach of Nokia Store and tools like Nokia In-App Payment and Nokia Advertising Exchange (NAX), as well as Nokia’s unparalleled operator billing network.
- There are 120 ad agencies involved in NAX in 200+ countries
- There are 158 operators involved in Nokia’s operator billing network in 59 markets
- All that will provide a 2.5X increase in terms of developers’ revenue
- Nokia is the first manufacturer to bundle Facebook for free with Nokia Asha 501
- Such partnership is quite important to Facebook as the company sees its biggest opportunity in getting 5B billion people on-line who were not before (so far “only” 750M people access Facebook from their mobile devices)
Happy Nokia presenters posing for photos
at the end of the launch in India
Making of the New Nokia Asha [nokia YouTube channel, May 9, 2013]
First hands-on with the Nokia Asha 501 [nokia YouTube channel, May 9, 2013]
The best thing is to watch The Nokia Asha 501 – Peter Skillman, Nokia Design Team [nokia YouTube channel, May 9, 2013]
Meet the next generation: Nokia Asha 501 [Nokia Conversations, May 9, 2013]
The aspirational meets the affordable in Nokia’s beautiful new touchscreen smartphone with social networking and a smarter Internet at its very core
The Nokia Asha 501 is set to break down a lot of barriers and smash people’s expectations of just how much ‘smartphone’ their money can buy.
It’s a touchscreen experience with social networks, content sharing and connectivity deeply integrated into a wonderful, responsive and revamped operating system.
Design and Colours
However, the first thing you will notice about the trail-blazing Nokia Asha 501 is the gorgeous design. Its lines and shapes are streamlined, compact and clean.
The seamless look and feel is of a premium product that is part of a unified modern design family, from the Lumia 920 to the Nokia 105.
After you’ve admired the durable two-part construction with the removable monobody, the next thing you’ll have to do is make a choice.
The Asha 501 is available in bright red, bright green, cyan, yellow, white and black.
The colour story continues with the red headphones that are included in the box. It’s sure to become a signature look!
Nokia Asha platform
The Asha 501 is powered by a new software platform, which fully leverages Nokia’s investments in Smarterphone, which it acquired in 2012 and builds on the best aspects of Series 40 to create something fresh and innovative.
The result is an evolutionary operating system that is fast, responsive and easy to use.
The Asha platform is faster, more responsive and more flexible too. This means new features and functionalities can be anticipated with future updates.
Developers will be able to create apps for the Nokia Asha 501 that will also be compatible with future Asha platform-based devices.
Living in the Fastlane
The forward-thinking approach to the Asha 501 extends to the user experience.
At its heart is a landmark new feature called Fastlane. Inspired by the much-loved swipe motion gestures on the iconic Nokia N9, Fastlane makes it faster and easier to access whatever is most important to you.
Whether it is the applications you use the most, the latest images you’ve captured or your social network updates, Fastlane is designed so that you’re never more than a swipe away.
Think of it as intelligent multitasking, or think of it as an interactive second home screen. Either way, Fastlane tracks your past, present and future, showing up to 50 of your most recent activities. It brings all the different elements of your smartphone experience together.
Smarter Internet
In just a few short years, more people will be accessing the Internet on a mobile phone than any other kind of electronic device.
This is why the Asha 501 continues Nokia’s focus on the ‘smarter Internet’ with an updated version of the Nokia Xpress browser with a fresh new user experience.
Of course, it still uses cloud-compression technology to reduce data by up to 90 per cent, making it both faster and cheaper for people to get online.
Hardware matters
Straight out of the box, there will be Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging and Weather Channel apps installed, together with premium games from Gameloft, such as Big Little City and Real Football 2013.
There’s also the now-legendary offer of 40 Free EA Games for you to download and keep forever from the Nokia Store.
The Asha 501 will be the first Nokia device at such a low price point to use a micro-SIM. Furthermore, it will come in a single-SIM variant and a Dual-SIM version with Nokia’s unique Easy-Swap SIM technology, which allows people to switch SIM cards without having to power off the device.
It features a 3.2-megapixel camera, WiFi, a lock screen with a glanceable clock and the 3-inch capacitive screen is made out of hardened glass. There’s 4GB of internal memory and support for a micro-SD card up to 32GB.
The battery life offers an incredible 48 days in standby and 17 hours of talk time – that means you could talk from 7am to midnight non-stop!
The Nokia Asha 501 will cost $99 before taxes and subsidies. It’ll be available in more than 90 countries worldwide from Q2.
See also: Nokia Asha 501: exclusive photos [Nokia Conversations, May 9, 2013]
Nokia Asha Platform Unlocks Sub-100 USD Smartphone Opportunity for Developers [press release, May 9, 2013]
New Asha platform delivers developers a consistent quality application experience in the world’s fastest growing smartphone category
New Delhi, India and Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced a global initiative to unlock the sub-100 USD smartphone market for developers with the release of its Nokia Asha platform. Nokia also announced the Nokia Asha 501, the first smartphone built for the new platform.
Developers who write applications for the Nokia Asha 501 will reach all smartphones based on the new Asha platform without having to re-write code. Nokia expects to sell 100 million of the new generation Asha smartphones over the coming years, beginning with the Nokia Asha 501.
“We’ve seen a tremendous increase in consumer demand for apps for our Asha smartphones, as witnessed by the growth of downloads in Nokia Store,” said Marco Argenti, head of Developer Experiences at Nokia. “Consumers expect quality apps at every price point. With the new Asha platform, developers will be incentivized to deliver those quality apps, previously found only on high-end smartphones, thanks to unprecedented volumes and reach opportunities through one distribution channel and a single platform.”
Many of the most popular applications are already available or in development for the Nokia Asha platform, including CNN, eBuddy, ESPN, Facebook, Foursquare, Line, LinkedIn, Nimbuzz, Pictelligent, The Weather Channel, Twitter, WeChat, World of Red Bull and games from Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Indiagames, Namco-Bandai and Reliance Games. WhatsApp and other key partners continue to explore new Asha.
Developers will also get easy-to-use development tools and more ways to sell and promote apps, including the new Nokia In-App Payment tool.
New Nokia Asha SDK 1.0 and Nokia Asha web app tools
The new Nokia Asha Software Development Kit 1.0 is a suite of tools that support the development, testing, packaging and deployment of Java apps on the Nokia Asha platform.
The new Nokia Asha web app tools include a Web Development Environment (WDE), an integrated development environment (IDE) that developers can use to create and edit their Nokia Asha web apps; Web Inspector to help developers to debug and inspect elements in their web apps; and a new Web Designer Tool for creating great user experience for their web apps.
Nokia In-App Payment
Nokia also announced the new Nokia In-App Payment tool, designed to make it easier for developers to sell content from within their apps. It provides a simple and secure purchase experience for consumers and transparent payments for developers. Nokia In-App Payment will also be available for existing Asha and Series 40 phones, such as the Nokia 301. Nokia will release a public beta of Nokia In-App Payment in the coming weeks. Developers can sign-up for the beta at www.developer.nokia.com/inapppayment.
Developers voice support for new Nokia Asha platform
Dennis Crowley, CEO and co-founder of Foursquare: “Nokia continues to be a valued partner for Foursquare. The new Foursquare app on Asha delivers a fantastic search and discovery experience to help people make the most of where they are. As we head into the next wave of new Asha smartphones, we look forward to making Foursquare available for millions of Asha customers around the world.”
Michael Fisher, Director of Mobile Business Development, Twitter: “Twitter’s integration into the new Asha platform, along with preloaded Twitter application that ships on Nokia devices, offers people a richer Twitter experience. Whether you want to share a photo or news article, connect with people or find out what’s happening around the world, it’s now easier than ever to use Twitter on this family of devices.”
Sebastien Thevenet, General Manager SEA-Pacific, Gameloft: “As Nokia’s long term partner, with to date 200 million downloads recorded on Nokia Store, Gameloft is thrilled to offer four preloaded high quality games on the Nokia Asha 501 at launch (Assassin’s Creed 3, Bubble Bash 3, Real Football 2013, Little Big City) and overall more than 30 games to download on Nokia Store down the track. Those innovative titles are Try and Buy and Free to Play games making the most of Asha Full Touch capabilities and unique user interface, truly bringing a smartphone gaming experience at your fingertips.”
Akira Morikawa, CEO of Line Corporation: “Line’s partnership with Nokia is very important and it will continue on new Asha. Delivering Line on new Asha represents our commitment of ensuring that people around the world will experience the joy of communication through Line on Asha smartphones.”
Manish Agarwal, CEO, Reliance Games: “Reliance Games and Nokia have together demonstrated the combined power of localized content and a distribution platform in India. Our partnership with Nokia is a very cherished partnership for us to demonstrate the power of GoLocal. Reliance Games is committed to develop games on localized themes on the new Asha platform and entertain millions of people around the world by working closely with local Nokia teams in India, Asia Pacific, Latin America and other growth markets.”
Keshav Bajaj, VP Business Development, Nimbuzz: “Most of the 150 million and counting Nimbuzz users are from markets where Nokia Asha continues to gain momentum, including India, South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. We are very excited to have an application exclusively built for the new Asha platform to ensure the best user experience. This is yet another initiative from Nimbuzz for one of its most exclusive partners, Nokia.”
Alex Adjadj, Director of Strategic Development, Mobile Sales & Marketing, Namco-Bandai: “NAMCO BANDAI has been developing mobile games for over 10 years but there are still regions of the world where users haven’t seen or played PAC-MAN. Our 22 titles available in 13 languages for the Nokia Asha 501 is a testament to our commitment to Nokia to bring a great experience to mobile users of all demographics and budgets.”
Ramesh Kumar, Head of ESPNcricinfo and ESPN Digital Media India: “Given the popularity of Asha devices, the ESPNcricinfo app on the Asha 2013 platform is a dynamic way to reach growing numbers of mobile users in emerging markets. It is a rich platform where the ESPNcricinfo app can provide comprehensive cricket coverage tailored to suit on-the-go consumption of today’s passionate fans, including its famed match coverage, the latest news stories, insightful editorial pieces covering International & domestic cricket – all tailor-made for mobile consumption.”
New Nokia Asha 501 Dual SIM – One swipe to access everything you love [nokia YouTube channel, May 9, 2013]
Nokia introduces the Nokia Asha 501 [press release, May 9, 2013]
Nokia Asha 501 and Asha platform reinvent the affordable smartphone category
New Delhi, India and Espoo, Finland – Nokia today unveiled the first of a new family of Asha smartphones with the introduction of the Nokia Asha 501. The handset pushes the boundaries of affordable smartphone design with bold color, a high-quality build and an innovative user interface. The Nokia Asha 501 is the first device to run on the new Asha platform, which is designed to make the experience faster and more responsive. The Asha platform also helps developers to create, publish and make more money from apps made specifically for the new generation of Asha devices.
Standout design, innovative user interface
The Nokia Asha 501 makes high-end design and quality accessible to more people. The device is available in a choice of six striking colours that complement the elegant design. It comes in just two parts: a durable, removable casing and the scratch-resistant glass display, which features a three-inch, capacitive touchscreen and a single ‘back’ button. The compact new Asha weighs only 98 grams, for the ultimate portability.
The Nokia Asha 501 is built to make it easier for people to access everything they love, with a simple swipe and a choice of two main screens: Home and Fastlane. Home is a traditional, icon-based view for launching individual apps or accessing a specific feature, like the dialler or phone settings. The new Fastlane view was inspired by how people really use their phone. Recently accessed contacts, social networks and apps, unique to each person, are stored and presented in Fastlane. It provides a record of how the phone is used, giving people a glimpse of their past, present and future activity, and helping them multi-task by providing easy access to their favorite features.
Smarter and more personal Internet experiences
The new Asha comes with Nokia Xpress Browser pre-loaded, which compresses Internet data by up to 90%. This is aimed at making mobile browsing faster and more affordable. Nokia also announced the availability of Nokia Xpress Now, a new Web application that recommends content based on location, preferences and trending topics. It will be available via the Browser homepage or as a download from Nokia Store.
“Nokia has surpassed expectations of what’s achievable in the sub-100 USD phone category with a new Asha handset that is unlike any other, with design cues from Lumia and a mix of features, services and affordability that is valued by price-conscious buyers,” said Neil Mawston, executive director, Global Wireless Practice, Strategy Analytics. “This is a welcome addition to the market and a refreshing option for consumers looking to upgrade from feature phones.”
Asha platform for next-generation family of devices
The new Nokia Asha 501 was purpose-built to give people the best possible mobile experiences at an affordable price. It is highly efficient, with an industry-leading standby time of up to 48 days*. The Asha 501 is the first smartphone built on the new Asha platform, which leverages Nokia’s investments in Smarterphone, a company which Nokia acquired in 2012.
The new Asha platform provides developers with an open, standards-based environment for creating quality apps for consumers. Developers can create apps for the Nokia Asha 501 that will be compatible with future Asha platform-based devices. Nokia gives developers the chance to make more money through the global reach of Nokia Store and tools like Nokia In-App Payment and Nokia Advertising Exchange (NAX), as well as Nokia’s unparalleled operator billing network.
Many of the most popular applications are already available or in development for the Nokia Asha platform, including CNN, eBuddy, ESPN, Facebook, Foursquare, Line, LinkedIn, Nimbuzz, Pictelligent, The Weather Channel, Twitter, WeChat, World of Red Bull and games from Electronic Arts, Gameloft, Indiagames, Namco-Bandai and Reliance Games. WhatsApp and other key partners continue to explore new Asha.
The HERE experience, based on Nokia’s leading location-based platform, will also be available as a download for the Nokia Asha 501, starting in Q3 2013 and will initially include basic mapping services.
“The new Nokia Asha 501 raises the bar for what is possible in affordable smartphone design and optimization,” said Timo Toikkanen, executive vice president, Mobile Phones, Nokia. “The synergy between the physical design and the engine that is the new Asha platform has created a smartphone with both style and substance at a great price.”
Facebook and global operators to support Nokia Asha 501 with free data plans
The Nokia Asha 501 is expected to start shipping in June 2013. It is expected to be available through approximately 60 operators and distributors in more than 90 countries worldwide.
“We are very happy to offer the new Nokia Asha 501 through our subsidiaries in the continent. We are certain that this innovative device will follow the successful footprint of the Nokia Asha family, combining affordability with the best communication and Internet browsing capabilities,” said Marco Quatorze, Value Added Services Director for America Movil.
A leading operator in the Asia-Pacific region, Telkomsel is also supporting the arrival of the new Nokia Asha. “The Nokia Asha 501 will help us to boost the mobile Internet in Indonesia. It is powered by innovations like the Nokia Xpress Browser, based on a very efficient data consumption technology which allow us to offer best data plan tariff for people,” said Alistair Johnston, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Telkomsel. “We have a billing agreement with Nokia that supports the creation of local applications absolutely relevant to Indonesian consumers.”
The popularity of the Nokia Asha family has also prompted innovative approaches to bundled mobile services. Nokia, Facebook and mobile network operator Airtel announced they have joined forces to offer data-free access to the standalone Facebook app, as well as the mobile site m.facebook.com. By the end of second quarter, current Airtel subscribers in Africa and India** will be able to enjoy unlimited, data-free access to Facebook from their Nokia Asha 501 for a limited period of time.
Commenting on the partnership, Andre Beyers, Chief Marketing Officer for Airtel Africa, said: “The collaboration with Nokia is in line with our strategy of enabling people to access data in Africa as we seek to bridge the digital divide across the continent. We’re already witnessing tremendous growth in data use across the 17 countries where we operate. The provision of free Facebook access is an excellent proposition to the millions of Airtel consumers. We are extremely delighted to partner with Nokia to give our consumers an even better mobile experience.”
Telkomsel will provide a specific Nokia Telkomsel Asha data plan that offers up to 500 MB of data use and includes 60 minutes of calls and 60 SMS. The company will also provide a one month free data plan to consumers using Nokia Asha 501 that can be used for all mobile Internet activities including access to Facebook or downloading apps.
“This bundle is a great way to discover Facebook on your Nokia Asha and enjoy the experience for longer without worrying about data charges,” said Vaughn Smith, VP mobile partnerships, Facebook. “Working in close partnership with Nokia and global operators made this offer possible and we’re excited to help connect the world on Facebook.”
MTN, a leading operator across Africa, said it will also offer the Nokia Asha 501 and ease access to Facebook. “We are excited to support this initiative with Facebook in Nigeria and Zambia and we are looking forward to expand it to other markets,” says Pieter Verkade, group chief commercial officer at MTN.
Product specifications and availability
The Nokia Asha 501 is available in single or EasySwap Dual SIM models. All come with WiFi and Bluetooth. Other specifications:
– Dimensions: 99.2 x 58 x 12.1 mm; 98 grams
– Camera: 3.2 MP
– Single SIM standby time: up to 48 days***
– Dual SIM standby time: up to 26 days***
– Talk time: up to 17 hours
– Additional memory of 4GB (card included in box), expandable up to 32GB
– Forty free EA Games worth €75 downloadable from Nokia Store
– Available colours: Bright Red, Bright Green, Cyan, Yellow, White and Black
– Suggested pricing is 99 USD before taxes and subsidies.Read more about the Nokia Asha 501 on Nokia Conversations: http://conversations.nokia.com/?p=120951.
* when using the single SIM model
**Under test conditions; actual results may vary, depending on use.
** *Time implementation differs by country
Nokia’s non-Windows crossroad
Update: 3” display with 240 x 320 pixels, not AMOLED screen, 3.2 MP camera. More information:
– New Asha platform and ecosystem to deliver a breakthrough category of affordable smartphone from Nokia [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 9, 2013] my composite post of the all relevant launch information
– New Nokia Asha platform for developers [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, May 9, 2013] my composite post of the all relevant development platform information End of update
There was a question why I was so affirmative with the headline of Temporary Nokia setback in India [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 28, 2013]. The quite remarkable cross-platform development story for Nokia Asha current and future devices is the major part of my affirmative approach. Take a look and convince yourself as well!
