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Assuring HTML5 et al stability for developers à la Microsoft: splitting the evolving specifications into “site-ready” and “experimental” for the years coming
What is Microsoft’s approach to assure HTML5 et al stability when web developers are absolutely negative about that based on their previous experience?
Microsoft’s answer came crystal clearly two days ago in a blog post quoted below. But before coming to that let’s include here the whole closing section of that post because it is summarizing the Microsoft approach about HTML5 et al stability very well (emphasis is mine):
Looking Ahead
In developing IE9, we considered how different specifications are still evolving at different rates. IE9 supports technologies that, while not always finished, are developed enough to avoid the problems that WebSockets illustrate today.
In the IE9 product, developers can expect site-ready HTML5 so they can take advantage of the best of HTML5 that is ready and can still experiment with emerging HTML5 with HTML5 Labs. By keeping these separate, developers get what they need without the negative consequences of co-mingling very different things in the same browser.
IE9 offers support for the most relevant, real-world web patterns that developers are using today as well as the HTML5 patterns we expect to become more mainstream. By relevant and real-world, we mean the technologies with the broadest impact for browser users (e.g. CSS ahead of MathML). By support, we mean providing developers a consistent programming model that enables the same mark-up. The goal is supporting great new capabilities, ideally in a way that interoperates or will interoperate soon across browsers.
This approach (along with its supporting points, like test suites and “same markup” as a goal) has garnered strong support from developers. It’s also resulted in some surprising headlines over the last year, like “Only Microsoft gets web standards” according to “Mozilla man [who] blasts Apple and Google for HTML5 abuse,” from The Register.
In this context of unfinished technology, measuring how much HTML5 different browsers support through “benchmarks” does not make much sense. In particular, many of these tests (like Acid 3) include different partial collections of unfinished standards, while they exclude deep or broad assessments of the quality of the implementations. The key questions for tests are how appropriate is their scope, how accurate and rigorous are the individual tests, and how comprehensive is their coverage. The standards bodies involved in the process of developing the standards (like W3C and Ecma) are a great forum for the development of trustworthy, high-quality tests.
Professional website developers are busy. They write a code for a living and genuinely don’t have the spare time to wade through comments on all these under construction specifications and keep track of every build of every browser. With this approach, we make it easier to take advantage of the capabilities that are stable and ready for prime time. We remove much of the guess work for developers of working with a moving target. The result is more time for site developers to innovate and create better web experiences.
Back in March when we released the first platform preview of IE9, we were clear that we love HTML5 so much we want it to actually work. One aspect of that involves using the whole PC to run HTML with the best performance. Another aspect is working with community and standards bodies on test suites. Making sure that developers avoid the frustration of wasted time re-writing sites over and over as technologies change – and that consumers avoid frustration of sites that break easily – is just as important.
In other words Microsoft’s approach is, as defined in the same day post Prototyping Early W3C HTML5 Specifications by Jean Paoli, GM, Interoperability Strategy:
… to implement standards as they become site-ready for broader adoption.
Writing Sites to IE Based on Stable HTML5
For developers, this means that they can write sites to Internet Explorer and be confident that it is based on stable HTML5 and will work in future browser upgrades. For users, it means that sites continue to work as they upgrade their browsers and they don’t get locked in to older browsers.
At the same time, Microsoft sees an important need in continuing to drive experimentation and testing of new specifications in the standards organizations. It is part of the process of ensuring that specifications are actually ready for real-world usage.
This new HTML5 Labs Web site is the place where our Interoperability Labs will publish prototype implementations of certain unstable and in-progress W3C, IETF, ECMA and other standards specifications still undergoing a lot of change. So, developers should expect that code and web pages based on these prototypes will have to be re-written as the specifications mature.
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So please experiment with these prototypes and tell us and other working group participants whether the APIs are usable. We are making them available to help improve the final specifications.
Other implementers can use these prototypes to determine whether we have interpreted the specifications in the same way, and a larger audience can get a better sense of what potential will be unlocked when these specifications have stabilized into interoperable implemented standards.
Also, please participate in the appropriate standards bodies to help finalize the specifications.
Details
HTML5, Site-Ready and Experimental [Dec 21] by Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice President, Internet Explorer (emphasis is mine):
With many HTML5 technologies still under active development, our approach is to give developers better choices and avoid false dichotomies around standards support. The IE9 browser has site-ready HTML5 support that developers and consumers can depend on. We will also offer developers “HTML5 Labs” for more experimental technologies still under development. By clearly separating prototype implementations from mainstream browser product ones, we can avoid many negative consequences.
In the IE9 product, we’re delivering on the key parts of HTML5 that are site-ready. IE9 offers support for real-world web patterns that developers are using today as well as the HTML5 patterns we expect to become more mainstream. IE9 does this because we want to improve interoperability on the web by providing developers a consistent programming model through the same mark-up. The goal is supporting great new capabilities, ideally in a way that interoperates or will interoperate soon across browsers.
We will also offer prototype implementations for the more experimental or unfinished parts of HTML5 that some developers may want to try, but consumers can’t depend on yet. We will be explicit about the implementations that are more prototype than product. These prototypes are how we balance providing a product for millions of consumers while actively engaging in speculative technology discussions with developers and enthusiasts and avoid confusing either group. You can read more about that here [ Prototyping Early W3C HTML5 Specifications [Dec 21] ].
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Implementing a technology while the blueprints that describe it are still changing significantly causes many problems. In this section, we’ll use the experience of WebSockets to illustrate common challenges of under construction technologies. Below, through the transparency of Mozilla’s process, you can read for yourself how several different problems played out.
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One tech publication wrote that “the Web Sockets history illustrates some pitfalls of the style and pace of Web standards development,” and that “including support for a specification [that] wasn’t done” is just the latest wrinkle. The article’s headline describes “the risk of unfinished standards,” while another article describes “emerging Web standards like WebGL and WebSockets,” and a comment from a Mozilla leader here refers to “speculative features.”
WebSockets is just one of many, many unfinished, emerging, and speculative features. Rushing ahead with implementation while the blueprints are changing a lot creates dissatisfaction. This (warning: potentially NSFW) video dramatizes that developer dissatisfaction. That dissatisfaction is the result of supporting unfinished, emerging, and speculative features in the mainline product.
The question is how to balance the implementation of these under construction technologies (in order to resolve under construction issues) with the needs of developers (who don’t like re-writing their code over and over to get new capabilities) and the needs of consumers (who expect sites and browsers to just work). Today, iPhone and iPad 4.2 support WebSockets. Firefox and Opera have recently disabled their implementations because of (among other things) the security and compatibility concerns.
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One alternative approach to these experimental features is being much more explicit about implementations that are more prototype than product. This is the approach Microsoft is taking. You can read more about it here. Through these prototypes we balance the objective of providing a product for millions of consumers and engaging in early speculative discussions with developers and enthusiasts, without confusing either group.
There are many other technologies under development today that are still under construction. Because they are not site-ready today and will not be ready, relevant, and real-world before we release the IE9 product, these emerging standards are susceptible to the same problems and negative consequences that WebSockets has faced. Some technologies are in transition and being reconciled with others (or potentially abandoned in favor of others). SMIL animations and SVG fonts, though they are used in the Acid 3 test, are on the way out in favor of CSS animations and WOFF. The Web SQL specification, for example, was formally taken off the Recommendation track at the most recent TPAC with the emergence of IndexedDB as a better path. IndexedDB is itself an emerging and unfinished standard, along with WebSockets, the File API and WebGL (as the Ars Technica article above points out).