Nokia’s cross-platform strategy is aimed at the following value proposition to developers (see in the “Nokia’s own Asha cross-platform efforts for developers (so far)” section):
Consider Co-Development, instead of classic “porting”
As the Category:Silverlight [Nokia Developer Wiki, April 22, 2013] is stating:
Deprecated Category. Please move any articles across to Category:XAML.
the below rumor about the upcoming on May 9th Asha 501, that its design will be like the Nokia Lumias, would mean that programatically the same XAML interface would be delivered by Nokia for a further enhanced Nokia Asha Touch S40 operating system. It is even more likely as the J2ME platform of the Nokia Asha Touch S40 operating system was a few days ago enhanced by the Lightweight User Interface Toolkit (LWUIT) in Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java™, and this is supported by the full cross-platform Codename One development kit from the same name 3d party company, who is also preparing a XAML based 1.1 version of this toolkit for Windows Phone 8/7 (and presumably for Windows 8 as well), thus allowing the same standard Java programming by providing (see in the “Codename One cross-platform offerings for Java developers” section):
1 Java API which is the same for J2ME, Android, iOS, RIM and Win8.
It could also be quite probable that Nokia’s own Asha cross-platform offerings will extended by C#/XAML oriented cross-platform toolkit[s] on May 9th. Then we will have a complete cross-platform story for Nokia’s non-Windows offerings. We’ll see.
Nokia launching Asha 501 on 9th May? [mobile indian, May 1, 2013]
Nokia has sent out press invites for an event on May 9, which could possibly be about Asha 501 launch, and we have strong reasons to believe so.
Nokia may probably launch new phone(s) in the Asha series lineup on May 9th, on which day Nokia has organized an event and has sent out invites to various media organisations. And while the invitation does not specify the subject of the launch, we are pretty sure about it being an Asha series phone as it has been sent by a team that looks after Asha lineup.
Probably, Nokia would launch the Asha 501 which has been in the news off late.
According to rumors, Nokia Asha 501 is to come with design like the Nokia Lumia phones.
Further the Asha 501 is said to come with a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, and a slightly larger display than Asha 311 which has a 3 inch touchscreen. Most likely this handset will have at least a 1 GHz processor.
Nokia is reemphasizing on its Asha series of phones to strengthen its market hold. Recently Stephen Elop, Nokia’s chief executive officer, had also emphasized that saying, “We have to make sure the product portfolio is as competitive as possible. We are due for a significant refresh.”
#Breaking “Nokia 501” & “Nokia 210” Passed Testing Process by Directorate Post & Telecommunication Indonesia [nokianesia blog, April 9, 2013]
Today, April 09, 2013 Directorate Post & Telecommunication Indonesia publish 2 New Nokia devices which are already passed the testing process to get certification.
There are Nokia 501 RM-902 that should be (Maybe) The next generation of Nokia Asha and Nokia 210 RM 924 that Should be Nokia Asha 210.
Right know, we still don’t have any information about specification and information. We will post if there are any information about Nokia 501 and Nokia Asha 210.
Source postel.go.id
Compare Nokia Asha 501 vs Micromax A51 Bolt [91mobiles, March 16, 2013]
| Nokia Asha 501 – 3.5”, AMOLED capacitive touchscreen – 320 x 480 pixels – 1 GHz Processor – 512 MB RAM – 5MP rear camera with LED Flash – front camera – video recording – video playback – GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA/HSUPA, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, USB – Nokia Asha Touch OS |
Micromax A51 Bolt [$79+] – 3.5” , TFT LCD capacitive Touchscreen, 262K Colors – 320 x 480 pixels – 832 MHz, BCM21552 [ARM11] – 512 MB ROM, 256 MB RAM – 2MP rear camera with Flash – 0.2MP front camera – video recording: VGA @30fps – video playback: 720×486 – 3G/Bluetooth/Wi-Fi/USB – Android V2.3.7 (Gingerbread) |
Sections of this post:
– Codename One cross-platform offerings for Java developers
– Nokia’s own Asha cross-platform efforts for developers (so far)
Codename One cross-platform offerings for Java developers
Developers Guide [Version 1.0.1, Jan 24, 2013]
Introduction
Codename One is a set of tools for mobile application development that derive a great deal of its architecture from Java. It stands both as the name of the startup that created the set of tools and as a prefix to the distinct tools that make up the Codename One product.
The goal of the Codename One project is to take the complex and fragmented task of mobile device programming and unify it under a single set of tools, APIs and services to create a more manageable approach to mobile application development without sacrificing development power/control.
History
Codename One was started by Chen Fishbein & Shai Almog who authored the Open Source LWUIT project at Sun Microsystems starting at 2007. The LWUIT project aimed at solving the fragmentation within J2ME/Blackberry devices by targeting a higher standard of user interface than the common baseline at the time. LWUIT received critical acclaim and traction within multiple industries but was limited by the declining feature phone market.
In 2012 the Codename One project has taken many of the basic concepts developed within the LWUIT project and adapted them to the smartphone world which is experiencing similar issues to the device fragmentation of the old J2ME phones.
How Does It Work
Codename One has 4 major parts: API, Designer, Simulator, Build/Cloud server.
API – abstracts platform specific functionality
Designer – allows developers/designers to design the GUI/theme and package various resources required by the application
Simulator – allows previewing and debugging applications within the IDE
Build/Cloud server – the server performs the build of the native application, removing the need to install additional software stacks.
Limitations & Capabilities
J2ME & RIM are very limited platforms to achieve partial Java 5 compatibility Codename One automatically strips the Java 5 language requirements from bytecode and injects its own implementation of Java 5 classes. Not everything is supported so consult the Codename One JavaDoc when you get a compiler error to see what is available.
Due to the implementation of the NetBeans IDE it is very difficult to properly replace and annotate the supported Java API’s so the completion and error marking might not represent correctly what is actually working and implemented on the devices. However, the compilation phase will not succeed if you used classes that are unsupported.
Lightweight UI
The biggest differentiation for Codename One is the lightweight architecture which allows for a great deal of the capabilities within Codename One. A Lightweight component is a component which is written entirely in Java, it draws its own interface and handles its own events/states.
This has huge portability advantages since the same code executes on all platforms, but it carries many additional advantages.
The components are infinitely customizable just by using standard inheritance and overriding paint/event handling. Theming and the GUI builder allow for live preview and accurate reproduction across platforms since the same code executes everywhere.
…
Codename One Benchmarked With Amazing Results [Codename One – Reinventing the Mobile Development blog, Dec 7, 2012]
Steve Hannah who ported Codename One to Avian has just completed a set of benchmarks on Codename One’s iOS performance putting Codename One’s at 33% slower performance than native C and faster performance than Objective-C!
I won’t spoil his research results so please read his full post here.
A small disclaimer is that the Objective-C benchmark is a bit heavy on the method/message calls which biases the benchmark in our favor. Method invocations in Codename One are naturally much faster than the equivalent Objective-C code due to the semantics of that language.
With 100,000 SDK Downloads, Mobile Development Platform Codename One Comes Out of Beta With 1.0 Launch [Codename One – Reinventing the Mobile Development blog, Jan 29, 2013]
Tel Aviv, Israel – Mobile development platform Codename One is announcing the launch of its 1.0 version on Tuesday, January 29. After releasing in beta last June, Codename One – the first software development kit that allows Java developers to create true high performance native mobile applications across multiple mobile operating systems using a single code base – has garnered over 100,000 downloads and emerged as one of the fastest toolkits of its kind, on par with native OS toolkits.
The platform to date has been used to build over 1,000 native mobile applications and has been touted by mobile developers and enthusiasts as the best write-once-run-everywhere solution for building native mobile apps.
“I have been developing with Codename One for a couple of months now. When you line up all of the other options for development, whether native SDKs, Appcelerator, ADF or others, Codename One wins on almost every front,” said software developer Steve Hannah.
Codename One has received widespread, viral acclaim in technology and business media including InfoWorld, Slashdot, Hacker News, VentureBeat, Business Insider, The Next Web, Dr. Dobbs and Forbes, which named the company one of the 10 greatest industry disrupting startups of 2012.
“We have been thrilled with the success of our beta launch and are very excited to release the much-awaited 1.0 version,” said co-founder and CEO Shai Almog.
Almog, along with co-founder Chen Fishbein, decided to launch the venture after noticing a growing inefficiency within mobile application development. By enabling developers to significantly cut time and costs in developing native applications for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows 7 Phone and other devices, Almog and Fishbein hope to make mobile application development increasingly feasible.
The Java-based platform is open-source and utilizes lightweight technology, allowing it to produce unique native interfaces highly differentiated from competitive cross-platform mobile development toolkits, which typically use HTML5 or heavyweight technology.
By drawing all components from scratch rather than utilizing native widgets, Codename One enables developers to avoid fragmentation – a major hindrance found in the majority of competitors – and additionally allows accurate desktop simulation of mobile apps.
The startup’s founders are recognized for engineering Sun Microsystems’s famous Lightweight User Interface Toolkit, a mobile platform used by leading mobile carriers and industry leaders to this date.
Codename One is available for download free of charge.
About Codename One
Codename One, named by Forbes as “one of the 10 greatest industry disrupting startups of 2012,” is an Israel-based technology company that has created a powerful cross-platform software development kit for mobile applications. The technology enables developers to create native applications across multiple operating systems using a single code base. Codename One was founded by renowned software engineers Shai Almog and Chen Fishbein in 2012.
Windows Phone 8 And The State Of 7 [Codename One – Reinventing the Mobile Development blog, April 2, 2013]
Codename One’s windows phone port is close to a public release.A preliminary Windows Phone 8 build has been available on our servers for the past couple of days. We differentiate between a Windows Phone 7 and 8 version by a build argument that indicates the version (win.ver=8) this will be exposed by the GUI in the next update of the plugin. But now I would like to discuss the architecture and logic behind this port which will help you understand how to optimize the port and maybe even help us with the actual port.
The Windows Phone 7 and 8 ports are both based on the XMLVM translation to C# code, we picked this approach because all other automated approaches proved to be duds. iKVM which seems like the most promising option, isn’t supported on mobile so that only left the XMLVM option.
The Windows Phone 7 port was based on XNA (3d C# based API) which has its share of problems but was more appropriate to our needs in Codename One. Unfortunately Microsoft chose to kill off XNA for Windows Phone 8 which put us in a bit of a bind when trying to build the Windows Phone 8 port.
While externally Windows Phone 8 and 7 look very similar, their underlying architecture is completely different and very incompatible. You cannot compile a universal binary that will work on all of Microsoft’s platforms, so just to make order within this mess:
- Windows Phone 7 – based on the old Windows CE kernel. Allows only managed runtimes (e.g. C# not C++), graphics can be done using XAML or XNA (more on that later.
- Windows Phone 8 – based on an ARM port of Windows 8 kernel. Allows unmanaged apps (C# or C++) graphics can be done in XAML or Direct3D when using C++ (but not silverlight).
- Windows RT/Desktop – the full windows 8 kernel either for ARM or for PC. They are partially compatible to one another so I’m putting them together. This is actually pretty similar to the Windows Phone 8 port, but incompatible so a different build is needed and slightly different API usage.
As you understand we can’t use XNA since it isn’t supported by the new platforms, we toyed a bit with the idea of using Direct3D but integrating it with text input, fonts etc. seemed like a nightmare. Furthermore, doing another C++ port would mean a HUGE amount of work!
So Codename One is based on the XAML API. Most people would think of XAML as an XML based API, but you can use it from C# and just ignore most of the XML aspects of it which is what we need since our UI is constructed dynamically. However, this is more complicated than it seems.
To understand the complexity you need to understand the idea of a Scene Graph. If you used Codename One you are using a more immediate mode graphics API, where the paint method is invoked and just paints the component whenever its needed. This is the simplest most portable way of doing graphics and is pretty common, its used natively by Android, OpenGL, Direct3D etc. and is very familiar to developers.
In recent years many Scene Graph API’s sprung up, XAML is one of them and so is JavaFX, Flash, SVG and many others. In a Scene Graph world you construct a graphics hierarchy and then let it be rendered, the whole paint() sequence is hidden from the developer. The best way to explain it is that our components in Codename One are really a scene graph, only at a higher abstraction level. Windows/Flash placed the scene graph on the graphics as well, so to draw a rectangle you would just add it to the tree (and remove it when you no longer need it).
This is actually pretty powerful, you can do animations just by changing component values in trees and performance can be pretty spectacular since the paint loop can be GPU optimized.
However, the reality of this is that most developers find these API’s harder to work with (since they need to keep track of a rather complex unintuitive tree), the API’s aren’t portable at all since the hierarchies are so different. Performance is also very hard to tune since so much is hidden by the underlying hidden paint logic.
For Codename One this is a huge problem, we need our API to act as if its painting in immediate mode while constructing/updating a scene! When we initially built this the performance was indeed as bad as you might imagine. While we are not in the clear yet, the performance is much improved…
How did we solve this?
There are several different issues involved, the first is the number of elements on the screen. We noticed that if we have more than 200 elements on the screen performance quickly degraded. This was a HUGE problem since we have thousands of paint operations happening just in the process of transitioning into a new form. To solve this we associate every graphics component with a component and when the component is repainted we remove all operations related to it, we also try to reuse graphics resources such as images from the previous paint operation.
When painting a component in Codename One we normally traverse up the component tree and paint the first opaque component forward (known as painters algorithm) however, since the scene already has the parent component painting it again would result in many copies of the image being within the scene graph. E.g. I have a background image on a form, when painting a translucent label I have to paint the background image within a clipping region matching the label…. In the Windows Phone port we have a special hook that just disables this functionality, this hook alone pushed us over the top to reasonable graphics performance!
We are working on getting additional performance oriented features into place and fixing some issues related to this approach, its not a simple task since the API wasn’t designed with this in mind but it is doable. We would appreciate you taking the time to review the port
Build Java Application for Mobile Devices [Shai Almog YouTube channel, Jan 10, 2013]
Codename One Executive Overview [Shai Almog YouTube channel, Jan 6, 2013]
Developer Introduction To Codename One [Shai Almog YouTube channel, Jan 6, 2013]
Series 40 Webinar: LWUIT for Nokia Asha app development [nokiadevforum YouTube channel, April 16, 2013]
More information:
– Swing into Mobile – Use the Lightweight UI Toolkit on Nokia Series 40 phones [pp. 81–84 of Java Magazine, January/February 2013]
– LWUIT for Series 40 out of beta [Nokia Developer News, Feb 26, 2013]
Great news for those of you wanting to deliver superior UIs in your Series 40 apps— Lightweight UI Toolkit (LWUIT) for Series 40 has graduated from beta to a full initial release.
LWUIT is an open source Java ME toolkit that supports a comprehensive range of visual UI components, and other user interface elements such as theming, transitions, and animation among others. It helps you create applications with appealing UIs that closely follow the native Series 40 UIs. It also helps speed up development by significantly reducing the need to create custom UI components, which might be needed when creating an app’s UI using LCDUI. LWUIT for Series 40 can be used in combination with selected Nokia UI APIs and all the JSR APIs available on the platform.
Since the last LWUIT for Series 40 release made available in the Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java, development of the toolkit has been continuing at a rapid pace. A number of new APIs have been introduced, including PopUpChoiceGroup, ContextMenu, NokiaListCellRenderer, theme selection, and full-screen mode. There have also been significant improvements in performance, particularly in lists, themes loading, and HTMLComponent. Compatibility with the native full-touch UI has been fine-tuned and many bugs fixed, particularly in command handling and text input.
The toolkit also includes all the new examples created since the last release. These include code examples that provide demonstrations of the Category bar, gestures, and lists. There are also new application examples for birthdays, showing use of the calendar component and PIM API; a slide puzzle; tourist attractions, showing the use of HERE maps and in-app purchasing APIs; and a Reddit client showing the use of a custom theme and JSON. In addition, updated version of two of the original LWUIT examples applications, LWUITDemo and LWUITBrowser, are also included.
The final component in the full release of LWUIT for Series 40 is the inclusion of comprehensive documentation in the toolkit. This is based on the LWUIT Developer’s Library, a library consisting of:
Developer’s Guide, which is based on the original LWUIT Developer Guide and provides technical information about using the LWUIT components
LWUIT UX overview, which is a new section providing a guide to designing app UIs with LWUIT for Series 40 components
If you have the Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java installed, you will receive an automatic notification of the availability of LWUIT for Series 40 1.0. You can then simply follow the instructions to install the update. If you are using LWUIT with the Nokia SDK 1.1 for Java, you can download the update from LWUIT for Series 40 project.
J2ME, Feature Phones & Nokia Devices [Codename One – Reinventing the Mobile Development blog, April 24, 2013]
Is J2ME dead or dying?
How many times have we heard this for the past 3 years or so? Sadly the answer is: Yes!
Unfortunately there is no active owner for the J2ME standard and thus no new innovation around J2ME for quite some time (MIDP 2.0 came out in 2004, 3.0 never really materialized). Android is/was the biggest innovation since and became the unofficial successor to J2ME.
Well, if J2ME is dead what about Feature Phones? Should we care about them?
The answer is: Yes! very much so!
Features Phones are still selling in millions and still beats Android sales in the developing world. Recently Nokia shipped the Asha series devices which are quite powerful and capable pieces of hardware, they are very impressive. Nokia’s revenue is driven mainly by the Feature Phone market.
There is a real battle in the developing countries between Feature Phones and Android devices, Feature Phones are still cheaper and more efficient where Android has more/better content (apps & games).
How long will it take Android to catch up? we will see…
In the meantime there is money on the table and a real opportunity for developers to make some money (and gain loyal users who will migrate to Android or other platform at some point)
To win over the competition or at least to maintain its dominate player position Nokia must bring new quality content to the devices, it’s not enough to ship cool new feature phones, the new phone needs to connect to facebook, twitter, gmail, whatsapp and have all the new cool games/apps Android has and more.
So how should you write your apps for the cool new Nokia Feature Phone if J2ME is dead? Luckily there is an option Codename One ;-).
In Codename One You have 1 Java API which is the same for J2ME, Android, iOS, RIM and Win8.
Below are some of the J2ME highlights:
Facebook Connect – did you noticed there aren’t many social apps on OVI?
There is a reason Facebook uses oauth2 which is a huge pain without a browser API, this is solved and working in Codename One.
Java 5 features – You can use generics and other Java 5 features in your app and it will work on your J2ME/RIM devices. You don’t have to limit yourself to CLDC.
Rich UI – If you know or knew LWUIT (Swing like API), well Codename One UI is effectively LWUIT 2.0.
Built in Asha skins and themes
The most important thing is the fact that your skills are not wasted on an old/dying J2ME API, by joining our growing community and writing the next amazing app your skills can target the emerging platforms of the present/future.