Site-ready also looks at the larger context of developer needs today and tomorrow and the viable alternatives as well as the state of the standards process. For example, CSS3 is an enormous set of technologies. IE9 already implements many CSS3 modules that are site-ready. Several other CSS modules (like CSS3 Gradients) are still emerging and unfinished. Other modules have perfectly fine interoperable alternatives, like using script in place of CSS3 Transitions and CSS3 Animations. For other technologies, like web workers, other considerations apply as well. Web workers introduce complex multi-threaded programming concepts to JavaScript, and require extensive prototyping (just like WebSockets) to fully explore the impact on developers and the broader web programming model.
There are many technologies that can easily play out the way WebSockets have. Developers and consumers are better off if these technologies are brought forward as explicit prototypes rather than in the product that so many people depend on. WebSockets and the IndexedDB web storage are the first prototypes in the new program. Some experimental CSS3 modules are potential candidates for prototypes, along with other technologies (e.g. the File API). This is a process we’re excited to work through with the community.
Additional information:
Introducing the WebSockets Prototype [Dec 21]
IndexedDB Prototype Available for Internet Explorer [Dec 21]
Prototyping Early W3C HTML5 Specifications [Dec 21] by Jean Paoli, GM, Interoperability Strategy:
Today we launched the HTML5 Labs Web site, a place where we prototype early and not yet fully stable drafts of specifications developed by the W3C and other standard organizations.
These prototypes will help us have informed discussions with developer communities, and give implementation experience with the draft specifications that will generate feedback to improve the eventual standards. It also lets us give the community some visibility on those specifications we consider interesting from a scenario point of view, but which are still not at the stage where we can consider them ready for official product support.
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The first two prototypes we are delivering today are Web Sockets and IndexedDB.
WebSockets is a technology designed to simplify much of the complexity around bi-directional, full-duplex communications channels, over a single Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) socket. It can be implemented in web browsers, web servers as well as used by any client or server application. The WebSocket API is currently being standardized by the W3C and the WebSocket protocol is being standardized by the IETF.
For its part, IndexedDB is a developing W3C Web standard for the storage of large amounts of structured data in the browser, as well as for high performance searches on this data using indexes. IndexedDB can be used for browser implemented functions like bookmarks, as well as for web applications like email. IndexedDB also enables offline scenarios where the browser might be disconnected from the Internet or server.
We chose these two specifications primarily because they are potentially very useful but currently unstable. These are the two specifications we currently believe the community stands to benefit the most from, but both are in flux.
The details of the HyBi protocol underlying WebSockets are being hotly debated in IETF right now, and the IndexedDB spec will soon be updated to reflect decisions made at a recent W3C working group meeting.
Announcing HTML5 Labs [Dec 21]
As you hopefully know by now, despite the hype, HTML 5 is not a completed specification. In fact, back in 2008, the author of the specification, Ian Hickson, estimated HTML 5 wouldn’t be a Proposed Recommendation until 2022! Indeed, the W3C site shows there are still significant aspects of the HTML 5, CSS 3, DOM and other specifications being fleshed out – just take a look at the ‘warning’ in every W3C Working Draft: Implementors should be aware that this specification is not stable.
Waiting until 2022 for all i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed is obviously not an option though. It’s infeasible to expect a drop of all these technologies at one fell swoop, and there are certainly aspects of the HTML 5 and related specifications that are relatively solid today: canvas and and semantic tags, to name a few. These are the types of stable ‘standards’ you’ll continue to see implemented in the IE 9 beta and the continuing cycle of Platform Previews.
But what about those bleeding-edge features? The ones like WebSockets (currently an Editor’s draft) that Firefox 4 and Opera recently disabled due to security issues? Or features that other browsers are “implementing” with vendor-specific extensions and the such?
There’s clearly need for a balancing act between providing a dependable, solid browsing experience to millions of users and incorporating new features that haven’t been completely vetted in the wild. With his post today, Dean Hachamovitch, announces another facet of Microsoft’s strategy to walk this tightrope between responsible development and active adoption of emerging web standards.
Microsoft Opens HTML5 Labs for Developers [Dec 21]
HTML5 Labs currently offers two prototypes: WebSockets extension for IE and IndexedDB for IE. WebSockets is designed to enable “bi-directional, full-duplex communications” between a client and server via “a single Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) socket,” according to a blog post by Jean Paoli, Microsoft’s general manager of interoperability strategy. IndexedDB aims at enabling the storage of “large amounts of structured data in the browser,” accessible both online and offline.
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Philippe Le Hegaret, interaction domain leader at the W3C, noted in October that some of the HTML 5 spec shouldn’t be used because of interoperability problems.
“The problem we’re facing right now is there is already a lot of excitement for HTML5, but it’s a little too early to deploy it because we’re running into interoperability issues,” Le Hegaret said at that time.
Microsoft, in rolling out its HTML5 Labs site, essentially agrees with Le Hegaret’s position, according to Paoli.
“We are in complete alignment between Philippe and Art; it’s more [about] the articulation,” Paoli said in a phone interview. “He [Philippe] actually wrote a blog after that explaining what he really meant. What we are saying is the same thing. We’re saying that every feature in HTML 5 — and there are many of them — every single one of them is not at the same level of stability.”
It could be as long as 12 more years before W3C Recommendation status is reached for the entire HTML 5 spec, but browser makers have already made parts of it practical to use through interoperability testing. Hachamovitch has described Microsoft’s position with HTML 5 as “write once, run anywhere.” If that goal is achieved, it will be a big change from the days when Web developers suffered with having to code for IE 6’s quirks, causing perpetual rewrites.
The HTML 5 spec is actually progressing, according to a comment by Giorgio Sardo, a Microsoft senior technical evangelist.
“HTML5 made lot of progress in recent months, [with] the HTML5 specification expected to go to Last Call (kind of feature complete) in the first 2-3 months of 2011,” Sardo wrote in a November blog post. “From there, the spec will move to Candidate Recommendation and there will be a call for implementers.”
Hanvon – E-Ink strategic e-reader alliance for price/volume leadership supplementing Hanvon’s premium strategy mostly based on an alliance with Microsoft and Intel
Following the strategic alliance between Marvell, Pixel Qi and OLPC on extremely low-cost consumer devices specially built for the cloud there are other cloud related alliances aimed at mass produced clients with sun readability. One of them is the Hanvon – E-Ink alliance which is the most visible and product-wise the most developed one. Such a strategy is also quite well supplementing Hanvon’s premium strategy which is mostly based on the Microsoft platform. Its cooperation on the new convertible classmate PC design with Intel is also going sharply against the Marvell, Pixel Qi and OLPC effort. Hanvon’s approach is also well aligned with component technology makers (such as Epson Seiko) tightly cooperating with E-Ink to sharply increase the quality and refresh rate of electrophoretic display (EPD) technology in 2011. See the latest update: E Ink and Epson achieve world-leading ePaper resolution [May 23, 2011]
Worth to read along with this: Gartner: media tablets are the new segment next to mobile PCs and desktops, as well as web- and app-capable mobile phones [April 16, 2011]
Regarding E Ink Holdings’ market position see the Undermining E-Ink and single-purpose E-readers [Aug 23, 2010 – Jan 10, 2011] report. What follows here is mostly summarizing Hanvon’s (Hanwang’s) position and future plans/opportunities.