Codename One JavaOne Session Screencast [Shai Almog YouTube channel, Oct 25, 2012]
Nokia’s own Asha cross-platform efforts for developers (so far)
Series 40 Webinar: How to develop cool apps for Nokia Asha smartphones [nokiadevforum YouTube channel, April 5, 2013]
[25:01] Porting Resources at Nokia Developer
– Porting and Guide for Android Developers:
>>> http://www.developer.nokia.com/Develop/Porting/ [27:46]
Related to the porting vis-à-vis Android & cross-platform slides:
[27:46 > 28:50 > 29:40 > 30:20 > 30:50 > 31:15 > 31:40 > 32:25 > 33:20 Demo: Android porting Frozen Bubble: see https://projects.developer.nokia.com/frozenbubble and the video coming below > 34:24]
Tantalum Mobile [January 1, 2013] Summary
Tantalum is mobile Java tools for high performance and development speed on Android and J2ME. The focus is on practical use cases which can be included in a project to solve frequent needs in an elegant manner.
Life is many asynchronous tasks chained together and running concurrently on background threads with UI callbacks. The result may look like black magic or star wars, but as you become one with the source, the patterns emerge as ecstatic moments of clarity.
Tantalum Cross Platform Library
Tantalum 5 is nearing beta release
As the Tantalum team works hard on the new Tantalum 5 release and increasing support to the Android community, you can track that and possibly help at https://github.com/TantalumMobile/ More on that and the great support Nokia is giving to this open source effort as we release- happy changes and momentum.
* NEW 4.0 RELEASE January 1, 2013 *
New release 4.0 including cross-platform Android and J2ME app development support, simple fork-join concurrency, simple 3 layer caching and Android AsyncTask and more is now available!
Quick Start Guide and JAVADOC: Tanalum4_doc.zip
Source code and examples: Tantalum4.zip
Cross platform Series40-Android example using Tantalum4: Picasa_Viewer
JavaOne San Francisco talk and demos of Tantalum4: JavaOne_Extreme_Mobile_Java_Performance.mp4
Tantalum is a light-weight metal used used to keep mobile phone electronics compact and powerful. Tantalum4 is the 4th major release of a very light and elegant back end utility library for mobile java. With mobile applications, less is more.
This is _not_ a framework. It is a clean and light tool set which at 8-40kB it will _not_ bloat your application. Obfuscation of your release build automatically removes those features you do not use. We do just a few things really well:
The exact same JAR library runs on J2ME and Android– save time and money by reusing your code and add a native UI for each platform
Clean, fast utility model threading with Java7 fork-join-cancel and Android Java5 AsyncTask patterns
Unique async task chaining to feed the output of one Task to the input of the next is easier than overriding existing classes
WeakReference heap and persistent flash memory caching to easily make online-offlne apps which start fast and run reliably in real world mobile networks
Async HTTP GET and POST with automatic retry
Simplified async XML parsing directly into model objects
Simplified async JSON parsing directly into model objects
Logging convenience classes including J2ME USB debug and app profile from phone
The above capabilities work cleanly together to simplify your development. There is no UI assumption in Tantalum4– pick what works best for you on each platform. The bundled example applications are an RSS reader for
Forms
Nokia Series40 Asha touch devices
LWUIT 1.5
Download the sample apps and give a try. We hope you are amazed at the results and speed with which you can achieve them.
Apache 2 license. Please return your fixes and suggestions to the community here.
* NEW 3.0 RELEASE June 18, 2012 *
WHAT IS NEW
Many, many stability improvements, especially to caching and flash memory usage
Shutdown work tasks and low-priority work tasks are now supported
Support for Nokia LWUIT in the example applications
Support for Nokia full touch phones in the example applications.
Speed. Tantalum3 is wired and optimized even more than before to run well also on slower devices.
You can find a series of nice, short training videos covering Tantalum3 athttps://projects.developer.nokia.com/videotraining
CONTENTS OF THE ARCHIVE (Download link on right side of this page)
/prebuilt_examples
Pre-built example applications, run to test on various devices. Testing is mostly on Nokia SDK 1.1 and 2.0 with profiling of the S40 example tested in Oracle SDK.
/lib
Pre-built libraries you can include in your application if you don’t want to mess with the source code. There are three flavors: debug including unit tests and verbose errors, usb-debug, and release optimized. To use the usb-debug variant, connect your phone by USB and open a terminal emulator such as puttytel to the serial port you find in Window Device Manager. Use max baud rate and hardware flow control RTS/CTS.
/src
Everything you need to build the libraries and examples yourself
/doc
Javadoc for Tantalum3 library
/json_doc
Javadoc for the optional JSON suppliment
* NEW 2.2 RELEASE February 7 2012 *
Example updates with minor bug fix, reorganization of the source into 3 projects make release builds easier, added unit tests.
* NEW 2.1 RELEASE January 24 2012 *
Latest announcements
Tantalum 4 is out! – January 7th, 2013 by paul.houghton
Tantalum 4, almost ready… – December 11th, 2012 by paul.houghton
See all announcements >
Related videos:
– Series 40 Webinar: Porting Android apps to the Series 40 platform [nokiadevforum YouTube channel, Dec 17, 2012]
– Porting Android and Blackberry apps to Series 40 [Nokia Developer News, Nov 30, 2012]
If you’ve got an application for Android or BlackBerry (up to BlackBerry OS 7.1), your existing Java code puts you in a great position to take advantage of the growing demand for apps from Series 40 phone owners.
To help you take advantage of this opportunity, we’ve started to gather a collection of resources to guide you through the porting process in the Porting to Series 40 library section.
If you are starting with an Android app, the wiki provides basic information on the tools and technology needed, platform comparisons, porting considerations, code snippets, and example porting cases along with the all-important guidelines you need for an efficient port.
For your future apps, you can even consider creating a Series 40 and Android version at the same time, our Picasa Viewer example application will show you how.
If a little hands-on guidance could help even more, why not check out the Android porting webinar sessions we have on 4 December at 8 a.m. San Francisco; 10 a.m. Mexico City; 4 p.m. London and 13 December, 8 a.m. London; 1:30 p.m. New Delhi; 4 p.m. Singapore.
Life could be even easier if you have a BlackBerry app. Most generic Java ME MIDlets can be deployed to both BlackBerry and Series 40 with little more than platform-specific repackaging. However, you might want to adapt the user interface and the look & feel of the app to fit to Series 40 screen-size and UI style. Again, the wiki gives you a pointer to the porting article with code samples that will be enhanced for the later updates of the library.
You can also get practical guidance from an expert, check out our BlackBerry porting webinar on 18 December, 8 a.m. London; 1:30 p.m. New Delhi; 4 p.m. Singapore or view a recording of one of the earlier sessions on our webinars page.
Using our latest Nokia SDK 2.0 for Java, and its integrated Nokia IDE for Java ME, combined with the guidance of the updated porting library, we think you’ll find porting your app easier than you ever imagined.
We’re looking forward to welcoming you to the family of developers who have found success on the Series 40 platform.
– Designing & Optimising Graphics for your Series 40 app [nokiadevforum YouTube channel, Nov 8, 2012] https://projects.developer.nokia.com/frozenbubble
– UI Clinic – Series 40 full touch, April 2013 [nokiadevforum YouTube channel, April 24, 2013]
– Introduction to the Nokia Premium Developer Program for Asha [nokiadevforum YouTube channel, April 19, 2013]
Asha Premium Developer Program introduced [Nokia Developer News, March 26, 2013]
We’ve been having a lot of fun lately—we launched the Nokia Premium Developer Program for Lumia back in October, and it proved to be our most successful developer program ever. Our rewards program, DVLUP, has also proven extremely popular with developers, and we recently expanded it to include developers in the UK.
So we decided it was time to bring some “Premium goodness” to Asha development. Today we are excited to introduce the Nokia Premium Developer Program for Asha.
The Asha Opportunity
The Asha ecosystem has a growing installed base of superior but affordable smartphones (such as the Nokia Asha 308, 310, and 311), and with these great devices comes an increased demand for apps. The Asha Premium Developer Program is designed to provide you with tools and services to make developing for Asha faster and easier, increase the discoverability of your apps, and bring you closer to the millions of Nokia Asha users around the world.
By providing you with high-value support and tools beyond what’s provided by your standard registration with Nokia Developer, the Asha Premium Developer Program will help you fast-track your success.
The Nokia Premium Developer Program for Asha comprises two levels: enhanced productivity tools and app promotion opportunities. We know that it’s easier not only to be inspired but also to develop and test when you have a great device in hand, so the productivity tools start with a free Nokia Asha 310 smartphone. To help you with testing, we’re also offering expanded Remote Device Access with more Nokia Asha devices available to you. Finally, you’ll get two free tech tickets for Asha development support, a value of $198 (USD).
Program members who submit a new, high quality full touch Asha app to Nokia Store can apply for app promotional opportunities: greater visibility on Nokia Store, or a $500 (USD) credit to run paid ad campaigns on Nokia Ad Exchange.
Best of all membership in the Nokia Premium Developer Program for Asha is free, although you’ll need to meet certain criteria.
Explore the Nokia Premium Developer Program for Asha, and apply for membership today.
Qualcomm’s SoC business future is questioned first time
Among the hits for simple ‘Qualcomm’ search between April 25 and 30 you will first time find headlines such as:
|
While such headlines are in minority by far and had been market balanced by Qualcomm’s media wide Snapdragon 800 communication (“Snapdragon 800 to enter mass production in late May”) we are witnessing first time that Qualcomm’s SoC future had been questioned for very first time. So it is worth to examine this abrupt change in a little more detail than the articles behind those worries:
First of all China: Entry-level dual core IPS WVGA (480×800) smartphones $65+ now, quad-core $70+ in June [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 29, 2013] behind of which there is a very said turn of events from Qualcomm’s point of view that:
Qualcomm recently quoted its quad-core solutions at less than US$10, slightly cheaper than MediaTek’s offerings, the sources indicated. Meanwhile, Spreadtrum has lowered its quad-core processor prices to similar levels. Both firms are trying to gain market share through aggressive pricing, the sources said.
That is Qualcomm has no other way against its market dominant entry-level rival MediaTek as start an outright price competition. In fact it is an even bigger problem as its hastily reworked new SoC product line setup:
was meant to be a very broad offensive move as it was noted in Qualcomm moving ahead of Allwinner et al. in CPU and GPU while trying to catch up with Allwinner in Ultra HD [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, Jan 12 -Feb 27, 2013]
Even more, in China: Entry-level dual core IPS WVGA (480×800) smartphones $65+ now, quad-core $70+ in June [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 29, 2013] we already had the following slide from yet another Chinese rival Spreadtrum:
So while Qualcomm is trying to undercut MediaTek prices in the quad-core entry-level SoC segment its another rival had been pushed to do the same, and now Qualcomm has another very potent rival, already much better established in the entry-level segment than Qualcomm, even outside China as was shown by Temporary Nokia setback in India [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 28, 2013]. Should Qualcomm drop its quad-core entry level price further? Hardly, as those $10 SoC prices are at the very bottom from the point of view of deterring additional entry-level quad-core rivals like Allwinner to enter that segment at large.
The competition between these three parties in terms of the entry level functionality looks like as follows (availability data is suggesting Q3 2013 entry level smartphone devices with extremely high volume production from Tier 1 international vendors down to a large number of white-box Chinese vendors):
|
MediaTek |
Qualcomm |
Spreadtrum |
|
|
Product |
MT6582 |
MSM8225Q, MSM8625Q |
SCXXXX |
|
Availability |
Q3 2013 volume |
Q1 2013 sample |
Q2 2013 sample |
|
Modem |
TD-SCDMA/W-CDMA/ TD + W |
CDMA multimode / UMTS modem options |
TD-SCDMA/W-CDMA/ TD + W |
|
Integrated App processor |
Quad Cortex-A7 |
Quad Cortex-A5 |
Quad Cortex-A7 |
|
Speed |
1.x GHz |
1.4 GHz |
1.x GHz |
|
GPU |
ARM Mali 400 |
Adreno 203 |
ARM Mali-400MP2 likely |
Block diagrams of the MT6572 entry level SoC from MediaTek, the quad-core MT6582 will differ from that only in the number of cores:
From: Mediatek “Wu Song” [MT6572] uphill [product], against the Spreadtrum “Tiger” [SC8825] / 联发科武松上山，展讯猛虎迎战 [52RD, March 8, 2013]
and
from 28-nanometer dual-core MT6572 WCDMA version is first to debut / 28纳米双核MT6572临近 WCDMA版本率先登场 [MTK手机网/MTK Mobile Phone Network, March 23, 2013] based on which a brief English report was the Mediatek MT6572 Chipset Details [Quazmo, April 6, 2013]
Meanwhile the first MT6572-based products are already launched:
MTK6572 mobile phone, Sunspan [天迈] D18/D28X first appearance [China Unlocked Phone Review, April 26, 2013] which is the rough English translation (therefore I made some manual edits to it) of MTK6572手机来了 天迈D18/D28X率先亮相 [MTK手机网/MTK Mobile Phone Network, April 26, 2013] article
MediaTek MT6572 dual-core processor was adopted some time ago by the majority of mobile solution providers. Informed sources said MT6572 began mass production, in addition to the dual-core MT6572, quad-core chip MT6582 coming soon. There is no quad-core version of the specific information of MT6582 chip, but to guess from the naming of the quad-core chip may be rumors it is MT6572 quad core version .
Description of MT6572
MediaTek MTK/MT6572 is a low-power highly integrated single-chip phone processor. The chip is based on Cortex-A7 architecture, using the 28-nanometer process. a single core’s clocked at 1.xGHz, it also has built-in Mali-400MP graphics processor, support for TD-SCDMA, WCDMA and EDGE 2.75G network, integrated 4-in-1 wireless chip. In addition to that it has been listed dual-core and quad-core chip versions. The MT6572 product line also has speed and price advantages. It is learned that old Spreadtrum customers, including WingTech (闻泰) etc. will be launching MTK6572 products, but the end product equipped with MT6572 chip will be officially listed in May.
T-SMART D28X/D26X
T-Smart Sunspan Communication, operating in the field of TD for many years and in good cooperation with China Mobile and other operators, signed a 600,000 full year supply agreement with D.Phone [who claims to be China’s largest retailer of mobile phones and accessories, with over 1300 stores, more than 800 of which are directly owned stores, see its TMall store for current offerings]. In this year’s upcoming new machine, Sunspan D28X/D26X and D18/D96X, several new machines will be using MTK6572 program, the listing of these models has been formed, will soon be listed.
Sunspan D28X/D26X
The two Sunspan D28X/D26X machines have the same appearance. Body size is 132 * 68 * 10.5 mm, which is equipped with MTK6572 dual-core processor, clock frequency is 1GHz, the screen size is 4.5 inches with 5MP camera, and running Android 4.2 version of the system. Another standard capacity of 1600 mAh battery, built-in commonly used sensor. The D28X/D26X both support different network standards, the D28X will provide the China Mobile’s customized one, i.e. can support the TD-SCDMA network, while the D26X has the Unicom [W-CDMA] version.
T-SMART D18/D96X
In addition to the Sunspan D28X/D26X, there are also new D18/D96X machines which to be powered by the MTK6572 dual-core processor. The D18/D96X models also differ in supported networks. D18 is the China Mobile version and D96X is the Unicom version. In addition to that the D18 will run Android 4.2 system, equipped with a 2MP camera, while the the D96X using system version 4.1, the camera pixel is higher, 3MP. D18/D96X body style is more upright, while the color is much richer, the machine size is 126 * 64 * 10.9 mm.
Hardware parameters of both are also consistent: with a 4-inch screen, the battery capacity of 1500 mAh, supports common sensors.
MT6572 is primarily intended for [so called] one thousand yuan [~$150] mobile terminal products, so the MTK6572 phone sells are worth of the wait, as several new machines with lower to Sunspan hardware specifications, maybe the same, will have a friendly price. After May a large number of MTK6572 dual-core processor models will become available, the choice available to users will be more and more, and we look forward to the MT6572′s performance.
And those first Sunspan products were produced by the largest cellphone ODM in mainland China, WingTech [闻泰] Communications:
From the feature to quickly switch your Smartphone / 从功能机到智能机的快速切换 [Jiaxing Daily, March 22, 2013] as traslated by Bing and Google, with manual edits:
Decoding the “top ten 2012 to take a new road to industrialization enterprises”: WingTech Communications Review
“Sales of only 640 million yuan [$104M] in the first half of last year, while in the second half, sales more than doubled over the first half, jumped to 1.2 billion yuan [$195M]. In January to February period of this year, sales have exceeded 600 million yuan [$97M], an increase of 140%.” At the time of describing the achievement WingTech Communications Vice Chairman Xiao Xuebing [肖学兵] conceals his excitement inside: benefit from timely adjustment, increased research and development, decisiveness in the transformation and upgrading.
… From the first half of 2012 Xiao Xuebing introduced in Wingtech a timely transformation and upgrading, increased investment in the development of 3G smart phones in order to gradually force new products onto the market in the second half of the year, and quickly switch from the feature phone market to the most popular smart phone market.
… WingTech has large scale, low-cost advantage, which thanks to ODM orders from Huawei [华为], Haier [海尔], Sunspan [天迈], TCL and other domestic brands, as well as a powerful combination with carriers and falling smartphone prices lead to rapid sales growth and rapid adoption in the market. Now WingTech is still mass recruiting the staff, nevertheless it is expected that the whole production would exceed 3 million units in March, again hitting an all-time record.
Even in the worst economic situation of the winter of 2008 the 1000 people strong R&D team of WingTech Communications, under the leadership of CEO Zhang Xuezheng [张学政], still advocated a “while others are ‘dormant’ we need to have ‘winter’ “ approach – a gathering of its hundreds of elite “retreats” hundred days focus research and development. This spirit of innovation remains to this day – still coming down.
“After the 4-inch dual-core smartphones, we will soon launch 5-inch and 6-inch quad-core smart phones, as well as 7-inch, 8-inch and 10-inch PAD tablets, for which WingTech will use its own core technology, building more ordinary people affordable smart electronic products.” said Xiao Xuebing “The new products apply a lot of new technologies from the latest R&D. In the upcoming smartphones we’ve designed in a dual microphone, one for sound recording and the other for filtering the background noise. In the dual camera space, as distinct from the existing front camera, the light rear camera consists in fact two cameras, so as to achieve a 3D effect shooting.”
Outside of research and innovation, during the manufacturing process, WingTech is also vigorously promoting technological innovation, introducing more robots and constantly increasing automation. Automation can not only rapidly increase productivity, but also can help with the stability of product quality. “Product testing was done by manual inspection in the past, only one at a time, and now with automated tools, we can have a simultaneous inspection, measuring eight mobile phones at once” – young workers of the company are saying.