Hanvon turns to e-book reader solutions combining hardware and software [Dec 28]:
As China-based e-book reader maker Hanvon Technology has recently achieved sales over one million units, the company plans to expand its business model from only selling hardware to providing solutions that combine hardware and software, according to an executive of Hanvon.
Hanvon is optimistic about the sales of e-book readers in 2011 and believes the company will have better shipment growth than the market average. However, the company declined to give a forecast.
Sources from upstream component makers also pointed out that despite consumer purchases of e-book readers in China are in fact increasing, 40% of the e-book reader sales in China are still contributed by government or enterprises, as they are giving the devices away as gifts. Since the contribution from these procurement orders are difficult to estimate, therefore Hanvon was unable to give a forecast for its performance.
As for tablet PCs, since Hanvon currently still cannot find an advantage in the market, the company will maintain its focus on e-book readers.
E Ink Holdings (EIH) – formerly Prime View International (PVI) – is the global leader of the electrophoretic display (EPD) market, while Hanvon is the leading vendor of e-book readers in China. … The E Ink chairman believes the e-book market will have high growth for the next 10 years, while his Hanvon counterpart thinks there should be more China e-book reader brands. …
Q: Can you talk about the current development and cooperation between EIH and Hanvon.
Scott Liu: EIH has improved the whiteness, contrast ratio and color performance of the new color EPD. Hanvon is handling the overall product design, and they will focus on special markets such as educational institutions, private companies and government offices for the color e-book reader.
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Liu Yingjian: EIH and Hanvon have been working together for many years. I would like to pay my respect to EIH, which decided to explore the potential of e-paper, including the acquisition of E Ink in order to have a tight control of the supply chain, when most people in the market were skeptical about such a sector.
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Our expectations for e-book readers are firstly demand from paperless offices and then the educational market. Paperless demand is huge, as vendors do not have to worry about content, and it fits the current popular trend of low-carbon life-style. In the educational market, bookbags are too heavy for students, and there will be huge demand.
Q: Will Hanvon and EIH have further cooperation in the educational market in the future?
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Liu Yingjian: We have had several meetings regarding the educational market, and we’ve concluded that there are several lines that we cannot trespass.
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Hence we have several proposals for promotions in the educational market, First, we will focus on the regions with better economic development as consumers in these regions have the means to purchase e-book readers. Second, we will focus on non-textbook reading materials as wealthy families may purchase the products for their children. Third, we will run trials at junior high schools, universities or some other grades. I believe the educational market will be substantial in 10 years.
Regional trials have been a success, with Shanghai being the most active region. Shanghai is the richest area in China with the highest GDP, and the municipal government has made a five-year plan to popularize the use of e-book readers for educational purposes, and a lot of preparation work needs to be done.
Q: Is there a concrete plan regarding cooperation between EIH and Hanvon for the educational market?
Liu Yingjian: The color e-book reader using EIH’s EPD will be tried out by a class of 500 students in Shanghai in the semester starting in September 2011. But trial use of e-book readers in classroom has already started in Yangzhou. We are now able to meet the two basic requirements for the educational market: color display and handwriting input.
Q: There are companies like Foxconn in Taiwan that have introduced e-book readers for students using TFT LCD panels or Mirasol displays from Qualcomm. What’s EIH’s opinion about the competitiveness of other technologies? What is Hanvon’s evaluation of other technologies?
Scott Liu: In fact, other technologies are not mature yet, while EIH has already introduced its color EPD, which is ready for mass production. But as far as I know, makers using other technologies usually will introduce products when the technologies are still at the lab-development phase, and it will be impossible for them to reach mass production in just a few months.
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Q: What does EIH think about Qualcomm’s investment in Taiwan in the future, and the fact that Qualcomm will soon start mass production?
Scott Liu: Based on my understanding of Qualcomm’s technology, there are some difficulties for mass production. Even if Qualcomm starts mass production, it will still not able to compete with EPD due to high cost, especially with the high investment amount for setting up a new 4.5G plant, and the depreciation cost could kill a newly developed business.
On the contrary, EIH is mass producing its EPDs on fully depreciated production lines. It has recently added a 5G line and possibly will add a 6G line in the future. EIH has absolute advantage in terms of production capacity. I think there may be a market for Qualcomm’s display products, but judging from its volume production cost, Qualcomm will probably focus on high-end applications.
Liu Yingjian: It is a challenge to produce reflective display products, but it have been proven successful in black and white displays. However, color displays based on reflective technology remain a big challenge for production. But a lot of people commented that the performance of our color EPD displays exhibited (at FPD International) was of high standard.
The products we have launched are better than colored newspapers, but are still worse than magazines and TVs. The color performance of color e-paper is not as rich as TFT-LCD, but what’s more important is that color e-paper does not have side effects on our eyes.
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Q: Any other expectations for color e-book readers?
Scott Liu: The basic application for color e-paper is still the e-book reader, and we don’t think that we should sacrifice the quality of black-and-white while doing color. The present color EPD is the first version, which means it is a product that meets the basic EIH standard, and the company will continue to improve the product.
The present color EPD uses color filters. We are making maximum use of the high-reflectivity characteristic of color filters, but this is only the short-term solution. For the long-term solution, we still hope to develop a particle-based electrophoresis technology to dislay colors without color filters. The development will take a longer time, and I expect some achievements in the next few years.
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Source: Digitimes Research, December 2010
Part I. The e-reader market
E-paper maker announces income spike [Aug 11]
Sales of global e-readers are expected to double to 20 million units next year as retail price has fallen to less than US$200 plus contract service
Global sales of 20-25 million e-book readers projected for 2011, says E Ink chairman [Oct 28]
Global e-book reader sales in 2010 are expected to reach 10 million units at least, and the forecast for 2011 is upward adjusted from 18 million units originally, to 20-25 million units, according to chairman Scott Liu for Taiwan-based E Ink Holdings.
e-Reader Market Will Reach 54M Units in 2015 by Displaybank’s e-Reader Industry Trend and Market Forecacast [Nov 16]
Tapping educational e-book reader market needs 2-3 years, says E Ink chairman [Aug 18]
Liu indicated that the Shanghai government aims to replace printed textbooks with e-books in five years, while the Korea government also plans to do the same by 2014.
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EIH currently is the supplier of e-book readers in a trial program for adopting e-books at school in Jiangsu, China, Liu added.
Although some countries are stepping up efforts promoting e-reading in schools, it may take years before e-books can really start replacing printed textbooks, as the process involves so many different sectors ranging from content, hardware, platform development to government policies, market observers said.
Global e-book reader shipments to be 2-3 times higher in 2H10, says E Ink chairman [Aug 11]
Price-cut competition for e-book readers among global vendors including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony and Hanvon is expected to stimulate demand in the second half of 2010, with total shipments expected to be 2-3 times those in the first half, according to Scott Liu, chairman of Taiwan-based EPD (electrophoretic display) maker E Ink Holding.
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Liu indicated that with the prices for e-book readers dropping significantly, players who only produce e-reading devices with no content support are coming under threats of being forced out of the market by the first-tier players such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble who will continue to dominate the market.
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E Ink added that clients are now able to run pricing campaigns because their EPD orders have already reached the agreed amounts, allowing them to have discounted prices, Liu said, adding that his company is happy to offer the discounts to help stimulate growth of the e-reading market.
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Amazon’s latest 6-inch Kindle without 3G connection only costs US$139, reaching the pricing sweet spot, and it is expected to generate significant growth for the vendor, he said.
Liu said that vendors will soon be able to provide sub-US$100 e-book readers judging from the market growth, and E Ink will help clients further lower the production costs.
Global e-book reader shipments fall short of forecast in 2Q10, says Digitimes Research [July 28]
A total of 1.35 million e-book readers were shipped to the global market in the second quarter of 2010, 33.2% fewer than the originally projected 2.02 million units, chiefly because shipments of new models were delayed to the third quarter, according to Digitimes Research.
Two other factors also prevented shipments from reaching the target. Telecom carrier China Mobile Communications’ subsidized sales of e-book readers were weaker-than-expected in the China market, and volume shipments of SiPix’s e-paper solutions were delayed.
Digitimes Insight: China e-book reader market smaller than expected in 2010 [July 14]
Digitimes Research has downward adjusted its 2010 projected total e-book reader shipments in the China market from 1.5 million units originally to 900,000-1 million units, as China Mobile Communications’ subsidized sales of its e-reading device have so far been much below expectations.
China Mobile Communications originally planned to procure one million e-book readers for subsidized sales in the China market in 2010, but the company actually only purchased 30,000-40,000 units in the first half of 2010, Digitimes Research noted.
Worldwide e-book reader shipments to reach 28 million by 2013, says Digitimes Research [March 24]
Global e-book reader shipments will increase from 700,000 units in 2008 to 28 million units in 2013, representing a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 386%, according to a recently published report from Digitimes Research.
The special report on e-book readers also indicated that the total market value for e-book reader shipments would surpass US$3 billion in 2013, up from only US$244 million in 2008.
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China, where the government is promoting e-reading as one of its major policies, is expected to become the second-largest single market for e-book readers in 2010.
Demise of the printed word? [Sept 6]
The desire to read books digitally on Apple iPads, Amazon Kindles or devices made in China such as Founder or Hanvon, is perhaps greater in China, where gadgets are adored, than any other market except the United States.
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Many of the world’s publishers believe what happens in China could alter the axis of the global publishing industry and condemn what we now know as the paper book to history.
The move to digital transforms the business model of publishing and who gets what slice of the cake.
Publishers fear they could become marginalized or cut out of the process altogether as the new operators in the market – those providing the platforms – want to become content providers themselves and sign their own deals with authors.
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One concern publishers have in China is piracy. Already on many street corners, forged copies of many titles of paper books are sold for a fraction of their normal retail price.
What scares publishers is that ripping off digital books is potentially easier and they don’t have to be sold on street stalls but could be sold in any part of the world in an instant.
A high-tech leap may put China front and center [Sept 6]
Lack of modern bookstores may make e-reading a public preference
John Makinson, chairman and chief executive of Penguin, a major international publisher, believes China could lead the world in the way people buy books.
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“One of the key features of the Chinese market is that the physical book retailing infrastructure is not quite as well developed as in other markets,” he said. “There is an opportunity for digital publishing because the book retailing market is not as efficient as in some other markets. There are few book shops and there are problems in getting early delivery of books,” he said.
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“To some extent, it could sort of leapfrog traditional publishing here, just as mobile telephony in some markets has leapfrogged fixed line phone networks,” he said. “You have a relatively conservative publishing and retail culture here while at the same time you have a very large community of book lovers engaged in online activity.”
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He said according to industry figures e-books now make up around 10 percent of the total market in the United States and that portion was growing at 300 percent a year. “We have no idea when it might start flattening out. I think it is heading for at least 20 to 30 per cent of the overall market,” he said.
More people are reading on screens, not on paper [May 7]
The value of the digital publishing industry surpassed that of the traditional publishing industry last year for the first time in China, according to a blue book on the cultural industry released on Thursday.
The scale of the digital publishing industry hit an unprecedented high of 75 billion yuan ($11 billion) last year, up by 40 percent year on year, the blue book said.
“Online books, cell phone books and digital books have become popular among Chinese readers,” Zhang Xiaoming, deputy director of the Cultural Research Center under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said at a press conference.
The country’s cultural industry totaled about 800 billion yuan in 2009, according to an annual report on the industry’s development released by Social Sciences Academic Press on Thursday.
The report says most of China’s publishing houses have started producing of digital books.
About 75 percent of newspapers have launched online papers and 55 percent of them are providing SMS (short message service) news, the report says.
About 2.8 percent of Chinese adults have stopped reading anything on paper and have become loyal readers of digitally published products, the report said.
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The number of cell phone users in China reached 780 million at the end of March, of which 155 million are mobile readers, according to figures from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
China Mobile, the world’s biggest cell phone carrier in terms of subscribers, runs e-book stores and provides wireless access to online publications, such as e-books, comics and magazines.
The subscription fee for its online e-book store is up to five yuan per month, 40 percent of which will be shared with copyright owners, according to China Mobile.
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“In recent years, the scale of the traditional publishing industry has remained at around 50 to 60 billion yuan a year, and it relies heavily on textbook publishing,” Gao Shusheng, an official with the publicity department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said in an earlier interview.
“Many publishing houses are facing a crisis and digital publishing might help them break the ice,” he said.
Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of General Administration of Press and Publication, also said mobile reading has shown strong vitality and huge market potential in China.
“I spent 15 yuan on mobile reading last year, and I’m planning to buy an electric book this month,” said Yang Jie, a 27-year-old Beijinger. Reading an electric book on the bus is “fashionable,” and three to five yuan for reading an electric book online is affordable, she said.
China Mobile platform puts digital publications at fingertips [May 6]
China Mobile on Wednesday launched an online platform that enables its subscribers to read and download digital publications through cell phones and e-book readers, as part of its effort to profit from the country’s emerging mobile reading market.
The world’s biggest cellphone carrier in terms of subscribers kicked off an e-book store similar to Apple’s iBook store, which gives users wireless access to a series of online publications such as e-books, comics and magazines.
“Reading habits have fundamentally changed,” said Gao Nianshu, general manager of China Mobile’s data department. He said the company hopes the new platform will attract over 200 million users in the near future.
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Gao said China Mobile’s new e-book platform, which currently covers about 40 percent of the best selling books in the country, has attracted over 15 million users during four months of testing in eight areas.
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But … although about 45 percent of Chinese mobile Internet users read books at least once a day by mobile phone, few of them are willing to pay for online content.
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It was reported earlier this week that China Mobile plans to team up with Foxconn Electronics of Taiwan province to produce its own e-book readers.
Part II. New technologies for 2011
Color Comes to E Ink Screens [Nov 7]
However, the new color E Ink display, while an important technological breakthrough, is not as sharp and colorful as LCD. Unlike an LCD screen, the colors are muted, as if one were looking at a faded color photograph. In addition, E Ink cannot handle full-motion video. At best, it can show simple animations.