Meanwhile, thanks to the technology innovation, there are cost savings to the WingTech. “Circuit boards used to have a border. Now with a free border process, as long as the increase in the tray, the circuit board does not require a border.” For businesses less materials, for society reduced energy consumption and reduced waste generation.
“Last year we had less than 2000 people working for us, of which 500 were short-term employed, but at full horsepower we may take up to 3000 employees.” Xiao Xuebing told reporters that: “In March this year, the unit sales of cell phones would reach 3 million units and sales volume will reach 500 million yuan [$81M]. WingTech Communications’ annual target for the year 2013 is to exceed unit sales of 40 million and the value of production to be over 4 billion yuan [$649M], up to 6 billion yuan [$973M].”
Automation was indeed a primary direction when moving to the smartphone production, as evidenced by Wingtech Chooses LitePoint IQ2010 to Calibrate and Test Smartphones [LitePoint press release, Feb 5, 2013]
/PRNewswire/ — LitePoint( http://www.litepoint.com )(R) announced today that Wingtech Electronics Tech( http://www.wingtech.com/EngLish ), one of China’s leading providers of mobile phone design and manufacturing services, has chosen LitePoint’s IQ2010 for production calibration and verification of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functionality in its new line of smartphones.
With the surge in the use of high-end smartphones and the increasing complexity of technology built into these devices, Wi-Fi testing is expected—and often mandated by the cellular service provider. Being at the forefront of smartphone design and development, Wingtech recognized the need for a fast, accurate and cost-effective production test solution. YeHua, Director of Research and Development at Wingtech, said, “We looked into a variety of solutions to test our products and chose the IQ2010 because of the system’s overall performance, as well as the confidence we have in LitePoint as a total solution provider. The IQ2010 addresses our need for a high-quality, turn-key test solution, so it was the obvious choice for us.”
Manufacturing cost-effective mobile devices requires a comprehensive wireless test solution that provides complete functional verification while maximizing unit throughput—the deployment of which typically occurs under intense time-to-market pressure. “Cost considerations in setting up a production line, coupled with demanding quality assurance requirements, mandate high-speed wireless test without sacrificing test coverage,” said Gary Wang, general manager of LitePoint, China. “The IQ2010 is well suited for the growing China smartphone market and designed to meet rigorous production test requirements while optimizing the total cost of ownership.”
Availability
LitePoint’s IQ2010 solution is available today.
About Wingtech
Wingtech ( http://www.wingtech.com/EngLish ) is a new technology enterprise group in the China wireless network communication market that provides mobile phone design services, manufacturing services and value-added services based on wireless terminal series. Wingtech is mainly dedicated to product customization, research and development, production and sales of wireless terminals. It also focuses on providing solutions using new business models with vertical integration of cell phone design and manufacturing of integrated terminal, brand, mobile Internet solutions for the Internet of things.
About LitePoint
LitePoint( http://www.litepoint.com ), a wholly owned subsidiary of Teradyne, Inc.(http://www.teradyne.com ) (TER), is based in Sunnyvale, California. The company designs, develops and supports advanced wireless test solutions( http://www.litepoint.com/Solutions.html ) for developers of wireless devices and consumer electronics, contract manufacturers and wireless integrated circuit designers. LitePoint solutions( http://www.litepoint.com/Solutions.html ) have enabled optimization and verification of the operation of more than one billion wireless devices worldwide. LitePoint products( http://www.litepoint.com/Products.html ) are used in development and high-volume manufacturing, providing its customers with improved ROI, time-to-market, manufacturing yields, and product quality. For more, go to www.litepoint.com.
Previously WingTech was supported by the state and party to becomer the largest feature phone maker in China, as evidenced by: Party Secretary and Chief Executive of Huangpu District in Shanghai Zhou Wei Inspected Industrialized Base for Wingtech Cell Phones [WingTech press release]
On June 18, 2009, accompanied by … <a long list of people> … Zhou Wei, deputy party secretary and chief executive of Huangpu District paid a visit to the industrialized base for Wingtech cell phones.
Zhou Wei and his companions toured the showroom, test room and production lines of Wenxun and Wendi. After that, the leaders and Zhang Xuezheng, the CSO of Wingtech Group, held a symposium, where Mr. Zhang reported in details the company’s history and achievements since its establishment, and current situations.
Zhou Wei, deputy party secretary and chief executive of Huangpu District, said that it was not easy for Wingtech to be developed into the largest cell phone maker in China within less than two years. As a leading enterprise in the communication industry, Wingtech has made its great contributions in terms of fiscal revenue, personnel introduction, protection of intellectual property rights and technological innovation. He also added that the District Government of Huangpu should pay closer attentions on caring about and supporting high-tech groups like Wingtech so as to support its sustainable development.
With regards to patent application and protection, leaders from the Science Committee of Huangpu District expressed that more supports would be provided to enterprise like Wingtech in protecting the intellectual property rights, and the smooth transfer should be ensured in executing the policies of the state, municipality and the district and the enterprise, so as to promote Wingtech to make new progresses in technological innovation and application and protection of intellectual property rights.
With respect to finance and taxes, the leader from the Finance Bureau of Huangpu said special funds invested in Wingtech would increase and preferential tax policies supporting Wingtech and other high-tech enterprises be implemented so as to reduce their burdens and enhance their strength for development.
For the issue of personnel indraught, the leaders concerned expressed that Shanghai may need a large number of highly qualified personnel in the field of communication to satisfy the economic development, whereas Wingtech, as a leading enterprise in the sector, can serve as a cradle to attract and foster the communication personnel. In order to support enterprises like Wingtech to attract and retain personnel, the government of Huangpu District will further study and discuss such matters as household registration policies, individual income tax and education of children so as to figure out a practical preference scheme as soon as possible. In addition, as Wingtech Group develops rapidly, its office space becomes over crowded due to the suddenly increased number of personnel. Leaders from Huangpu said they would solve this issue as soon as possible.
During the meeting, Zhou Wei, the deputy secretary and chief executive of Huangpu District, presented on behalf of Huangpu District Government a gift—Hangguang Porcelain to Wingtech Group. The gift indicates that Wingtech Group could develop stably, maintain its foundation permanently and make innovations and breakthroughs continuously so as to be the model enterprise in the communication industry in both China and the world.
More information of the above kind is in the Wingtech Group honored with “outstanding performance prize of China mobile phone industry 2010 [press release, Dec 21, 2010]
The still old company profile About Wingtech [闻泰] Group [集团] [LinkedIn, originally created on July 23, 2009], the corrections in square brackets are from the WingTech profile page in Chinese (http://www.wingtech.com/Chinese/Company-Content-ID-8.html) in the hope that it contains later information
As a high-tech company, Wingtech Group mainly provides clients with the integrated cell phones program design, production, and wireless terminal-based value-added service, and is committed to the customized service, R&D, production, sales, after-sales service of wireless terminal products.
Founded in 2006, Wingtech Group consists of Shanghai R&D Center, Shenzhen Operation Center, and Jiaxing Production Center. Currently, Wingtech has a team of nearly
2000[4000] employees. Its products cover PHS, GSM(GPRS), CDMA(1X), EDGE, TD-SCDMA[, EVDO] and all handheld device series ranging from 2G to 4G, with an annual turnover of hundreds of millions of US dollars.Since its foundation, Wingtech has always persisted in the independent technical innovation, and make a lot of efforts in development and application of new technology of wireless communication. So far, Wingtech has owned nearly one thousand technical patents, a number of the world leading technologies, and is increasing 500 patents every year. Meanwhile, Wingtech has been in possession of perfect sales networks and under total process control systems (ISO9001:2000, ISO14001, QC080000).
Wingtech puts focus on local strengths while eyeing the world. Due to strong innovation, reliable quality, and high cost performance, Wingtech products have been very popular with customers at home and abroad. Currently, Wingtech products have been exported to over 30 countries, and over
50[80] million consumers around the world are enjoying happy wireless mobile experience through Wingtech products and services.Website: http://www.wingtech.com
Industry: Telecommunications
Type: Privately Held
Company Size: 1001-5000 employees
The latest external to China (actually for India) Overview [Callbar, July 15, 2011]
Callbar is a world leading mobile phone brand owned by WINGTECH GROUP LIMITED. Registered in HK with operation center in Shenzhen, manufacture base in Jiaxing and R&D center in Shanghai & Xi’an, we directly or indirectly employ over 4,000 people in China and other countries worldwide. Since establishment in 2006, we’ve evolved into a leading ODM supplier serving customers including MOTOROLA, LG, Philips and HUAWEI. In last 2 years we successfully extended our business into Wireless Terminal Internet Service and international distribution with our own brand WING. Our annual turnover reached USD 600million in 2009. Consumers around the world are enjoying Callbar mobile phones which features innovation, quality and cost effectiveness.
Better Quality, Better Price.
And the latest external to China milestone descriptions (actually for India):
History [Callbar, July 15, 2011]
2006 Y
In 2006,Wingtech Telecom was registered in Hong Kong and marched into cell phone PCBA industrial.
2007 Y
In May 2007, Zhejiang Communication Industry (Jiaxing) Base and Wingtech Cell Phone Industrialization Base started to be built.
In May 2007, Wingtech Telecom cooperated with SpreadTrum in the field of 3G industry in order to promote the development of 3G industry
In November 2007, Wingtech Telecom joined TD-SCDMA industry alliance, focusing on development and application of TD technique.
In December 2007, Wingtech Telecom sold 20 million sets of cell phones in total, which made Wingtech to be NO.1 of iSuppli.
2008 Y
In April 2008, Wingtech Telecom ranked the top one in the Chinese IDH industry.
In April 2008, Wingtech and Indian famous cell phone company-FRIWO cooperated to establish a mobile terminal product showroom in New Delhi, which is a totally new mode of cooperation between China and India.
In November 2008, Wingtech held the “Wireless Communication New Tech Summit”.
In November 2008, Zhejiang Communication Industry (Jiaxing) Base and the Wingtech Cell Phone Industrialization Base were put into production.
2009 Y
In March 2009, Wingtech and China Telecommunication Technology Labs entered into the cooperative agreement to establish the strategic cooperative relationship.
In May 2009, Xi’an R&D centre established, which further enhances Wingtech telecom R&D capability.
2011 Y
Wingtech launches its Callbar brand strategy all over the world so as to make more people to be serviced by Wingtech.
While the latest external to China (actually for India) Structure [Callbar, July 15, 2011], with geographical inserts added as required
Shanghai R&D centre
Shanghai R&D Center has a team of over one thousand R&D staff members, with R&D achievement covering the whole series of mobile terminal products of GSM, CDMA, EDGE, TD-SCDMA, EVDO etc, ranging from 2G to 3G. So far, the R&D Center has owned nearly one thousand national patents.
With strong R&D strength and firm technical foundation, the R&D Center has been rewarded many titles by Shanghai Government.Meanwhile, Wingtech joins the TD-SCDMA industrial alliance to actively conduct the R&D and application of TD products so as to speed up the Chinese industrialization.
Jiaxing production centre
In addition to the cell phone design service, Wingtech can provide customers with the high-efficiency and high-quality production service.Wingtech invested $70 million in building a cell phone industrial base of over 140 000 square meters in Jiaxing,in which Wingtech produces mobile phones of first class for world famous brands.
Wingtech Cell Phone Industrial Base has given an impetus to the development of the local communications industry. And with this impetus, a world-class cell phone industrial cluster with an output of more than 30,000,000 sets, and an annual turnover of RMB 10 billion formed around this Cell Phone Industrial Base.
More information: Jiaxing [Wikipedia article]Shenzhen operation centre
To better serve market and customers, Wingtech Telecom establishes the Operation Center in Shenzhen which is responsible for the procurement, sales and technical support. And with the help of its reliable supply chain system, professional marketing team, the world-class ERP and logistics guarantee system, Shenzhen Operation Centre provides first class service to our local and worldwide customers.
At present, over 70 million consumers around the world are enjoying happy wireless mobile experience through Wingtech products and services.
Xi’an R&D Centre
Founded in 2009, Xi’an R&D Centre is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wingtech Group. It is mainly engaged in R&D and application of wireless communication new technology for providing 2G-4G GSM, CDMA and TD-SCDMA full system mobile terminal devices.
Xi’an Wingtech enjoys an internationally top grade R&D team and powerful R&D capacity. Among the over 100 R&D engineers, above 60% of them are doctoral degree holders and master degree holders. As for quality control, Xi’an Wingtech has introduced whole process quality control system (ISO9001:200, ISO14001, QC080000), and performs Six Sigma Management following quality control standards of internationally top grade enterprises for developing and providing stable and reliable products to customers.
Xi’an is on the far left of this map, Jiaxing and Shanghai are on the far right
More information: Xi’an [Wikipedia article]
Note that in Xi’an another cellphone industrial cluster has been created, as evidenced by World’s biggest wireless semiconductor producer establishes branch in N.W China city [Xinhua, Dec 23, 2011] news article
Qualcomm, the world’s largest wireless semiconductor company, has announced it will set up a branch in Xi’an, capital of northwest Shaanxi province, according to the management committee of the city’s high-tech area on Friday.
In the past years, the U.S.-based global leader in 3G and next generation wireless telecommunication technologies has established cooperative relationships with Chinese counterparts such as Huawei, ZTE, Yulong Coolpad and Wingtech.
Qualcomm’s branch in Xi’an is a strategic option and also a good beginning, said Zhao Hongzhuan, director of the Xi’an high-tech area management committee, adding that the area will provide “big support and quality service” to Qualcomm, and said he hopes the company will expand its investment in Xi’an.
China has already become one of the fastest growing markets for Qualcomm, said Wang Xiang, president of Qualcomm greater China. “Qualcomm decided to set up its branch in Xi’an because of the city’s complete industrial chain, strong technical strengths and rich talent,” Wang said.
Qualcomm entered the Chinese market in the late 1990s and already has branches in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
Note as well that Wingtech’s engagement with Spreadtrum goes much older:
Spreadtrum and WingTech Enter Strategic Partnership [joint press release, April 24, 2008]
JIAXING, China, April 24 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRD), one of China’s leading wireless baseband chipset providers, today announced during the “International Handset Supply Chain Summit 2008” that Spreadtrum and WingTech Group have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at leveraging their respective leading edge chip and handset design technologies. This two-day summit, sponsored by Jiaxing Communication Industry Association and organized by WingTech Communication Science and Technology Co. Ltd., promotes the theme of “Developing hand in hand for mutual benefits in the future.”
The announced Spreadtrum-WingTech partnership is expected to benefit both companies and their customers as it is intended to capitalize on Spreadtrum’s technology expertise in developing chipsets and WingTech’s strengths in handset design for the industry. With the establishment of this new strategic partnership, WingTech will deploy Spreadtrum’s SC6600W chip in its handsets. The SC6600W is a single chip quad-band GSM/GPRS multimedia baseband intended for WingTech handsets targeted at feature rich entry-level phones that include features such as MP3 playback, stereo output, voice recording, and Bluetooth interface for wireless data transmissions. Like Spreadtrum’s other highly integrated basebands, the SC6600W features an integrated multimedia processor and built-in power management circuits on a single chip, which should reduce production costs, while enabling customers such as WingTech to develop new, differentiated products within a quick time-to-market threshold.
Referring to this strategic partnership, president of WingTech Group, Zhang Xueying said, “WingTech and Spreadtrum have a long history of close and steady partnership. Spreadtrum’s advanced technologies and products are one of the important factors that account for WingTech’s rapid growth. By entering this partnership, we believe we will be in the best possible position to win additional market share through use of the customized SC6600W chip, since it may greatly reduce the time-to-market and overall cost while improving core competitiveness of our products. This announcement further strengthens the strategic alliance between our two companies, but also starts a new mode of business collaboration in the industry to push the differentiation of the terminal products. WingTech will commit itself to unite all the segments in the industry to develop hand in hand for mutual benefits in the future.”
Dr. Ping Wu, President and CEO of Spreadtrum, expressed, “By establishing this strategic partnership, we hope to expand and deepen the cooperation with WingTech in technology, marketing and other aspects to further expand our markets and accelerate our respective technology innovation. We believe that closer cooperation between the handset design solution provider and chip designer will be in everyone’s interest to further improve the features and diversity of future handset products. We look forward to a sustained, close partnership with WingTech and to driving a new round of development in China’s communication industry.”
About Spreadtrum:
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPRD; “Spreadtrum”) is a fabless semiconductor company that designs, develops, and markets baseband processor solutions for the mobile wireless communications market. Spreadtrum combines its semiconductor design expertise with its software development capabilities to deliver highly-integrated baseband processors with multimedia functionality and power management. Spreadtrum has developed its solutions based on an open development platform, enabling its customers to develop customized wireless products that are feature-rich and meet their cost and time-to-market requirements.
For more information, please check: http://www.spreadtrum.com
About WingTech:
WingTech group was founded in Hong Kong at the end of 2005 and ever since then, it has been devoting to R&D, manufacturing and marketing of mobile terminals. The main business scope includes complete design solution for mobile phones and value-added services based on mobile terminals. With technological strength and excellent products, after only two years from its establishment, WingTech has risen to be one of the top Chinese mobile companies
Meanwhile WingTech has well established itself in India:
– originally as a feature phone ODM for a number of leading local brands in India, as evidenced by: Wingtech Group [microsite on Importers.com, May 31, 2010]:
Company already designing mobiles for Lava, Karbon, Spice, Intex, Videocon, Micromax, G-five. Now plannig to launch their own brand”WING”. Looking for importers.
– in addition indeed introducing its first own brand, WING in 2010, as evidenced by the History page of a separate http://www.wingtele.com/ site
– then by the already referenced Callbar brand a year later, as evidenced by another separate site http://www.callbar.in
– then becoming available under the Wingtech brand itself, evidenced by Wingtech Mobile Phones in India [Sulekha.com] microsite
Background: MediaTek: Ready For Prime Time [stock analysis report from Maybank, April 25, 2013]
…
With smartphones hitting the mainstream market, the replacement cycle for feature phones seems to be accelerating and tablet adoption in the emerging markets (in particular China) is gathering momentum. Against this backdrop, we think MTK may have to raise its target unit shipments of 400-450m smartphones and 100m tablets for 2013.