These are reasons Amazon, Sony and the other major e-reader makers are not yet embracing it. Amazon says it will offer color E Ink when it is ready; the company sees color as useful in cookbooks and children’s books, and it offers these books in color through its Kindle application for LCD devices. Sony is also taking a wait-and-see approach.
How E Ink’s Triton Color Displays Work, In E-Readers and Beyond [Nov 9]
E Ink developed the Triton screen in conjunction with a group of partners, including Epson, Texas Instruments, Marvell, and the semiconductor companies Maxim and Freescale, all of whom worked on the electronic components of the [previous black and white only] Pearl screen. In particular, Epson played a key role, providing the color filters’ controller chip.
Underneath, it’s still the same white, black and grayscale electrophoretic pigments; it’s only when filtered through the RGB overlay that the image appears in color. To reach for an historical analogy, it’s not totally dissimilar from film’s Technicolor process, which shot in black-and-white film strips through color filters, then reverse-processed.
Because the underlying technology is identical, Triton’s contrast, energy usage, viewing angle are all essentially the same as the Pearl. The image update or refresh rate for monochrome is the same (240 ms), but color animation can take up to about one full second.
Unlike a LCD display, though, pictures on the Triton don’t need to update the entire screen: a moving figure in the foreground might be refreshed while the background remains identical — just like traditional cel animation.
Epson and E Ink Announce State-of-the-Art Color EPD Controller [May 18]
Seiko Epson Corporation … and E Ink Corporation … announced a new jointly developed display controller IC. The S1D13524 is a high-performance EPD controller with a built-in color processor for E Ink’s VizplexTM-enabled electronic color paper displays.
…
Yingjian Liu, chairman of Hanvon Technology Co., Ltd, a leading eReader provider said, “Epson and E Ink’s color EPD controller is a revolutionary innovation in the eReader industry. Thanks to this breakthrough technology announcement, eReader lovers will now be able to enjoy reading colorful eNewspapers and eTextbooks. This new innovation will help expand the contents for eReaders, thereby helping to preserve the environment and changing the way in which people obtain information.” Hanvon is planning to launch its own colorful eReader at the end of the year.
The S1D13524 is the ideal choice for E Ink color EPD designs and design upgrades. Samples of the Epson S1D13524 will be available in June. Sample price is $24. Production quantities will be available in Dec 2010.
Epson to Provide Display Controller Platform that Sharply Improves e-Paper Product Performance [Oct 27]
– Platform to enable laser-quality images and high-speed refreshes –
Seiko Epson Corporation (“Epson”, TSE: 6724) today announced that it has developed a new display controller platform for electronic reading devices and other electronic paper products that provides laser-sharp image quality and rapid refreshes. The company will begin shipping the platform to e-paper-based product manufacturers in April 2011.
…
The display control platform will enable e-paper product manufacturers to speed up their time to market by allowing them to efficiently develop products with fast display refresh times and the ability to display images as sharp and clear as any produced by a laser printer. Notably, the platform will facilitate the development of products for business and education applications, which typically require higher image quality and faster displays.
Epson is the world’s no.1* supplier of controller ICs for e-paper displays, partnering with E Ink Holdings Inc. of Hsinchu, Taiwan, the world’s number 1 supplier of e-paper.
…
The display controller platform employs a newly developed e-paper display driving scheme that is unlike those used in current e-book readers. The new driving scheme capitalizes on high-speed image processing technology originally developed for Epson’s photo-quality printers to enable e-paper displays with resolutions of 300 dpi and higher to be refreshed at high speed, which is ideal for higher education, professional office and general business environments.
E-paper devices outfitted with the display controller platform and a high-resolution e-paper display will render intricate content, such as “kanji” characters, mathematical formulas and engineering drawings, as well as illustrations, photographs and other images that require smooth gradations, much more clearly than current e-paper displays. They will also be able to flip through the pages of an e-book much faster than existing e-readers. When combined with sensors, these devices will provide powerful handwriting recognition, a critical function for business applications. The sharp improvement in readability and usability are expected to fuel the popularity of e-paper products in Japan, China, and other regions where Chinese characters are used, as well as in business and education applications where huge amounts of data have to be processed.
E Ink Announces Next Generation Display Platform [July 1]
E Ink® Corporation, the leading developer and marketer of electronic paper display technology, today announced the Q2 release of its next generation display technology, Pearl. With Pearl, E Ink expands the capabilities of reflective displays, bringing electronic paper performance to the next level. With the whitest reflective displays in the industry, and a contrast ratio now approximately 50 percent greater than today’s products, text on Pearl “pops” from the page, enabling a reading experience most similar to reading text on printed paper.
…
The E Ink Pearl design builds on the current generation of Vizplex designs, which is used in millions of eReader devices today. Due to a unique and proven two pigment system that is extremely stable, the current E Ink products in the market today have demonstrated long life and high reliability, enabling a whole new class of consumer products.
Images and text become crisp on the screen as the contrast between the background and item of interest is increased. E Ink Pearl raises the bar for displays used in digital reading. This allows for eReaders to go from a contrast ratio typical of newspapers, to a higher contrast ratio typical of paperback books. The crisp text and detailed graphics also continue to remain pleasant to view when E Ink products are enjoyed outside. In addition, with 16 gray level depth, E Ink Pearl offers the sharpest rendering of images and allows product developers to display images with smooth tones and rich detail.
Part III. The Chinese market
E Ink to set up subsidiary in China to develop e-book hardware [Dec 16]
Small- to medium-size TFT-LCD panel and electrophoretic display (EPD) maker E Ink Holdings will invest US$6.61 million to set up a subsidiary in China to design and develop hardware for e-book readers for the local education market, according to the company.
… the company will not mass produce e-book readers. This investment in China is to provide an incentive to the textbook market to commence its transition to e-paper
China market: Hanvon to lower e-book reader prices by average of CNY500 a year, says report [Dec 7]
Hanvon Technology, the largest China-based vendor of e-book readers, has reached an initial economy-scale of over one million users in the China market and will keep reducing prices by an average of CNY500 (US$75) each year until it reaches production cost levels, according to a report by China-based Beijing News. … Hanvon will rely on sales of online content for profitability, the paper quoted Hanvon chairman Liu Ying-jian as saying. Hanvon will even offer free e-book readers, Liu indicated.
…
Hanvon has so far adopted EPD (electrophoretic display) panels supplied by Taiwan-based E Ink Holdings, and will cooperate with additional suppliers including Qualcomm MEMS Technologies and Fujitsu
Hanwang to maintain over 70% of China e-book reader market share in 2010 [Nov 24]
Hanwang Technology’s e-book reader shipments are expected to exceed one million units in 2010, an increase of 150% from about 400,000 units in 2009, and the vendor is expected to maintain an over 70% share of the e-book reader market in China for the year.
Hanwang is optimistic about the education market and expects significant growth in the future, noting that there are over 100 million elementary school students. Hanwang noted that flexible substrates will help to boost demand in the education market because they are more robust than glass substrates.
China market: Hanvon lowers e-book readers by 200-300 yuan on average [Nov 16]:
Hanvon Technology, currently the largest vendor of e-book readers in the China market, has lowered its retail prices by 200-300 yuan (US$30-45) on average, with the lowest price reaching 950 yuan, according to report by China-based Beijing Morning Post. The price war for e-book readers in the China market has kicked off and there are expected to be rounds of price-cut competition, the source cited China-based consulting company Analysys International as indicating.