Best positioned to benefit from new secular trend. MTK is stepping up efforts to diversify its product portfolio to capture the proliferation of smart devices. It will have all its application processors (APs) on 28nm node this year, with designs based on the latest Cortex-A7 and/or Cortex-A15. By mid-year, it will introduce several low-cost models (MT6572/6582/6589M) to consolidate its position in the white-box market and enhance its cost structure. Also, MTK will foray into tablet markets (MT8389/8135 [big.Little design]), a new addressable market. By 4Q13, it will sample its high-end 4G/LTE/LTE-TDSCDMA modem chipset. Importantly, the ongoing consolidation of the AP industry and recent hiring of high-profile executives from Qualcomm could spur MTK to become a major force in the global smart device industry.
…
We note that MTK’s shipments include the white-box market, which is not captured by third-party research firms such as IDC. As such, analysing the change in MTK’s handset types may offer a clue to the dynamics of the handset industry, especially in the global emerging markets. We estimate MTK may ship close to 90m smartphones in 1H13 and its full-year target of 200m units (400-450m for global emerging markets) thus seems too conservative to us. An official upgrade in shipment per se and industry revisions should be expected. We currently forecast MTK to ship 235-240m smartphones in 2013. Back in November last year, our industry forecast of 500-550m unit shipments sounded aggressive, but now, it might look realistic given the speed of the replacement cycle and the popularity of smartphones in the global emerging countries.
…
Best positioned to benefit from new secular trend. MTK is stepping up efforts to diversify its product portfolio to capture the proliferation of smart devices. It will have all its APs on 28nm node this year, with designs based on the latest CortexA7 and/or Cortex-A15. In this section, we provide an update on MTK’s new products and compare them to some of the solutions offered by its peers. Figures 7-8 illustrate the timeline of product introduction and specifications.
MT6572 enters mass production in 2Q13 with the first shipment expected between late-May and June. MT6572 (dual-core, Cortex A7) is designed to replace MT6515 (single-core, Cortex A9) with significant cost savings and battery life enhancement. The die size of MT6572 is significantly smaller (than MT6515) and this AP comes with an integrated WiFi chipset – the first for MTK. Coupled with 28nm node and requiring only four layers of PCB board, we believe MT6572 offers significant cost savings for handset OEMs. MT6572 will also be a significant volume runner for MTK as it comes with various connectivity such as MT6572E (for 2.75G), MT6572T (TD-SCDMA) and MT6572W (WCDMA). The W-version targets smartphones with ASP of CNY1,000 (USD160) while the E-and-T-versions will go well-below CNY1,000 (USD100-125), and both should be well-received by the white-box market. We believe MT6572T can hold its own against Spreadtrum’s latest SC8825 (dual-core Cortex A5, TD-SCDMA on 40nm node and without integrated WiFi).
The MT6582 has features similar to those of the MT6572 but the former comes with Quad-core, Cortex A7 engines as opposed to the latter’s dualcore engine. Like the MT6572, MT6582 targets the white-box market for better system performance. We expect volume shipments to commence in 3Q13. We believe the MT6582W will compete well with Qualcomm’s MSM8225Q, the low-end Quad-core Cortex A5 AP which only supports WCDMA networks.
MT6589M is a cost-down version of the currently leading quad-core MT6589, which began shipment in March and has found favour among OEM customers (60-70 clients) in China. MT6589M shares most of the features and design architecture of MT6589. But it comes with HD and 8MP camera compared with full HD and 13MP camera for the latter. In addition, we estimate MTK could achieve 15-20% cost savings on MT6589M by tweaking some foundry and back-end processes. As such, MT6589M offers a lower cost solution for handset OEMs who do not wish to equip their smartphones with similar high-end features as MT6589. With a lower ASP, MTK could narrow the price gap between MT6589M and Qualcomm’s MSM8225Q by 10-15% and yet offer better features. We estimate the price gap between MT6589 and MSM8225Q currently is at least 30-40%. That being said, we note that MSM8225Q is a quad-core using Cortex A5 and 40nm node, and does not support TD-SCDMA network.
China: Entry-level dual core IPS WVGA (480×800) smartphones $65+ now, quad-core $70+ in June
China market: Qualcomm, Spreadtrum cutting quad-core processor prices [DIGITIMES, April 25, 2013]
Qualcomm and Spreadtrum Communications have both cut prices for their quad-core products to better compete against MediaTek, which controls half of the smartphone-chip market in China, according to industry sources.
Qualcomm recently quoted its quad-core solutions at less than US$10, slightly cheaper than MediaTek’s offerings, the sources indicated. Meanwhile, Spreadtrum has lowered its quad-core processor prices to similar levels. Both firms are trying to gain market share through aggressive pricing, the sources said.
Monthly shipments of MediaTek’s smartphone chips have topped 15 million units recently, and even approached the 20 million level, the sources revealed. The booming shipments already lifted MediaTek’s share of China’s smartphone-IC market to 50%, the sources said.
MediaTek’s quad-core solutions reportedly have attracted orders from Coolpad, Huawei, Lenovo and ZTE.
In other news, MediaTek has reported higher-than-expected sales for the first quarter of 2013. The firm has scheduled an investors meeting on May 6 to discuss its performance in the first quarter, and business outlook.
Remark: the inserted slides are from 1Q13 Investor Roadshow Presentation [Feb 26, 2013] from Spreadtrum
And as $48 Mogu M0 “peoplephone”, i.e. an Android smartphone for everybody to hit the Chinese market on November 15 [Nov 9, 2012]
now Mogu S2 went on sale today [China Smartphones, April 22, 2013]
A leader in the production of super cheap smart phones, the Chinese company Mogu, today held a preliminary sales of its new budget smartphone Mogu S2. The official price of the unit is 399 yuan, or about $65. Today, the sale was put on a limited batch of 5000 smartphones at the price of 299 yuan ($48).
Mogu S2 is running the 2-core processor with a clock speed of 1.2 Ghz, and used 4-inch screen with a resolution of WVGA [480×800] to display the information. In addition there is 512 MB RAM, 4GB of ROM and a 5-megapixel camera. A nice addition is its support for two SIM cards, modules, WIFI, Bluetooth, and GPS. The operating system is installed MOGO OS (Android 2.3 Gingerbread).
Additional key information from the company’s product page [MOGU蘑菇手机, April 20, 2013]: i.e. IPS display and the Spreadtrum SC8825 or SC6825 SoC
We’ve seen the effect of the earlier SC6820 SoC leading to Temporary Nokia setback in India [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, April 28, 2013]. This is how Spreadtrum presented this situtation recently:
The two new SoCs are the same to the maximum as SC8825 has only the following additional functionality:
TD-SCDMA standards (3GPP R7), 2010~2025MHz / 1880~1920MHz/2300~2400MHz
and prospects for that additional functionality (internal to China) were presented as exceptionally bright by the company:
Spreadtrum Announces Commercial Launch of Dual-Core Smartphone Chipsets for TD-SCDMA and EDGE [press release, April 2, 2013]
SC8825 (TD-SCDMA) and SC6825 (EDGE) set new standard for dual-core smartphone chipset cost and performance with high level of integration, standout graphics performance and best-in-class TD-SCDMA technology
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider inChina with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced the commercial availability of its dual-core 1.2GHz smartphone chipsets for TD-SCDMA (SC8825) and EDGE (SC6825), following the successful qualification of its platform by China Mobile.
“With our new dual-core chipsets, Spreadtrum has leveraged our expertise in system design to deliver the lowest-cost dual-core platform in combination with high end graphics performance for the TD-SCDMA and EDGE markets,” said Dr. Leo Li, chairman and CEO of Spreadtrum. “This combination of low-cost architecture, standout graphics performance, and best-in-class TD-SCDMA technology provides smartphone designers with unprecedented value in bringing high end features to low-cost devices.”
Spreadtrum’s SC8825, which supports dual-mode TD-SCDMA/HSPA & EDGE/GPRS/GSM and the SC6825, which supports EDGE/GPRS/GSM, are based on a highly efficient multi-core architecture delivering the lowest cost platform available for dual-core TD-SCDMA and EDGE smartphone products. The single-chip chipsets integrate a dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A5 core processor, a dual-core Mali 400 graphics processor and multimedia and hardware accelerators for differentiated performance and user experience. Both chipsets are further paired with a single-chip mutimode RF transceiver for a high level of integration and are pin-to-pin compatible, enabling handset makers to leverage a common handset development effort for products shipping to China as well as to emerging markets.
In addition to their high level of integration and low-cost architecture, Spreadtrum’s chipsets further deliver standout graphics performance. The solutions’ powerful graphics processing capability enhances the user experience for games and other graphics-rich applications, and enables Spreadtrum to bring high end features such as the larger screen sizes more commonly found in premium smartphones to low-cost devices.
“The benchmark results we are achieving for our dual-core solution, measured by popular benchmark programs such as AnTuTu and GLBenchmark 2.5, significantly outperform other commercial dual-core products,” added Dr. Li. “This powerful processing capability provides our customers with an even more cost-effective and power-efficient way to deliver high end features in low-cost smartphones.”
Other features of Spreadtrum’s SC8825 and SC6825 chipsets include support for HD 1280×720 LCD display, H.264 720p video playback, up to 8 megapixel RGB camera and dual-SIM, dual-standby capability. The chipsets ship with turnkey Android and systems software, reducing the engineering time and resources required by handset makers to bring devices to market, with reference implementations available for both 4-layer and 6-layer PCB layouts.
The SC8825 and SC6825 are commercially available now. The chipsets have already been incorporated by leading China handset makers into smartphone models that are expected to ship commercially during 2Q 2013.
About Spreadtrum Communications, Inc.
Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRD; “Spreadtrum”) is a fabless semiconductor company that develops mobile chipset platforms for smartphones, feature phones and other consumer electronics products, supporting 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards. Spreadtrum’s solutions combine its highly integrated, power-efficient chipsets with customizable software and reference designs in a complete turnkey platform, enabling customers to achieve faster design cycles with a lower development cost. Spreadtrum’s customers include global and China-based manufacturers developing mobile products for consumers in China and emerging markets around the world. For more information, visit www.spreadtrum.com.
SC8825 TD-HSPA+/TD-SCDMA/GSM/GPRS/EDGE Baseband Chip [product site, April 2, 2013]
Spreadtrum’s SC8825 is a highly integrated mixed signal baseband processor for dual-mode TD-SCDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA/HSPA+ and GSM/GPRS/EDGE applications. SC8825 integrates a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A5 processor, a dual-core Mali 400 graphics processor and multimedia and hardware accelerators in a highly efficient system architecture that brings differentiated performance and user experience to low-cost smartphones. SC8825 is coupled with Spreadtrum’s single-chip tri-band TD-SCDMA/quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM RF transceiver for small footprint, and ships with turnkey Android systems software for rapid time to market and efficiency in handset design.
SC8825 Baseband Chip Diagram
SC8825 Key Features
Core Description
- ARM Cortex-A5 dual-core, clock speeds up to 1.2GHz
- 32KB I-Cache, 32KB D-Cache
- 32KB I-Cache, 32KB D-Cache
- 128bit FP data path
Communication Features
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE standards, GSM850/EGSM900/DCS1800/PCS1900
- EGPRS Class 12
- TD-SCDMA standards (3GPP R7), 2010~2025MHz / 1880~1920MHz/2300~2400MHz
- HR, FR, EFR, AMR-NB
- HSPA+ 4.2 Mbps，HSUPA 2.2 Mbps
Multimedia Support For
- Mali 400 GPU MP2, 40MTri/s, 700Mpix/s, OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0
- Decoder: MPEG4/H.263 720p@30fps; H.264 720p@30fps ; VP8 720p@30fps
- Encoder:H.263/H.264/MPEG4 D1@30fps
- Video Streaming: MPEG4/H.263/H.264 720p@30fps
- 3G-324M Video Telephony
- 8 MP Camera Sub-system JPEG decoder/encoder
- Support MP3/AAC/AAC+/MIDI/AMR-NB/WAV format
- Audio codec included
LCD Display Features
- Support up to HD resolution
- Built-in LCD Controller，touch panel controller
- MIPI and RGB @60fps
- Support OSD / Rotation / Scaling
Memory I/F Support For
- NAND flash(8bit and 16 bit devices)
- HW ECC, multi-bit ECC
- 2G byte SDR/LPDDR1/LPDDR2 (16bit and 32bit devices)
- eMMC(4.4.1) boot
Peripheral I/F Support For
- HS USB 2.0
- 4 x UART
- 3 x SPI interface , 3-wire SPI,4-wire SPI, synchronous SPI
- 4 x I2C interfaces
- 2 x I2S and PCM interface
- 3 x SDIO interfaces
- 1 x eMMC interfaces
- 2 x SIM/USIM interfaces
- 4 x PWM outputs
- ETM port
- More than 100 GPIO pins
- 8*8 keyboard interfaces
Other Features
- Operating ambient temperature range: -45 to +95 degrees centigrade
- 12.1mm×12.1mm 517-ball, 0.4mm ball pitch
SC6825 GSM/GPRS/EDGE Baseband Chip [product site, April 2, 2013]
Spreadtrum’s SC6825 is a highly integrated mixed signal baseband processor for GSM/GPRS/EDGE applications. SC6825 integrates a dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A5 core processor, a dual-core Mali 400 graphics processor and multimedia and hardware accelerators in a highly efficient system architecture that brings differentiated performance and user experience to low-cost smartphones. SC6825 is coupled with Spreadtrum’s single-chip quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM RF transceiver for small footprint, and ships with turnkey Android systems software for rapid time to market and efficiency in handset design.
SC6825 Baseband Chip Diagram
SC6825 Key Features
Core Description
- ARM Cortex-A5 dual-core, clock speeds up to 1.2GHz
- 32KB I-Cache, 32KB D-Cache
- 256KB L2 Cache
- 128bit FP data path
Communication Features
- GSM/GPRS/EDGE standards, GSM850/EGSM900/DCS1800/PCS1900
- EGPRS Class 12
- HR, FR, EFR, AMR-NB
Multimedia Support For
- Mali 400 GPU MP2, 40MTri/s, 700Mpix/s, OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0
- Decoder:MPEG4/H.263 720p@30fps; H.264 720p@30fps ; VP8 720p@30fps
- Encoder:H.263/H.264/MPEG4 D1@30fps
- Video Streaming: MPEG4/H.263/H.264 720p@30fps
- 3G-324M Video Telephony
- 8 MP Camera Sub-system JPEG decoder/encoder
- Support MP3/AAC/AAC+/MIDI/AMR-NB/WAV format
- Audio codec included
LCD Display Features
- Support up to HD resolution
- Built-in LCD Controller，touch panel controller
- MIPI and RGB @60fps
- Support OSD / Rotation / Scaling
Memory I/F Support For
- NAND flash(8bit and 16 bit devices)
- HW ECC, multi-bit ECC
- 2G byte SDR/LPDDR1/LPDDR2 (16bit and 32bit devices)
- eMMC(4.4.1) boot
Peripheral I/F Support For
- HS USB 2.0
- 4 x UART
- 3 x SPI interface , 3-wire SPI,4-wire SPI, synchronous SPI
- 4 x I2C interfaces
- 2 x I2S and PCM interface
- 3 x SDIO interfaces
- 1 x eMMC interfaces
- 2 x SIM/USIM interfaces
- 4 x PWM outputs
- ETM port
- More than 100 GPIO pins
- 8*8 keyboard interfaces
Other Features
- Operating ambient temperature range: -45 to +95 degrees centigrade
- 12.1mm×12.1mm 517-ball, 0.4mm ball pitch
Temporary Nokia setback in India
According to “Samsung Nokia India GfK-Nielsen” search from April 25 to April 28, 2013:
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Indeed Nokia has sold only 5 million Asha full touch smartphones during the quarter, registering a 46% decline QoQ. CEO Stephen Elop noted that Asha Full Touch smartphone series is currently into its 9 month, and that Nokia would “in the very near term” refresh the product line. See: Nokia: Continued moderate progress with Lumia, urgent Asha Touch refresh and new innovations to come against the onslaught of unbranded Android and forked Android players in China and India [‘Experiencing the Cloud, April 18, 2013]
Remark: The above ones were The Hottest Selling Handsets in India Below Rs 5000 [$92] [Gizbot, April 19, 2013]. Their prices are as of April 28, 2013. They are only 2.75G but with dual SIM support. The Micromax Bolt A35 is using the Spreadtrum SC6820 SoC for which it was already indicated that:
– $48 Mogu M0 “peoplephone”, i.e. an Android smartphone for everybody to hit the Chinese market on November 15 [‘Experiencing the Cloud, Nov 9, 2012]
– Lowest H2’12 device cost SoCs from Spreadtrum will redefine the entry level smartphone and feature phone markets [‘Experiencing the Cloud, July 26 – Aug 16, 2012]
– World’s lowest cost, US$40-50 Android smartphones — sub-$100 retail — are enabled by Spreadtrum [‘Experiencing the Cloud, Dec 11, 2011 – Feb 27, 2012]
Note that the XMM 2250m is the latest incarnation of the XMM 2250 SoC from Infineon (now Intel).
Note, however, that the upcoming “in the very near term” refresh of the Asha Full Touch product line will continue with Nokia’s strategy for “the next billion” based on software and web optimization with super low-cost 2.5/2.75G SoCs [‘Experiencing the Cloud, Feb 14 – April 23, 2012] which was well proven in H2’12 as seen on the above diagram. As described in the post its software optimization is based on the unique Smarterphone end-to-end software solution for “the next billion” Nokia users [‘Experiencing the Cloud, Jan 9-11, 2012], while its web optimization on an even more unique browser technology which “reduces data consumption by up to 90%”.
In fact Nokia “just” needs to improve its value proposition against the entry level Android phones of the local brands (like Micromax and Karbonn) because its stance against the competing Samsung REX model is not bad at all (and the optimisations were even not taken into the account):
Nokia Asha 305 “6” vs “5” Samsung Rex 70 S3802 [MoreCellPhone, March 11, 2013]
And the Mobile Phone chosen is…
The choice of the MoreCellPhone is Nokia Asha 305
18 Items in common between the devices
More internal storage for photos and files
10MB user available
More external storage with the use of memory cards
Until 32GB
This device has a TFT LCD screen, which are brighter and more vivid
TFT LCD
More colors on the screen is better quality images and videos
65 thousand
Larger screen
3″
Higher resolution camera
2 MegaPixels (1.92)
The zoom allows for better focus and approach to take pictures
Only digital zoom
The 2G EDGE network is newer and faster
2G EDGE
Faster for surfing the internet and download files
0.236 Mbps
Better touch type. Multitouch allows to use more fingers at the same time
Multitouch
Headsets with 3.5mm Jack size are more common and easy to find in stores
3.5mm plug
Sensors help you use the device
Accelerometer / Proximity
Removable battery can be replaced easily
Lithium-ion – Removable
Speakerphone is useful when you are driving and on other occasions
Supported
The vibration of the device aids in the use of several features
Supported
With more SIM card slots you can have more operators and choose which one to use
2 slots DualSIM
The radio lets you listen to your songs and sports in general
FM with RDS / FM
More speed data transfer as mp3 and photos via USB
USB 2.0 Micro-B (Micro-USB)
In detail: Samsung overthrows Nokia to become the largest seller of mobile phones in [urban] India [The Economic Times, April 26, 2013]
KOLKATA: Samsung has overtaken Nokia to become the largest seller of mobilephones in the country’s major markets, as consumers lap up its new feature phones and its smartphones continue to do brisk business.