…
In addition to Hanvon, fellow vendor MReader has cut the retail price for its S600 e-book reader to 999 yuan and another vendor Gorld has cut the price for its 500T to about 1,000 yuan.
Hanvon color e-book reader to hit the market in February 2011 [Nov 11]
Hanvon will start selling its new 9.7-inch color e-book reader featuring E Ink Holding’s latest color e-paper, Triton, in February 2011 with a selling price of 3,500 yuan (US$527.59) and is accepting pre-orders now.
…
Hanvon chairman Liu Ying-jian noted that thanks to E Ink’s cooperation, Hanvon was able to launch the world’s first color e-book reader with better-than-expected color performance. Hanvon will launch a Wi-Fi version with a selling price of 3,500 yuan, and latter a 3G version at a price of 200-300 yuan more.
In addition to competing with iPad, the 9.7-inch color e-book reader is also eyeing the commercial market as the product allows users to read and modify PowerPoint files, reducing the usage of actual paper and is easy to carry around, Liu added.
E Ink Announces Color ePaper [Nov 10]
“Color ePaper will enable richer content in eBooks, as well as enabling a broader array of other reading devices, for content such as magazines, newspapers, and educational materials,” according to Paul Semenza, Senior Vice President, DisplaySearch. “We foresee market demand for ePaper displays in these applications reaching $5 billion by 2016.”
…
For image-rich information applications showing charts, graphs, maps, photos, comics and advertising, color displays made with Triton Imaging Film enable ultra-low power and high mobility devices with a paper-like experience. In addition to 16 levels of grayscale, Triton is capable of displaying thousands of colors. And just like E Ink’s grayscale ePaper products, Triton’s crisp text and detailed color graphics are fully viewable in direct sunlight.
INTERVIEW: Aiming for No. 1 in e-reader sector [June 2]
Taipei Times: Hanvon Technology Co (漢王科技) enjoys a strong presence in the Chinese e-reader market and you aim to become the world’s top brand. How do you plan to do that and what is your timeline?
Liu Yingjian (劉迎建): We are currently the world’s No. 2 e-reader brand [after Amazon], and we will become No. 1 next year, or in 2012 at the latest. China has the biggest e-reader market. With our huge scale in shipments, we have advantages in lower costs and product functionality with our proprietary Mandarin-character recognition software.
Our goal was to ship 500,000 e-readers in China last year, but we sold only 266,000 units, as our upstream suppliers weren’t able to supply the volumes we requested. In the first quarter, we shipped 180,000 e-readers, and the total volume for the year will definitely surpass 1 million.
…
TT: The iPad is now taking the world by storm and Acer Inc (宏碁) last week announced that it would join hands with China’s Founder Group (北大方正集團) to move into China’s PC and e-reader market. How do you view the competition?
Liu: I regard [Apple co-founder] Steve Jobs as a hero and Apple itself is an outstanding company. Tablet PCs have been in the market for so long, but just didn’t take off. The launch of the iPad revived consumers’ interest. Apple’s business model, applications, stylish gadgets and the enjoyment these devices bring to consumers are amazing.
But this doesn’t mean that Apple products will also receive overwhelming response in China. The cultural essence is the part Western firms fail to offer. Hanvon has created computerized Mandarin-character handwriting recognition solutions, which allow the elderly and kids to enjoy technology by just scribbling on the panels.
[Liu developed the world’s first computerized Mandarin-character handwriting recognition technology in 1985, then founded Hanvon in 1998 and the company became the first Chinese IT firm to license technology to Microsoft Corp the same year.]
The market in China is huge and there won’t be only one player. We have over 40 e-reader brands and the competition helps us stay competitive. What Acer lacks in digital content is complemented by Founder’s resources.
TT: The market is now split into two segments: e-readers and tablet devices. Some say tablets will cannibalize the e-reader segment. What is your take on this, especially since Hanvon just debuted its first tablet — the TouchPad — late last month?
Liu: These two products share a similarity: They are both tablet devices, but use different panels. The major difference is that an e-reader is more for stationary use, such as flipping through newspapers and magazines, and uses less battery power. Tablets consume more power, but have color screens with more PC-like features. In the future, e-paper displays will be in color, while TFT panels used in tablets will consume less battery power. Both could merge into a single device over the next three years.
…
TT: How would you define your relationship with Taiwanese manufacturers?
Liu: We realized that when it comes product design, Taiwanese manufacturers are the cream of the crop. Hanvon isn’t strong in manufacturing and if we want to churn out products that have world-class quality, then we need to work with world-class companies. I started to pay aggressive visits to Taiwanese manufacturers in the second half of last year, looking for suitable partners. There are a slew of sleek products that we will introduce later this year and they are designed by Taiwanese firms. Also, we are currently talking to Book11.com for e-content and plan to bring in our e-reader and TouchPad to Taiwan in the second half.
China Hanvon Technology, the world’s second-largest e-reader manufacturers as well as the world’s leading technology supplier of handwriting recognition, optical character recognition and biometrics identification sets up an overseas marketing platform in Taiwan today to expand overseas markets. Hanvon also announces that all its four major product lines Ebook readers (including the latest six-inch touch-screen Ebook N620 with handwriting recognition and WiFi launched simultaneously in mainland China), Tablet PCs, Graphic Tablets and Face Recognitions Products will be available in Taiwan. Hanvon Technology will also cooperate with the digital publishers in Taiwan on the establishment a cross-strait publishing cooperation platform to support the distribution of Taiwan’s Traditional Chinese publication in mainland China and further expand the market of Chinese publication. Attaching importance to Taiwan market, Hanvon Technology today invites dozens of partners in Taiwan such as technology companies, distributors and digital publishers to attend the news conference. Hanvon Technology hopes the establishment of overseas marketing platform in Taiwan is an opportunity to Chinese digital publishers across the strait to collaborate on spreading Chinese culture and starting a new era of Chinese reading!
Hanvon to launch Taiwan subsidiary [Sept 8]
… it will have a workforce of 70 to 80 carrying out research and development, as well as sales, said Chen Shaoqiang (陳少強), president of Hanvon’s resources management division.
The commencement of local operations will also include the debut of its online bookstore, which will allow owners of Hanvon e-readers to download books onto their devices
…
To meet shipment goals, Hanvon has outsourced production to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Pegatron Corp (和碩), Inventec Corp (英業達) and Clevo Co (藍天電腦).
Part IV. Hanvon’s Microsoft and Intel cooperation
[FPD 2010] Hanvon’s Triton Powered Color e-Reader “WISEreader” hands-on [Nov 12]
Available in Pre-order in China, Hanvon’s latest e-Reader is according to the company the world first Color e-book reader. Name “WISEreader” this new e-Reader comes with a 9.68” Screen from E INK Triton technology, display 4096 colors, comes with Hanvon Digital Touch screen technology, runs on Windows CE 6.0 a Freescale CPU, has 2GB of RAM and support MicroSD Cards up to 32GB.
Other spec includes a 2350mAh Li-Ion Battery, Wi-Fi B/G as well as several WAN Options including TD, EVDO and WCDMA.
Finally the WISEreader support TXT Files as well as HTML, HTXT, PDF, CEB, DOC, XLS, PPT, EPUB, HEB, HEC, JPG, BMP, TIF, GIF, MP3, WAV and WMA.
We had some quality time with this little marvel and honestly the screen is quite good and the overall reader was responsive. With a nice 9.68 screen capable to rotate on landscape mode, the WISEreader is a pretty descent device. Capable to support some basic little games, it make us which to be in China just right now to grab one.
http://www.hanvon.com/en/products/ebook/index.html
6 inches
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5 inches
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8 inches
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| WinCE:· File Formats: – Text: TXT, HTXT, HTML, PDF, EPUB, DOC, XLS – Image: JPG, TIF, BMP, PNG, GIF – DRM: Adobe content management 4· Digital Audio Formats: WAV, WMA, MP3 |
WinCE 5.0:· Supported Digital Audio Standards: WAV, MP3· Reader: – TEXT: TXT, HTXT, HTML, PDF, EPUB, CHM, Mobi/FB2/(not available yet) – Image: JPG, TIF, BMP, PNG, GIF · Office: Microsoft® Word, EXCEL, PPT (not available yet) |
Linux:
· File Formats:
– Text: TXT, HTXT, HTML, PDF, EPUB
– Image: JPG, TIF, BMP, PNG, GIF,CHM
– DRM: Adobe content management 4
· Digital Audio Formats: WMA, MP3
Hanvon Ebook Readers [March]
… if you want handwriting recongnition incorporated into a reading device Hanvon has to be first choice. This is a key part of their work for over two decades, and something at which they do excel. …
Hanvon WiSEreader N618 at Microsoft booth on COMPUTEX Taipei 2010 [June 6]
Microsoft invites Hanvon to take participate in Microsoft booth in COMPUTEX Taipei (#L108). On 1st of June, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, OEM, Mr. Steven Guggenheimer introduces Hanvon to Microsoft media that Hanvon is a very important partner of Microsoft Window Embedded [because of Windows CE, see above], and that Hanvon comes from Beijing, which is a very magnificent media exposure for Hanvon brand.
Hanvon Invites Taiwan Peers to Jointly Enter Global E-book Reader Market [June 2]
Hanvon today unveiled an array of new products at the Computex Taipei 2010, including Touchpad B10 (tablet PC), WISEreader N618 (e-book reader), and Art Master Ⅲ(graphics tablet).
…
- TouchPad B10
Hanvon, Microsoft, and Intel jointly launched TouchPad B10 for business people. Also called the “iPad Killer” by the market, TouchPad has a trendy look and various practical features. With a weight around 990g and thickness of only 18mm, the stylish and light-weighted Touchpad is easy to carry. In addition, TouchPad supports VGA resolution of 1024×600 (16:9) and is equipped with a 2GB DDR2 memory and 250GB hard drive and therefore it makes video and audio files easy to read and write. With Windows7 pre-installed operating system, 2 USB ports, audio in/out, mini HDMI, TouchPad is a perfect trendy and handy product for consumers to use.
- WISEreader N618
WISEreader N618 is Hanvon’s first ebook reader equipped with built-in WiFi, which allows users to read ebooks via wireless web. It is a business type e-Book reader, equipped with a 6-inch E-Ink large screen and document editing/management software which supports multi-format files. Using Hanvon’s latest handwriting recognition technology and electromagnetic plate technology, WISEreader N618 is a more convenient tool compared to traditional notebooks for users as they can enjoy the dual touch screen features through gesture and handwriting recognition. WISEreader N618 is therefore a great companion for business and travel.
Hanvon B10 Win7 tablet goes on sale, gets video unboxing [Aug 25]
Hanvon Touchpad B10 tablet computer at CES China [July 12]
… new Touchpad B10 [linking to Hanvon’s product page] tablet computer. The 9.96 x 6.61 x 0.70 inch, 1.98 pound device is powered by a 1.3GHz ULV 743 Celeron processor and GMA X4500 display chip from Intel on a GS45 chipset with 2GB DDR2 memory and a 250GB hard disk drive.
Intel Shares Vision for the Future [April 13]
Also, Perlmutter disclosed that Intel is working with PC manufacturers Tongfang* and Hanvon* to introduce the new convertible classmate PC design that combines aesthetics with ruggedness, full PC functionality with enhanced e-reading capabilities and improved performance with energy efficiency. The flexible design of the new convertible classmate PC works and moves the way students do. The tablet touch screen form factor also adds additional functionality for students. Development of these new features was based on extensive ethnographic research with students and teachers.
Rugged Convertible Classmate PC Design Moves the Way Kids Do [April 26]
Intel Corporation today unveiled the most flexible and durable Intel-powered convertible classmate PC reference design yet.
PRESS KIT – The Intel-powered classmate PC: Photos
The new convertible classmate PC design converts instantly from a clamshell to a tablet mode with a touch screen, featuring a built-in camera that will swivel for 180 degrees while retaining its kids-friendly design. Features of the platform are designed for more mobility, flexibly and collaboration in students’ learning. The convertible design will coexist with the Intel-powered clamshell classmate PC for varying education needs in the world.
Pegatron lands orders for tablet PCs from China-based Hanvon [12 Nov]:
Hanvon has extended its own-brand business operation from e-book readers to tablet PCs and has launched a few business-use models including Touchpad B10 and B20 in the China market, the sources indicated.
Hanvon’s executives earlier came to Taiwan to seek ODM partners for its tablet PCs, with First International Computer, Clevo, Quanta Computer and Wistron regarded as candidates, the sources pointed out. Hanvon originally selected Clevo, but Clevo gave up the opportunity because Hanvon asked for too low prices, the sources indicated. Finally, Pegatron won by quoting the lowest, the sources noted.
China market: Hanvon to launch TouchPad B10 tablet PC in January [Dec 17]
China-based Hanvon Technology will begin to market its first Windows 7-based tablet PC, the TouchPad B10, in the China market in January 2011. Hanvon is currently outsourcing production of the TouchPad 10, which is powered by an Intel N455 processor, to Taiwan-based First International Computer (FIC).
FIC began shipping the TouchPad B10 in December and volume shipments will be maintained at 2,000-4,000 units a month initially. However, total monthly shipments are likely to reach 10,000-15,000 units when Hanvon launches Android-based products in the second quarter of 2011, according to industry sources.
More information:
Undermining E-Ink and single-purpose E-readers [Aug 23 – Nov 10]: a comprehensive report about the massive FUD generated by competitive forces a few months back. Has been successfully beaten back.
This Ink Is for Reading [July 1]: all you need to know about E-Ink Holdings (that times called Prime View International)
somewhat older information of the similar kind:
By the Book [Jan 8]
Taiwan firm spreads out e-paper magic [Jan 2]
Prime View and E-Book Readers: A New Page in Reading History [July 21, 2009]
Windows 7 slates with a personal cloud based layered interface for touch-first HTML5 applications on the CES 2011
Microsoft to Announce New Slates Aimed at the iPad [Dec 13]:
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, is expected to announce a number of these devices when he takes the stage at C.E.S., showcasing devices built by Samsung and Dell, among a number of other manufacturing partners.
…
The Samsung device is described as “similar in size and shape to the Apple iPad, although it is not as thin. It also includes a unique and slick keyboard that slides out from below for easy typing.”