According to market tracker GfK-Nielsen’s data, Samsung‘s volume market share in urban areas in March rose to 31.4%, surpassing Nokia‘s 30.1%. GfK-Nielsen urban panel tracks sales in 793 cities and towns with a population of over 50,000, which account for more than 70% of India’s total handset sales.
This is the first time the Korean company’s volume market share has crossed that of Nokia’s in the GfK-Nielsen survey. The all-India figures, which will include rural sales, will be released shortly.
Some months ago, Samsung’s market share, measured in value terms, had exceeded that of Nokia’s, and there is now a considerable gap between the two due to growing demand for the Korean firm’s smartphones.
NEW MODELS PUSH SALES
Last month, Samsung‘s value market share in urban markets stood at 42.2% compared with Nokia‘s 20.7%. Analysts say Samsung’s gain in volume market share last month is led by the recent introduction of the Rex feature phone series and strong demand for smartphones such as Galaxy Grand and Note 2, the top-selling models at multi-brand retail outlets. Its newest premium smartphone, Galaxy S4, will be launched in India on Friday.
A Nokia India spokesperson said the company did not comment on country-specific market data, and added that it was executing its strategy with ‘urgency and at a new clock speed’. The spokesperson said at the higher end of the price spectrum, the company had launched ten Nokia Lumia devices in the past 16 months and claimed that Asha 305 was the best-selling smartphone in India.
“We are competing at every price point with better mobile experience. Nokia will continue to deliver new and innovative solutions to consumers,” she said.
Notwithstanding these initiatives, analysts and experts feel that Nokia’s more than a decade-long leadership in the Indian handset market is under threat. The company, which once enjoyed a dominant 80% market share, has never completely recovered from its failure to anticipate and react to the dual-SIM handset boom a few years ago.
“It’s truly unbelievable the way Nokia fell in India in the past six years. The brand failed to rejuvenate itself and fell prey to customer fatigue. Add to that the speed of execution – while Samsung was taking six months to launch a new model from the drawing board to retail store, Nokia was taking more than a year,” said former BlackBerry India head Sunil Dutt, who was Nokia’s head of sales till 2007. A Samsung India spokeswoman declined comment on the market share data. But Samsung India’s Country Head (mobile phone & digital imaging) Vineet Taneja said the company has gained market share.
“Samsung has created new segments, such as the Note series or the Rex series, which was developed in India. We have developed a strong product portfolio straddling across entry-level smartphones till the premium segment,” said Taneja. The Korean company has been the leader in the smartphones segment since end-2011, even as it trailed Nokia in the overall handset market.
Are smartphones in India at a tipping point with 10% overall mobile shares? [The Economic Times, April 23, 2013]
Ten per cent. It’s a number that has come to mean much for smartphones — the category of phones with computing prowess. It’s the point where a critical mass of buyers meets a pool of sellers to create the perfect storm. This phenomenon — 10% share as a tipping point — played out in Western economies. It played out in China, where the share of smartphones in total phone shipments rocketed from 9% to 59% in two years. And it’s playing out in Brazil and Russia, where the corresponding number surged to 32% and 46%, respectively, in the same period.
Will India, where smartphones hit 10% earlier this year, follow suit? A sustained build-up is underway to add charge to that figure. The price of entry-level smartphones has dropped to around Rs 4,000 [$74], from Rs 15,000 [$276] two years ago. “It’s compelling buyers to opt for fancier phones,” says Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst of Gartner India, who feels something fundamentally changed for the Indian market in the last quarter of 2012. “We are at the tipping point.” However, Sashi Shankar, chief marketing officer of Idea Cellular, says handset prices have to fall further.
“The market is expanding fast, but a tipping point is still about a year away,” he says. “We need smartphones for around Rs 3,000 [$55].” Even that new floor may not be far away. During his visit to India last month, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, hinted at a $50 ( Rs 2,700) smartphone powered by its Android operating system. At the other end of the price spectrum, Apple and Samsung are in the midst of a blitz to package affordability through financing schemes and replacement offers. And the number of sellers has hit 30, with recent entrants including a Chinese computer company (Lenovo), a Chinese phone company (Gionee) and consumer durable manufacturers (Videocon and Salora).
They are all looking to add to the pool of 50 million smartphone owners in India. The challenge for them is to coax India’s 700 million users, 70% of whom have handsets that cost below Rs 2,000, to switch. “The replacement market is driving the bulk of sales,” says Amar Babu, MD of Lenovo India. IDC, a technology consultancy, projects smartphone sales growing at a compounded 57% in the next five years, against 10% for feature phones. “About 20% of the phones that Samsung sells are smartphones, and this has doubled in the past one year,” says Asim Warsi, VP, Samsung Mobile, which has a dozen smartphones priced from Rs 7,000 to Rs 42,000.
“By 2015, about a third of shipments will be smartphones, 67 million out of an expected market of 230 million,” adds Vipul Mehrotra, director, smart devices, Nokia India. Although that is phenomenal growth by any yardstick, it might still not translate into the hockey-stick trajectory that other markets witnessed because of the way the Indian mobile ecosystem is set up and its inherent weaknesses.
No Carrier-Based Model
While handset makers say the tipping point is here, analysts feel the real tipping point is still 18-24 months away. “It will come when users see value in it beyond a fashion accessory — like use it for mcommerce, m-banking and even entertainment,” says Mohammad Chowdhury, leader, telecom, PricewaterhouseCoopers. “Mobile will be the main mode of internet access, but we need cheaper data plans, better phones at lower costs, and content in Indian languages.” According to Chowdhury, China and western markets took off at 10% as, unlike India, theirs is a carrier-based model. “Phones came bundled with the internet and were sold by operators,” he says.
In India people buy a phone independent of the carrier. “About 95% of the mobile base in India is pre-paid,” he adds. “They don’t have credit cards, debit cards or e-payment services, essential for a carrier-based model.” A carrier-based model requires a telecom company to buy handsets and manage inventory. “The cost is higher for telcos and they have to enter into revenue share agreements with device makers,” says Arvind Vohra, director of Gionee India. “In a market where margins are low, a carrier-based model won’t work.” Instead, at the lower end, sellers are playing the price card.
“It’s beginning to pick up,” says Warsi. “Smartphone makers are able to push a dearer phone, where the margins are better, for a monthly instalment no more than a cost of a family dinner outing.” Features and Data Plans Although prices are falling, the value for a user at the lower-end centres more around the feel and an initial experience of a smartphone, rather than an expanding engagement. According to Vohra, entry-level devices currently account for 30% to 35% of the market.
“Location based services or high-definition gaming apps may not run on them,” says Saurav Singh, founder-CEO, AppStudioz, a mobile app developer. But, adds Shashin Devsare, executive director of Karbonn Mobiles: “For a new smartphone buyer opting for an entry-level phone, being able to browse, chat with friends on Facebook or send emails is a new thing. He can then upgrade.” Data is the other hurdle towards a speedy transition. Device makers blame operators, who are exhausting their spectrum capacity and have limited money to buy more, for not upgrading their networks to 3G, compromising the internet experience.
“One-third of the smartphones sold are not 3G, but 2.75G,” says Jerold Pereira, business head, handset division, Videocon. “And in remote areas, 3G is still not there. So, users won’t get value out of their top-end smart device.” For example, of its subscriber base of 117 million, Idea Cellular had 4.7 million 3G users. Shankar of Idea argues that prices of data plans have dropped by half to Rs 250 [$4.5]per month for 1GB, and that it’s the content and devices that need to improve. Despite teething troubles, the mobile is gaining traction in data transactions.
According to Reserve Bank of India, mobile banking transactions in January 2013 doubled to 5.6 million and trebled in value to Rs 625 crore, from a year ago. Elsewhere, Flipkart reports a three-fold increase in transactions via handsets. Gupta of Gartner believes such usage will accelerate the migration to smartphones, which offer a better experience. Pereira of Videocon points to falling prices and doubling sales across industry to drive home the point that, despite hiccups, mobile phones are set for a upgrade. “In 2011, 10 million smartphones were sold and all were at least Rs 10,000 [$184] or higher,” he says.
“In 2012, the market doubled to 20 million, at Rs 8,000- Rs 10,000 [$147-184]. This year, 45-50 million devices will be sold and prices have dropped below Rs 6,000 [$110].” Even if this is not the tipping point, it’s formidable by numbers. And the real tipping point is not far away.
Samsung’s REX series aims to take on Nokia’s Asha but misses the point [BGR India, Feb 14, 2013]
Samsung today announced its REX series of feature phones, which intend to take on Nokia’s Asha range. Unlike Nokia, which calls its Asha full-touch devices smartphones, Samsung correctly calls its REX series as smart feature phones, considering it is based entirely on Java. While some of the phones in the series, especially the REX 90, share design cues with Samsung’s Galaxy S III and feel very premium for its price, there is no real reason for the products to exist apart from having something in the portfolio to counter Nokia’s Asha series.
Unlike Nokia, which seems to be investing both time and R&D dollars on taking the S40 platform a few steps further than what it was originally built for, the Java-based REX phones have no future path. “As far as S40 goes, think of it as if it had been sleeping all this while and has just woken up. We are working to make it even better and there is lot more to come. We are also getting many big developers to make apps for Asha series,” Calin Turcanu, the head of Nokia’s mobile phone division for Middle East and Africa, told me earlier this week at the global launch of the Asha 310.
The REX series, on the other hand is severely limited by its operating system and there is very little Samsung can do to improve the experience. Samsung also does not have a content story in place – it does not have a huge music store (Samsung typically ties up wih Hungama for its music offering in India) and it does not have any navigation or location play either. In other words, I don’t see these REX phones any different from Samsung’s Star and Pop series, which it introduced a few years ago. And there is nothing that app developers can do to give users a better experience, which is close to smartphones.
Considering how far Samsung was able to go with creating an ecosystem with its Bada operating system, which was more scalable and had more scope for apps and services, I don’t see any way that the Korean vendor can take the REX series’ experience a few notches above its current state.
Samsung knows a Rs 5,000 Android smartphone cannot give the same experience as Nokia’s Asha and it did not have any other in-house platform that could do what Nokia’s ageing but still alive S40 did with the Asha phones. I don’t see the REX series surviving very long, though it would do well initially if we consider Samsung’s marketing muscle and the push it would give to counter Asha full-touch phones. But it certainly has no future when it comes to addressing the needs of the consumer or taking them to the next level.
[REX 70] Introducing Samsung REX 70 [SAMSUNGmobile YouTube channel, Feb 25, 2013]
More information: Samsung REX [company microsite]
Samsung Introduces the New REX Series Smart Feature Phones [press release, Feb 13, 2013]
Samsung aims to evolve mobile communications in emerging markets through easily accessible smart feature phones
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today announced the launch of REX, a new series of smart feature phones that combine intelligence and capability to deliver an accessible, next-generation mobile experience for all.
“As the number one mobile leader and innovator, we are committed to developing the best possible mobile solutions to suit all lifestyles and budgets, which is why we are so excited to launch the REX series across a number of the world’s fastest growing markets,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics. “REX devices are designed to seamlessly prioritize and consolidate essential mobile functions that matter most to customers across diverse markets. The result is an extraordinary end-to-end mobile experience with the best value for money.”
The Samsung REX series consists of four devices: REX 90, REX 80, REX 70, and REX 60. Each device has been tailored to give users access to a variety of unique features that have been developed to enhance their day-to-day needs and lifestyles at a highly affordable budget. Merging advanced functionality and intuitive usability, the REX series delivers practical solutions to complement daily mobile needs. Its responsive QVGA touch-screen user interface with intelligent features is designed to deliver a simpler, intelligent user experience for those who value the essentials.
Other features include:
– Intuitive and easy full touch UX : The simple, user-friendly Touchwiz interface makes it easier to navigate your mobile phone. Menu choices are organized into icons arranged 4×4 on the large display for easy viewing. Access to social networking services is just a click away, and practical widgets offer easy access to weather and other frequently-used applications.
– Stylish and compact design : The curved design of the Samsung REX series is inspired by the aesthetics of nature. Its compact size gives users a comfortable grip and allows convenient one-hand operation. The brushed metal frame, organic nature-inspired design, and delicate back cover create a modern, sophisticated look that will fit perfectly with your personal life.
– Dual SIM Always-On : Customers who want to keep their personal and work calls separate will enjoy the convenience of Dual SIM on the Samsung REX series, offering the functionality of having two phones with just one mobile unit. To ensure no calls are missed, Dual SIM Always On allows you to receive calls on one SIM even when you are on the phone using the other. The Samsung REX series allows you to switch between a maximum of five SIM cards without rebooting your mobile. Ideal for business trips to different coverage areas or for those wanting more flexibility between calling plans, the Dual SIM feature puts you in control of your mobile experience.
– Essential mobile intelligence : Featuring all the essentials for an intelligent mobile experience, the Samsung REX series guarantees fast web-browsing and app support through the Opera Mini. By doing so, the REX series enables seamless communication through social networking and messaging services, including the cross-platform ChatOn, which means users can remain connected with their friends at all times.
“Feature phones continue to represent a large opportunity for mobile handset makers, especially in price-constrained emerging markets,” said Ian Fogg, senior principal analyst, mobile and telecommunications research at IHS. “IHS estimates that there will be 653 million feature and entry-level mobile phones shipped globally in 2013. Entry-level smartphones must compete with ever smarter touch screen feature phones that offer many of the same social network, games, and mobile Internet benefits as smartphones but at an even more compelling price.”
A clear indication of Samsung’s commitment to pioneering mobile communication growth across the emerging markets, the REX series devices will drive the “new normal” in future full-touch feature phone development.
Product Specifications
[Rex 90]
…
[Rex 80]
…
[Rex 70]
Network
EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
Display
3.0” QVGA TFT LCD, C[apacitive]-Type
Camera
2.0 Megapixel Camera
Video
H.263＋AMR , MPEG4＋AMR
Audio
AAC, AAC＋, AMR, MP3, i-Melody, MIDI, Polyphonic, WAV
SIM
Dual SIM with hot swap (option)
Contents
&
Services
- Samsung TouchWiz
- Samsung ChatOn mobile communication service
- Yahoo Messenger (Push IM), Gtalk, Facebook chat
- Enhanced SNS (Java Facebook, Twitter)
Web Browser
Opera Mini, Access NF
Connectivity
- USB 2.0 Host
- Bluetooth® v 3.0 HS
- WiFi 802/11(b/g/n)
Sensor
Proximity
Memory
- 10MB User Memory
- microSD Slot (up to 32GB)
Dimension
104.9 x 57.2 x 11.99 mm
Battery
1,000mAh
[Rex 60]
…
Nokia: Continued moderate progress with Lumia, urgent Asha Touch refresh and new innovations to come against the onslaught of unbranded Android and forked Android players in China and India
Nokia Corporation’s CEO Discusses Q1 2013 Results – Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha, April 18, 2013]
… At the highest level, I am pleased that in Q1 2013 Nokia Group achieved underlying operating profitability for the third quarter in a row. In a moment, I will share my perspective on Nokia’s Q1 performance. However, I wanted to first note that we believe this quarter further underscored that Nokia, and other industry participants continue to operate in one of the most exciting and fast moving business environments in the world today.
Compared to a year ago a lot has changed in our industry, and I wanted to share some of the trends we’re seeing. For example, the distance between the various Android participants seems starker than ever before as the dominance of one hardware vendor becomes more visible. Additionally, unbranded Android and forked Android players continue to emerge from China and India creating new dynamics both within and increasingly outside of Asia. With this growth in low-priced fragmented versions of Android the Android experience is becoming inconsistent across the lower-end price range.
In February, Mobile World Congress highlighted the growth in startup alternative platforms with many new entrants placing bets on next generation technologies like HTML5. While we have not yet seen one of these alternative platforms gain broad scale we should not underestimate what could happen if a dominant Android provider shifts some of its focus to an alternative platform.
We also saw new attempts to disrupt existing business models, whether it is the new Facebook home forking the Android experience or Amazon providing a differentiated tablet that forks the Android stack, we see leading technology companies take deliberate steps to change Android and possibly disrupt our industry. There are some patterns of change that seem inevitable. For example, consumers are expecting their digital lives to be more and more mobile as evidenced by the recent statistics about the shift towards mobility at the expense of less mobile PC experiences. Consumers are also increasingly discerning about the capabilities and new experiences that attract their attention. They are less interested in counting cores and pixel density, and more interested in experiences that are truly innovative.
This constant pattern of change in our industry is an opportunity. We believe we can move through the industry fragmentation and churn within unrelenting focus on executing our strategy. Thus, we remain focused on improving the competitiveness of our products effectively managing our costs and moving with urgency. …
…
People are responding positively to the new innovation throughout the Lumia portfolio imaging, design and navigation are capturing attention among reviewers, operators, retail associates and ultimately consumers. We believe we have increased the competitiveness of our Smart Devices, and as a result Lumia is clearly making progress. We’re pleased that today Lumia is even out shipping the iPhone in countries like Argentina, India, Poland, Ukraine and of course in our home country of Finland.
Importantly, the positive consumer reaction to the innovation and differentiation in Lumia is starting to come through in our numbers. We are encouraged by the financial performance of our newer Lumia devices based on Windows Phone 8, which generated not only solid growth, but also a gross margin in Q1 that was somewhat above the Smart Devices average.
At the same time, we’ve recognize that we must continue to increase our sales and improve our retail execution for Lumia. For example, in the United States, securing what operators call hero status or the top spot at the point of sale is critically important, because it attracts premium subsidies and additional marketing investment.
Later this quarter, a new Lumia device is anticipated to have hero status with a leading U.S. operator, an event which will mark the beginning of a season of new product introductions. Additionally, Nokia, Microsoft and operators have committed to increase the global Windows Phone marketing dollars towards Lumia. Together with Microsoft we are working on major marketing campaigns, training more retail associates, improving how we leverage operator marketing that is available to us, and seeding more live devices to create a more engaging point of sale experience. Overall, we are very pleased with our progress around Lumia.
…
… indeed we plan a refresh of elements of our mobile phones portfolio. Some of which has been announced, and it’s just landing in the market. For example, the very lowest price points the Nokia 105, which when you look at the volumes for Q1, some of the significant movement in volume levels were at the end of the predecessor to the 105 product line, that space, and now we’re just entering the market with new product there. And, of course, we’ve also signaled that in the very near term you should expect to see a freshening in the Asha product line. If you know, we’re roughly 9 months or so into the Asha full touch line relative to when we began shipping it.
So, reasonable to expect that it’s due for freshening and we’re looking forward to that in the near-term.
…
With respect to the Lumia portfolio going into Q2 some of the principal drivers of additional volume relate to the newer products that are entering the market, the 720 and 520 are important in this, particularly the 520. 520 is obviously at a lower price point and moving into markets, where that’s far more competitive than some of the hero products could be except for the people willing to pay top dollar for a device.
…
Nokia Corporation Q1 2013 Interim Report [April 18, 2013]
…
Nokia Group net sales in Q1 2013 were EUR 5.9 billion
– Devices & Services Q1 net sales decreased 25% quarter-on-quarter to EUR 2.9 billion.
– Lumia Q1 volumes increased 27% quarter-on-quarter to 5.6 million units, reflecting increasing momentum.
– Mobile Phones Q1 volumes decreased 30% quarter-on-quarter to 55.8 million units, reflecting competitive industry dynamics and an estimated higher than normal seasonal decline in the market addressable by Mobile Phones.
– Nokia Siemens Networks net sales decreased 30% quarter-on-quarter to EUR 2.8 billion, reflecting industry seasonality.Nokia Group net cash higher quarter-on-quarter
– Nokia Group ends first quarter 2013 with a strong balance sheet and solid cash position. Gross cash was EUR 10.1 billion and net cash was EUR 4.5 billion.
– Nokia Group strengthened its net cash position by approximately EUR 120 million sequentially. Nokia Siemens Networks contributed approximately EUR 210 million to the Nokia Group net cash position.…
NOKIA OUTLOOK
– Nokia expects its Devices & Services non-IFRS operating margin in the second quarter 2013 to be approximately negative 2 percent, plus or minus four percentage points. This outlook is based on Nokia’s expectations regarding a number of factors, including:
>> competitive industry dynamics continuing to negatively affect the Mobile Phones and Smart Devices business units;
>> consumer demand for our products, particularly for our Mobile Phones products;
>> continued ramp up for our Lumia smartphones;
>> expected increases in Devices & Services’ operating expenses; and
>> the macroeconomic environment.– In the second quarter 2013 supported by the wider availability of recently announced Lumia products, Nokia expects the sequential growth in Lumia unit volumes to be higher than the 27% sequential growth in the first quarter 2013.
– Nokia continues to target 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.
– Nokia expects HERE’s non-IFRS operating margin in the second quarter 2013 to be negative primarily due to lower recognized revenue from internal sales.
– Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks expect Nokia Siemens Networks non-IFRS operating margin in the second quarter 2013 to be approximately positive 5 percent, plus or minus four percentage points. This outlook is based on Nokia Siemens Networks’ expectations regarding a number of factors, including:>> competitive industry dynamics;
>> product and regional mix; and
>> the macroeconomic environment.– Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks continue to target to reduce Nokia Siemens Networks’ non-IFRS annualized operating expenses and production overheads by more than EUR 1 billion by the end of 2013, compared to the end of 2011.
…
In the first quarter 2013, we received a quarterly platform support payment of USD 250 million (approximately EUR 188 million) from Microsoft. Our agreement with Microsoft includes platform support payments from Microsoft to us as well as software royalty payments from us to Microsoft. Under the terms of the agreement governing the platform support payments, the amount of each quarterly platform support payment is USD 250 million. We have a competitive software royalty structure, which includes annual minimum software royalty commitments that vary over the life of the agreement. Software royalty payments, with minimum commitments are paid quarterly. Over the life of the agreement, both the platform support payments and the minimum software royalty commitments are expected to measure in the billions of US dollars. Over the life of the agreement the total amount of the platform support payments is expected to slightly exceed the total amount of the minimum software royalty commitment payments. In accordance with the terms of the agreement, the platform support payments and annual minimum software royalty commitment payments continue for a corresponding period of time.
…
The following table sets forth the mobile device volumes for our Devices & Services business for the periods indicated, as well as the year-on-year and sequential growth rates, by geographic area.
DEVICES & SERVICES MOBILE DEVICE VOLUMES BY GEOGRAPHIC AREA
million units |
Q1/2013 |
Q1/2012 |
YoY
|
Q4/2012 |
QoQ
|
Europe |
11.8 |
15.8 |
-25% |
19.4 |
-39% |
Middle East & Africa |
15.5 |
21.4 |
-28% |
21.8 |
-29% |
Greater China |
3.4 |
9.2 |
-63% |
4.6 |
-26% |
Asia-Pacific |
23.1 |
26.1 |
-11% |
28.7 |
-20% |
North America |
0.4 |
0.6 |
-33% |
0.7 |
-43% |
Latin America |
7.7 |
9.6 |
-20% |
11.1 |
-31% |
Total |
61.9 |
82.7 |
-25% |
86.3 |
-28% |
On a year-on-year basis, net sales decreased in all regions except North America where the increase was primarily due to our Smart Devices business unit. The largest relative year-on-year decline in net sales was in Greater China followed by Europe and Middle East and Africa. In Greater China and Europe the net sales declines were primarily due to our Smart Devices business unit whereas in the Middle East and Africa the net sales decline was primarily due to our Mobile Phones business unit.
On a sequential basis, net sales decreased in all regions except Greater China where the increase was primarily due to our Smart Devices business unit. The largest relative sequential declines in net sales were in North America followed by Middle East and Africa and Europe. The sequential net sales decline in North America was primarily due to our Smart Devices business unit, whereas in Middle East and Africa and Europe the net sales declines were primarily due to our Mobile Phones business unit.
At constant currency Devices & Services’ net sales would have decreased 33% year-on-year and 23% sequentially.
…
Volume
During the first quarter 2013 we shipped 55.8 million Mobile Phones units, of which 5.0 million were Asha full touch smartphones.
On a year-on-year basis, our Mobile Phones volumes in the first quarter 2013 were negatively affected by competitive industry dynamics, including intense smartphone competition at increasingly lower price points and intense competition at the low end of our product portfolio as well as an estimated higher than normal seasonal decline in the market addressable by Mobile Phones. Compared to the first quarter 2012, our Mobile Phones volumes declined across our portfolio, most notably for our non-full touch devices that we sell to our customers for above EUR 30. These declines were partially offset by sales volumes of Asha full touch smartphones in the first quarter 2013 that were not part of our portfolio in the first quarter 2012.
On a sequential basis, our Mobile Phones volumes in the first quarter 2013 were negatively affected by competitive industry dynamics, including intense competition at the low end of our product portfolio and smartphone competition at increasingly lower price points affecting the rest of our Mobile Phones portfolio, as well as estimated higher than normal seasonal decline in the market addressable by Mobile Phones. Compared to the fourth quarter 2012 our Mobile Phones volumes declined across our portfolio, most notably for lower priced devices that we sell to our customers for below EUR 30.
Asha full touch smartphones Q1 volumes decreased 46% quarter-on-quarter to 5.0 million units, reflecting intense competitive industry dynamics as well as lower seasonal demand.
During the first quarter 2013, our Mobile Phones channel inventory declined in absolute unit volumes.
Average Selling Price
The year-on-year decline in our Mobile Phones ASP in the first quarter 2013 was primarily due to general price erosion and an increased proportion of sales of lower priced devices, partially offset by a net positive impact related to foreign currency fluctuations.
The sequential decline in our Mobile Phones ASP in the first quarter 2013 was primarily due to general price erosion, a net negative impact related to foreign currency fluctuations and a higher proportion of sales of lower priced devices.
Gross Margin
The year-on-year decline in our Mobile Phones gross margin in the first quarter 2013 was primarily due to a negative product mix shift towards lower gross margin devices, as well as the net negative impact related to foreign currency fluctuations, partially offset by lower freight costs.
On a sequential basis, the increase in our Mobile Phones gross margin in the first quarter 2013 was primarily due to lower warranty costs, partially offset by higher price erosion than cost erosion and higher fixed costs per unit because of lower sales volumes.
…
Q1 OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS
DEVICES & SERVICES OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS
SMART DEVICES
– Nokia started shipping the Nokia Lumia 620, a compact smartphone with a colorful design that brings Windows Phone 8 to a more youthful audience.
– Nokia announced the Lumia 520, its most affordable Windows Phone 8 smartphone, delivering experiences normally found only in high-end smartphones, such as the same digital camera lenses found on the flagship Nokia Lumia 920, Nokia Music for free music out of the box and even offline, and the HERE location suite.
– Nokia announced and started shipping the Nokia Lumia 720, a midrange Windows 8 smartphone with high-end camera performance featuring a large f/1.9 aperture and exclusive Carl Zeiss optics designed to deliver clear pictures day and night. The sleek and stylish smartphone comes with the latest high-end Nokia Lumia experiences, including Nokia Music, the HERE location suite, and the option to add wireless charging with a snap-on wireless charging cover.
– Nokia’s Lumia range of smartphones continued to attract businesses, including Foxtons, London’s leading estate agent, which has chosen the Nokia Lumia 820 as its business smartphone; Mall of America, the United States’ largest retail and entertainment complex, which is switching from BlackBerry to the Nokia Lumia 920 because of the tight integration with Microsoft services and built-in Microsoft Office suite; and The Coca-Cola Company, whose sales associates in Vietnam and Cambodia are using Nokia Lumia smartphones for order processing, equipment validation and market execution improvement.
– The Windows Phone Store continued to strengthen in terms of the quantity and quality of applications. Windows Phone offers more than 135 000 applications and games. Key new applications that arrived in Store during the quarter included Pandora, United Airlines and Temple Run.
MOBILE PHONES
– Nokia announced the Nokia 301, the most affordable Nokia device to offer video streaming; it also comes with new smart camera features inspired by the digital camera lenses on Nokia’s Lumia smartphones.
– Nokia announced the Nokia Asha 310, which provides Dual SIM and Wi-Fi in the same device, a first for Nokia smartphones.
– Nokia announced the Nokia 105, its most affordable phone to date, retailing at a recommended price of EUR 15. The Nokia 105 is the ideal device for the first-time phone buyer, featuring a bright color screen with clear menus and essentials like FM radio, multiple alarm clocks, speaking clock and flashlight. The dust- and splash-proof, pillowed keymat and battery life of up to 35 days also make it ideal for people in search of a reliable back-up phone.
HERE OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS
In the first quarter 2013, HERE continued to strengthen its offering on Nokia’s Lumia range as well as broaden the experiences available across the Windows Phone 8 ecosystem:
– HERE further integrated its location-based experiences to enable people to seamlessly transition from driving to walking to public transit thanks to improved app-to-app linking and syncing of favorites from here.com to any HERE experience. HERE now also offers unique capabilities for users to customize their home screen as a personal location dashboard.
– With LiveSight technology, HERE introduced innovation that is aimed at changing the way people interact with maps, and their world. After first showcasing the technology in the HERE City Lens application, HERE also announced that it is extending LiveSight to HERE Maps. LiveSight recognizes what people see through their phone’s camera and layers that view with relevant, place-based information.
– HERE further strengthened the Windows Phone 8 ecosystem by making its suite of location-based experiences available for non-Nokia Windows Phone 8 devices. HERE offers HERE Drive, HERE Maps and HERE Transit to owners of non-Nokia Windows Phone 8 devices in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. HERE also continued to broaden access to its maps content and the HERE Platform through several new partnerships, including:
– Mozilla, which as a first collaborative step with HERE now has HTML5-based HERE Maps for the new Firefox OS.
– Toyota Motor Europe, which selected the HERE platform’s Local Search for Automotive to power its next generation Touch & Go navigation and infotainment systems. Local Search for Automotive is a specifically designed solution developed to fulfill the requirements of the automotive industry. This announcement marks a significant advancement in our longstanding partnership with Toyota and includes plans to collaborate with Nokia to study more services that leverage the HERE Location Platform.
– More than 10 companies decided to adopt the HERE Location platform, including Terra in Brazil and Tiscali and SEAT Pagine Gialle in Italy, demonstrating that the platform is gaining momentum across industries.
– Wetter.com, Europe’s largest German language weather portal with 13 million unique visitors, which is laying information from radar stations and satellite imagery on top of their HERE-powered map. For instance, this enables people to pinpoint where it is raining with great precision.
– Garmin, which is the first customer to launch Natural Guidance in the U.S. market and did so at the Consumer Electronics Show. Natural Guidance provides directions in a more humanized way with recognizable landmarks, buildings, traffic lights and stop signs, such as “turn right after the church” or “turn left at the traffic light.”
– HERE continued to strengthen its long lasting relationships within the automotive industry, with a number of companies deciding that they would continue to benefit from our automotive grade quality maps by selecting HERE as their partner for Map Updates. These included FujitsuTEN Australia Limited, KIA Europe, Mitsubishi Motor Corporation (MMC), Nissan Mexico, Subaru Canada and Volkswagen Europe.
…
The state of big.LITTLE processing
Complementary post reminder: Eight-core MT6592 for superphones and big.LITTLE MT8135 for tablets implemented in 28nm HKMG are coming from MediaTek to further disrupt the operations of Qualcomm and Samsung [‘Experiencing the Cloud’, July 20, 2013] from which the following excerpts I will include here as the ones directly related to the content given here as well:
There are also two software models now available, that ARM and Linaro have developed to enable control of workloads, performance, and power management on big.LITTLE SoCs. … The second is the Global Task Scheduling (GTS) [also known as big.LITTLE MP] software developed (and now named) by ARM.
…
Until GTS functionality is fully upstream, ARM is supporting the big.LITTLE MP patch set for its licensees, leveraging Linaro’s public monthly and Linaro LSK builds, so that it is available to all ARM licensees for product integration and deployment. Linaro also expect to provide a topic branch for the latest work available on the upstream GTS implementation for interested developers.
… ARM and Linaro now recommend product development and deployment to be based on the GTS solution. However, there are some cases where hardware limitations or a requirement for the traditional Linux scheduler (for example in some embedded applications) may lead to IKS still being required.
…
Real Life Results
ARM has published further information on big.LITTLE configurations and performance in a blog entry here [Ten Things to Know About big.LITTLE [Brian Jeff on SoC Design blog of ARM, June 18, 2013]].
The first commercial products based on big.LITTLE are certain international versions of the latest Galaxy S4 phone from Linaro member, Samsung. Samsung-LSI provide an ‘Octa-core’ 4+4 big.LITTLE chip for this phone. As has been publicly noted, the current generation of hardware cannot yet take full advantage of the IKS or the GTS designs because the hardware power-saving core switching feature is implemented on a cluster basis rather than on a per-core or a per-pair basis. …
End of the complementary post reminder
The first big.LITTLE device (Samsung Galaxy S4, Exynos 5 Octa version) was announced mid-March and hopefully will be available from end of April at the earliest, and in a few countries only (US is one of them). The price is also way too high: $1,379 unlocked on Amazon. 70% of the first 10M S4 smartphones will come with the quad-core Snapdragon S600 instead (seemingly for as low price as $800). The reason is: Samsung Semiconductor is just entering 28nm production with this SoC so it is “scheduled for mass-production in the second quarter of 2013”. While we should therefore wait probably till Q3 for larger scale availability it is already time to examine both the product and the form of big.LITTLE processing delivered with it:
Introducing Samsung GALAXY S 4 [Samsung Mobile Press, March 14, 2013]
Developed to redefine the way we live, the GALAXY S 4 makes every moment of our life meaningful. It understands the value of relationships, enables true connections with friends and family, and believes in the importance of effortless experience.
Highly crafted design with a larger screen and battery, thin bezel, housed in a light 130g and slim 7.9mm chassis. The new Samsung GALAXY S 4 is slimmer, yet stronger.
The GALAXY S 4 gets you closer to what matters in life, and brings your world together.
For a richer, simpler and fuller life.
To find out more, click here http://www.samsung.com/galaxys4/
Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S 4 – A Life Companion for a richer, simpler and fuller life [Samsung press release, March 14, 2013] in US: Pre Order with Octa-Core … Will Ship on Date 30 April By Fedex
… Samsung GALAXY S 4 will be available from Q2 globally [in UK: from April 26th but the Qualcomm Quad-Core; in US: Pre Order with Octa-Core … Will Ship on Date 30 April By Fedex] including US, partnering with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, as well as US Cellular and Cricket. In Europe, Samsung GALAXY S 4 is partnering with global mobile operators such as Deutsche Telecom, EE, H3G, Orange, Telenor, Telia Sonera, Telefonica, and Vodafone. …
AP
- 1.9 GHz [Qualcomm] Quad-Core Processor / 1.6 GHz [Samsung] Octa-Core Processor
- The selection of AP will be differed by markets.
70% of first Galaxy S4s to come with Snapdragon 600 CPU. Samsung LSI couldn’t make enough Exynos 5 Octas in time [Unwired.com, March 25, 2013]
70% of the first 10 million Samsung Galaxy S4 production batch will come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 CPU, instead of its own Exynos 5 Octa, Korean ETNEws reports.
Samsung’s LSI division, responsible for the next generation Exynos CPU, failed to iron out the production and performance issues to have enough chips in time for Galaxy S4 launch. Couple of weeks ago Samsung announced that Exynos 5 Octa applications processor is scheduled for mass production only in Q2 2013. Which is too late for the huge volumes of Galaxy S4 shipments that will start in late April.
Last year Samsung already faced production problems with Galaxy S3 and lost a lot of sales in early summer because of it. This year, Sammy doubled the initial sales forecasts for the new flagship and wants to sell 40 million of them in the first three months. So instead of risking the chip supply shortages, they are now turning to Qualcomm for Snapdragon 600 CPU, which was initially slated to go mostly to U.S. versions of SGS4.
Taking a step back to fix the production and performances issues of one of the most important parts in your flagship device, is a smart thing to do. If you launch your new top of the line phone with serious quality issues, the initial bad press can be fatal to your plans to sell 100 million them over the product lifecycle.
Going with tried and true chip like Snapdragon 600, that you know will perform as it should, is the best way for Samsung for now. Especially since most of the users won’t notice the difference and won’t care anyway.
Samsung Announces the Availability of Exynos 5 Octa for New Generation of Mobile Devices [press release, March 15, 2013] (internal name: Exynos 5410)
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, announced that its new Exynos 5 Octa application processor is scheduled for mass-production in the second quarter of 2013.
…
As highlighted at CES 2013, the Exynos 5 Octa is the world’s first mobile application processor to implement the new concept of processing architecture, big.LITTLE™, based on the Cortex-A15™ CPU to offer optimal core use. By housing a total of eight cores to draw from—four powerful Cortex-A15™cores for processing-intense tasks along with Cortex-A7™ quad cores for lighter workloads—the Exynos 5 Octa enables mobile devices to achieve maximum performance. This approach offers up to 70 percent energy saving when performing various tasks, compared to using Cortex- A15™cores only.
The newest Exynos processor will be manufactured using Samsung’s latest 28-nanometer (nm) HKMG (High-k Metal Gate) low power process and power-saving design, which increases the power efficiency of the processor by minimizing the static current leakage.
The Samsung Exynos 5 Octa enhances the powerful 3D graphics processing capabilities by more than two-times over the Exynos 4 Quad.
With today’s advanced display technology transitioning toward ever higher and sharper resolutions, the Exynos 5 Octa is powerful enough to drive WQXGA (2560×1600) display, the best crystal-clear resolution currently available for mobile devices, enabling users to enjoy crisper video images on their premium smartphones and tablets.
By adopting e-MMC (embedded multimedia card) 5.0 and USB 3.0 interface for the first time in the industry, the new Exynos application processor boasts fast data transfer speed, a feature that is increasingly required to support advanced processing power on mobile devices so that users can fully experience upgraded mobile computing such as faster booting, web browsing and 3D game loading.
The Samsung Exynos 5 Octa incorporates a full HD 60fps (frame per second) video hardware codec engine for 1080p video recording and play-back, an embedded 13 mega-pixel 30fps image signal processor interface for high-quality camera functionality, and 12.8GB/s memory bandwidth interface that enables Full HD Wifi display.
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Samsung Exynos at MWC 2013: Exynos 5 Octa Explained [SamsungExynos YouTube channel, March 14, 2013]
ARM® Big.LITTLE™ Technology Demo on Exynos 5 Octa Reference Tablet at MWC 2013 [SamsungExynos YouTube channel, March 19, 2013]
Samsung Exynos at MWC 2013: Low-Power High K Metal Gate (HKMG) Process Technology [SamsungExynos YouTube channel, March 14, 2013]
big.LITTLE Processing [ARM technology site, March 20, 2013] [Linaro internal: IKS [In Kernel Switcher]
ARM big.LITTLE™ processing is an energy saving technology where the highest performance ARM CPUs are combined with the most efficient ARM CPUs in a combined processor subsystem to deliver greater performance at lower power than today’s best-in-class systems. With big.LITTLE processing, software workloads are dynamically and instantly transitioned to the appropriate CPU based on performance needs. This software load balancing is so fast that it is completely seamless to the user. By selecting the optimum processor for each task, big.LITTLE can reduce energy consumption in the processor by 70% or more on light workloads and background tasks, and by 50% for moderately intense work, while still delivering the peak performance of the high performance cores.
More information can be found below or on the Think big.LITTLE microsite
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Software
Software can control the allocation of threads of execution to the appropriate core, or in some versions of the software simply move the whole processor context up to big or down to LITTLE based on measured load. There are two software approaches to handling the CPU selection decision, described below. In both software approaches, cache coherence is required to enable the software to quickly move execution from LITTLE to big and from big to LITTLE as appropriate. Cache coherence allows one CPU cluster to look up in the caches of the other CPU cluster, and full hardware cache coherence between the two clusters is key to making big.LITTLE software fast and transparent. Cache coherence can be provided by the ARM CCI-400 cache coherent interconnect or any interconnect that follows the AMBA4 ACE protocol.
In a big.LITTLE SoCs, the OS kernel dynamically and seamlessly moves tasks between the ‘big’ and ‘LITTLE’ CPUs. In reality this is an extension of the operating system power management software in wide use today on mobile phone SoCs.
Most OS kernels already support Symmetric Multi-core Processing (SMP) and those techniques can easily be extended to support big.LITTLE systems. There are two main variants of big.LITTLE software scheduling.
big.LITTLE CPU Migration [Linaro internal: IKS (In Kernel Switcher) or simply the big.LITTLE.Switcher project]
In CPU migration a whole workload of a CPU gets move to a differently CPU, once the OS detects it requires more or less performance. This builds on generic techniques in an OS to wake up and put to sleep CPUs in an SMP system. The key extension is around the detection that a CPU is running at maximum frequency while still requesting further performance and thus the workload needs to be moved to a ‘bigger’ CPU. Once the workload has reduced, it can moved back to a ‘smaller’ CPU.
This CPU migration software is available today from Linaro [was released to Linaro partners on Dec 20, 2012 as part of Linaro 12.2 release], and is being actively developed by multiple ARM partners [while Linaro continues to fix bugs on it].
big.LITTLE MP [the final name now is Global Task Scheduling (GTS)]
Task migration (aka big.LITTLE MP [as in the Linaro internal project]) detects a high intensity task and will schedule that onto a ‘big’ CPU. Similarly it will detect a low intensity task and move this back to a ‘LITTLE’ core.
The advantage of task migration over CPU migration is that a system can benefit from all its CPU at the same time, if the processing demands are extremely high. For example in a 2x ‘big’ + 2x ‘LITTLE’ system all 4 CPUs can be used at peak demand times, where as CPU migration would only be able to use 2 CPUs.
[According to Vincent Guittot at Linaro Connect 2013 (March 4 –8) in Hong Kong Linaro will release mid of 2013 the big.LITTLE MP prototype for external testing]
ARM and Linaro have been developing Linux support for both migration models. For more information go to:
- big.LITTLE CPU migration
https://wiki.linaro.org/WorkingGroups/KernelArchived/Big.Little.Switcher- big.LITTLE task migration, see https://wiki.linaro.org/WorkingGroups/PowerManagement/Big.Little.MP
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Embedded Linux Conference 2013 – In Kernel Switcher [IKS]: A Solution [TheLinuxFoundation YouTube channel, recorded Feb 22, published March 1, 2013], slides are downloadable in PDF format
ELC: In-kernel switcher [IKS] for big.LITTLE [LWN.net, Feb 27, 2013]
The ARM big.LITTLE architecture has been the subject of a number of LWN articles (here’s another) and conference talks, as well as a fair amount of code. A number of upcoming systems-on-chip (SoCs) will be using the architecture, so some kind of near-term solution for Linux support is needed. Linaro’s Mathieu Poirier came to the 2013Embedded Linux Conference to describe that interim solution: the in-kernel switcher.
Two kinds of CPUs
Big.LITTLE incorporates architecturally similar CPUs that have different power and performance characteristics. The similarity must consist of a one-to-one mapping between instruction sets on the two CPUs, so that code can “migrate seamlessly”, Poirier said. Identical CPUs are grouped into clusters.
The SoC he has been using for testing consists of three Cortex-A7 CPUs (LITTLE: less performance, less power consumption) in one cluster and two Cortex-A15s (big) in the other. The SoC was deliberately chosen to have a different number of processors in the clusters as a kind of worst case to catch any problems that might arise from the asymmetry. Normally, one would want the same number of processors in each cluster, he said.
The clusters are connected with a cache-coherent interconnect, which can snoop the cache to keep it coherent between clusters. There is an interrupt controller on the SoC that can route any interrupt from or to any CPU. In addition, there is support in the SoC for I/O coherency that can be used to keep GPUs or other external processors cache-coherent, but that isn’t needed for Linaro’s tests.
The idea behind big.LITTLE is to provide a balance between power consumption and performance. The first idea was to run CPU-hungry tasks on the A15s, and less hungry tasks on the A7s. Unfortunately, it is “hard to predict the future”, Poirier said, which made it difficult to make the right decisions because there is no way to know what tasks are CPU intensive ahead of time.
Two big.LITTLE approaches
That led Linaro to a two-pronged approach to solving the problem: Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) and the In-Kernel Switcher (IKS). The two projects are running in parallel and are both in the same kernel tree. Not only that, but you can enable either on the kernel command line or switch at run time via sysfs.
With HMP, all of the cores in the SoC can be used at the same time, but the scheduler needs to be aware of the capabilities of the different processors to make its decisions. It will lead to higher peak performance for some workloads, Poirier said. HMP is being developed in the open, and anyone can participate, which means it will take somewhat longer before it is ready, he said.
IKS is meant to provide a “solution for now”, he said, one that can be used to build products with. The basic idea is that one A7 and one A15 are coupled into a single virtual CPU. Each virtual CPU in the system will then have the same capabilities, thus isolating the core kernel from the asymmetry of big.LITTLE. That means much less code needs to change.
Only one of the two processors in a virtual CPU is active at any given time, so the decision on which of the two to use can be made at the CPU frequency (cpufreq) driver level. IKS was released to Linaro members in December 2012, and is “providing pretty good results”, Poirier said.
An alternate way to group the processors would be to put all the A15s together and all the A7s into another group. That turned out to be too coarse as it was “all or nothing” in terms of power and performance. There was also a longer synchronization period needed when switching between those groups. Instead, it made more sense to integrate “vertically”, pairing A7s with A15s.
For the test SoC, the “extra” A7 was powered off, leaving two virtual CPUs to use. The processors are numbered (A15_0, A15_1, A7_0, A7_1) and then paired up (i.e. {A15_0, A7_0}) into virtual CPUs; “it’s not rocket science”, Poirier said. One processor in each group is turned off, but only the cpufreq driver and the switching logic need to know that there are more physical processors than virtual processors.
The virtual CPU presents a list of operating frequencies that encompass the range of frequencies that both A7 and A15 can operate at. While the numbers look like frequencies (ranging from 175MHz to 1200MHz in the example he gave), they don’t really need to be as they are essentially just indexes into a table in the cpufreq driver. The driver maps those values to a real operating point for one of the two processors.
Switching CPUs
The cpufreq core is not aware of the big.LITTLE architecture, so the driver does a good bit of work, Poirier said, but the code for making the switching decision is simple. If the requested frequency can’t be supported by the current processor, switch to the other. That part is eight lines of code, he said.
For example, if virtual CPU 0 is running on the A7 at 200MHz and a request comes in to go to 1.2GHz, the driver recognizes that the A7 cannot support that. In that case, it decides to power down the A7 (which is called the outbound processor) and power up the A15 (inbound). There is a synchronization process that happens as part of the transition so that the inbound processor can use the existing cache. That process is described in Poirier’s slides [PDF], starting at slide 17.
The outbound processor powers up the inbound and continues executing normal kernel/user-space code until it receives the “inbound alive” signal. After sending that signal, the inbound processor initializes both the cluster and interconnect if it is the first in its cluster (i.e. the other processor of the same type, in the other virtual CPU is powered down). It then waits for a signal from the outbound processor.
Once the outbound processor receives “inbound alive” signal, the blackout period (i.e. time when no kernel or user code is running on the virtual CPU) begins. The outbound processor disables interrupts, migrates the interrupt signals to the inbound processor, then saves the current CPU context. Once that’s done, it signals the inbound processor, which restores the context, enables interrupts, and continues executing from where the outbound processor left off. All of that is possible because the instruction sets of the two processors are identical.
As part of its cleanup, the outbound processor creates a new stack for itself so that it won’t interfere with the inbound. It then flushes the local cache and checks to see if it is the last one standing in its cluster; if so, it flushes the cluster cache and disables the cache-coherent interconnect. It then powers itself off.
There are some pieces missing from the picture that he painted, Poirier said, including “vlocks” and other mutual exclusion mechanisms to handle simultaneous desired cluster power states. Also missing was discussion of the “early poke” mechanism as well as code needed to track the CPU and cluster states.
Performance
One of Linaro’s main targets is Android, so it used the interactive power governor for its testing. Any governor will work, he said, but will need to be tweaked. A second threshold (hispeed_freq2) was added to the interactive governor to delay going into “overdrive” on the A15 too quickly as those are “very power hungry” states.
For testing, BBench was used. It gives a performance score based on how fast web pages are loaded. That was run with audio playing in the background. The goal was to get 90% of the performance of two A15s, while using 60% of the power, which was achieved. Different governor parameters gave 95% performance with 65% of the power consumption.
It is important to note that tuning is definitely required—without it you can do worse than the performance of two A7s. “If you don’t tune, all efforts are wasted”, Poirier said. The interactive governor has 15-20 variables, but Linaro mainly concentrated on hispeed_load and hispeed_freq (and the corresponding*2 parameters added for handling overdrive). The basic configuration had the virtual CPU run on the A7 until the load reached 85%, when it would switch to the first six (i.e. non-overdrive) frequencies on the A15. After 95% load, it would use the two overdrive frequencies.
The upstreaming process has started, with the cluster power management code getting “positive remarks” on the ARM Linux mailing list. The goal is to upstream the code entirely, though some parts of it are only available to Linaro members at the moment. The missing source will be made public once a member ships a product using IKS. But, IKS is “just a stepping stone”, Poirier said, and “HMP will blow this out of the water”. It may take a while before HMP is ready, though, so IKS will be available in the meantime.
Exynos Octa and why you need to stop the drama about the 8 cores [XDA Developers, March 15, 2013]
I’m going to write this as an guide/information page so we stop as soon as possible the stupid discussions about how 8 cores are useless.
What’s it all about?
The Exynos Octa or Exynos 5410 is a big.LITTLE design engineered by ARM and is the first consumer implementation of this technology. Samsung was their lead partner in terms of bringing this to market first. Reneseas is the other current chip designer who has publicly announced a big.LITTLE design.
Misconception #1: Samsung didn’t design this, ARM did. This is not some stupid marketing gimmick.
The point of the design is to meld the advantages of the A7 processor architectures, with its extreme power efficiency, with the A15 architecture, with extreme performance at a cost of power consumption. The A7 cores are slightly slower than an A9 equivalent, but using much less power. The A15 cores are in another ballpark in terms of performance but their power consumption is also extreme on this current manufacturing generation.
The effective goal is to achieve the best of both worlds. Qualcomm on the other does this by using their own architecture which is similar in some design aspects to the A15 architecture, but compromises on feature and performance to achieve higher power efficiency. The end result is for the user can be expressed in 2 measurements: IPC (Instrucitons per clock), and Perf/W (Performance per Watt).
In terms of IPC, the A15 leads the pack by quite a margin, followed by Krait 400, Krait 300, Krait 200, A9, A7, and A8 cores, in that order.
In terms of Perf/W, the A7 leads by a margin, followed by A9’s and the Krait cores, with the A15 at a distant last in terms of efficiency.
Real-world use
Of course, the Exynos Octa is the first to use this:
Currently, the official word seems to be that the A7 cluster is configured to run from 200 to 1200MHz, and the A15 cluster from 200 to 1600MHz.
There are several use-cases of how the design can be used, and it is purely limited by software, as the hardware configuration is completely flexible.
In-Kernel Switcher (IKS)
This is what most of us will see this in our consumer products this year; Effectively, you only have a virtual quad-core processor. The A15 cores are paired up with the A7 core clusters. Each A15 has a corresponding A7 “partner”. Hardware wise, this pair-up has no physical representation as provided by an actual die-shot of the Exynos Octa.
The IKS does the same thing as a CPU governor. But instead of switching CPU frequency depending on the load, it will switch between CPUs.
Effecively, you are jumping from one performance/power curve to another: And that’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
The actual implementation is a very simple driver on the side of the kernel which measures load and acts much like a CPU governor.
[PhoneArena YouTube channel, Feb 25, 2013] For more details, check out our web site:http://www.phonearena.com/ PhoneArena presents a video demonstration of the new Samsung Exynos 5 Octa chipset – the manufacturer’s first octa-core processor! As you can imagine, the Exynos 5 Octa is very new and not available in any handset yet, but we expect it to make an appearance in the Galaxy S IV! So, it’s definitely worth checking!
The above is a demonstration; you can see how at most times the A7 cores are used for video playback, simple tasks, and miscellaneous computations. The A15 cores will kick in when there is more demanding load being processed, and then quickly drop out again to the A7 cores when it’s not doing much anymore.
- Misconception #2: You DON’T need to have all 8 cores online, actually, only maximum 4 cores will ever be online at the same time.
- Misconception #3: If the workload is thread-light, just as we did hot-plugging on previous CPUs, big.LITTLE pairs will simply remain offline under such light loads. There is no wasted power with power-gating.
- Misconception #4: As mentioned, each pair can switch independently of other pairs. It’s not he whole cluster who switches between A15 and A7 cores. You can have only a single A15 online, together with two A7’s, while the fourth pair is completely offline.
- Misconception #5: The two clusters have their own frequency planes. This means A15 cores all run on one frequency while the A7 cores can be running on another. However, inside of the frequency planes, all cores run at the same frequency, meaning there is only one frequency for all cores of a type at a time.
Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP)
This is the other actual implemented function mode of a big.LITTLE CPU. In this case, all 8 cores can be used simultaneously by the system.
This is a vastly more complex working mechanism, and its implementation is also an order of magnitude more sophisticated. It requires the kernel scheduler to actually be aware of the differentiation of between the A7 and A15 cores. Currently, the Linux kernel is not capable of doing this and treats all CPUs as equals. This is a problem since we do not want to use the A15 cores when a task can simply me processed on an A7 core with a much lower power cost.
The Linaro working-group already finished the first implementation of the HMP design as a series of patches to be applied against the Linux 3.8 kernel. What they did is to make the scheduler smart enough to be able to track the load of single process entities, and with that information to schedule the threads smartly on either the A7 cores or the A15 cores. This achieves much lower latency in terms of switching workloads, or better said, switching the environments (CPUs) to the respective work-loads, and exposes the full processing capabilities of the silicon as all cores can be used at once.
You can follow the advancements of this in the publications of the Linaro Connect summits that happen every few months. The code was only published in the middle of February this year for the first working implementation equivalent in power consumption to the IKS.
Misconception #6: Yes the CPU is a true 8-core processor. It’s just not being used as such in its initial software implementations
big.LITTLE In Kernel Switcher [IKS] by Nicolas Pitre and Viresh Kumar [Charbax YouTube channel, March 16, 2013]
Vincent Guittot on the Linaro big.LITTLE MP work [Charbax YouTube channel, April 1, 2013]