The people familiar with this device said it would run the Windows 7 operating system [user interface] when in landscape mode, but will also have a layered interface that will appear when the keyboard is hidden and the device is held in a portrait mode.
…
… the company was encouraging partners to build applications for these devices that use HTML5, the Web programming language. … the applications would not be sold in an app store, as with the Apple iTunes model, but Microsoft will encourage software partners to host the applications on their own Web sites, which will then be highlighted in a search interface on the slate computers.
Update: While the above Samsung device was indeed introduced at CES 2011, under the name of Sliding PC 7 Series and even in a very prominent position in the Microsoft keynote, the layered interface wasn’t. See my post Microsoft moving to SoC & screen level slot management that is not understood by analysts/observers at all [Jan 7, 2011]. Regarding the rumored layered interface I wrote the following in the notes section of that article:
… the fact that HTML5 related announcements (as was anticipated in my previous post of Windows 7 slates with a personal cloud based layered interface for touch-first HTML5 applications on the CES 2011 [Dec 14, 2010] post) were postponed has even much bigger significance. Whatever will come regarding that upto the MIX 2011 of April 12-14 will be equally important to clarify the rest of the new strategic Microsoft picture. Particularly I am expecting that Silverlight technologies will nicely join the already known IE9/HTML5 push in a new platform technology setup.
The Dec 13 report from The New York Times indicated in the beginning has been widely quoted and analyzed over the web. Some of the most notable ones:
Microsoft to demo new slate PCs, Windows 8 tablet functionality at CES? [Dec 13]
Microsoft to show off true iPad competitors at CES? [Dec 13]
Microsoft iPad challengers surfacing in January [Dec 13]
Curious timing: Goldman Sachs issues another report saying the iPad and tablets are hammering Microsoft, then anonymous sources tell the New York Times that Windows 7 tablets are part of Steve Ballmer’s CES keynote.
…
An appearance at CES doesn’t mean the devices will go on sale in January. The show is really for retailers to see products that they’ll carry later in 2011.
Microsoft will show off new Windows 7 Slates at CES, no Windows 8 [Dec 14]
The New York Times suggests that Ballmer may show off a Windows 8 based Slate but WinRumors understands this is not the case. The software maker may show off a future Tablet/Slate concept device but will not refer to Windows 8 specifically. Microsoft is currently in the planning and preperation stage for Windows 8 and is compiling early milestone builds for product functionality.
Regarding Windows 8 there is a couple of days earlier report New Windows 8 user interface codenamed ‘Wind’? [Dec 8]:
Windows 8 will have two separate interfaces according to recent rumors.
Italian based windows8italia reports that Microsoft’s next-generation Windows operating system will be 32-bit and 64-bit with two separate interfaces. Windows8italia says that the main interface will be codenamed “Wind” and will initially only be supported by high-end notebook and desktop PCs with dedicated video cards. The site claims the interface will require around 170MB of video memory. “Wind” will only activate on 64-bit copies of Windows 8 and will be fully 3D.
The site goes on to explain that Wind will be “fully dynamic” and able to adapt to user habits. Icons and shortcuts will adapt to different usage scenarios to speed up daily tasks. Windows 8 is also rumored to include a new fast hibernation system. The system will hibernate in around three to six seconds and save all open documents and running tasks.
My earlier trendtracking has shown the following:
Windows slates in the coming months? Not much seen yet [July 13 – Oct 9] with the last relevant update stating:
Mr. Ballmer is now (Oct) talking consistently about “next year”: How Steve Ballmer told me what to do with my iPad! [Oct 6].
At the same time on my another website there is a very important in this regard Windows 7 UI overlays from Microsoft and elsewhere [Aug 28] article:
Microsoft Surfboard
This is a prototype application shown in the Brad Brooks demo part during Steve Ballmer’s session at the Microsoft Financial Analyst Meeting 2010. This part is called “Chapter 11 – Windows 7 + Personal Cloud” and it is 18:27 long. The related section is close to the end, and the story told to us is the following (the emphasis is mine):
Now I want to show you something we think is going to be very compelling around consuming content across your personal cloud and with a device or form factor like … a slate. So, here I’ve got another slate form factor and again running Windows 7 and I’m going to pop open an application here that we’ve been, this is a prototype application we’ve been working with at Microsoft and using to help train our ecosystem about how to create touch-first application on Windows 7. And so this particular application is what we call internally Surfboard. I’m going to go ahead and open up the music session, and remember that song that I downloaded off Bing? Well now, if I go to Z, it actually shows up here, because it is on a connected PC across my personal cloud and this PC can now see this and use it across the personal cloud.
So, this Onkyo device that I had in my home, well, I can go ahead now and take this content off my personal cloud and I can move it right up to that Onkyo device and because that Onkyo device is connected through into my personal cloud with Windows 7, I can now take and take that music and play it across my PC through this Windows ‑‑ from Windows 7 PC into this device. But, I can take it much farther.
So, why don’t I go ahead and go into videos here. And go ahead and say that my wife ‑‑ we’re planning a Hawaiian vacation later on this year. I want to go ahead and get her excited about that. I’ll take this Hawaiian surf video and I’ll play it off to the Xbox over in the den. So, again, through one PC interface I can start controlling that experience in a different part of the house through wireless network and my personal cloud. Now, let’s say my wife wants to go ahead and set the kids up in the den and she wants to move to the main TV, I can take that right off the Xbox and move it right over to the main TV that’s connected up to my Western Digital box. And I want to take the kids and take children’s program that I recorded on that media center PC over there, and I want to take it off and I want to push it over to the Xbox in the den, so they can start watching it there.
Meanwhile, Ryan went and sent me a video of what he is doing over the weekend, which is being mascot for the Seattle Seahawks. I can pull that to the Media Center PC. So, now there you have it is I’ve now got this portable remote control device that is my slate PC that is now collected across my personal cloud. This is really going to change how people think about experiences and what they are doing with a Windows 7 PC, plus a personal cloud.
So what Microsoft is developing is not a UI overlay on top of a single slate device, like what we have with Apple iPad, but over an entirely different concept they are calling “personal cloud”, of which the Windows 7 slate is just one part. In the very beginning of his presentation Brad Books is describing the concept as follows (the emphasis is again mine):
Speaking of cloud and Windows, we have a unique point of view on the cloud for consumers, and we call it the PC. Only in this case we call it the personal cloud. And the personal cloud, well, it’s going to connect all the things that are important to you and make them available and ready for you to use wherever you’re at, whenever you need it. That’s going to be our promise to consumers. And it’s going to be centered around you, because we don’t believe around here that one size fits all. We believe in choice and we believe that you’ve got to bring that together in a lot of different ways for customers.
But the personal cloud … is going to do a lot more than just connect your Windows 7 PCs together. It’s going to connect you to your entertainment choices and bring new content into your personal cloud. It’s going to connect you to the people that matter to you most. And of course it is going to connect to different devices that you want it to connect to, like devices in the homes or ones you might carry in your pocket. And we are going to take this already super popular Windows 7 PC experience and make it even more compelling for consumers and deliver it on a scale that Microsoft can deliver it on. So starting this fall, the things I’m about to show you, this personal cloud delivered through a Windows Live update that will be coming, will be available to every existing Windows 7 PC user and every Windows Phone 7 user. And by Q3 a vast majority of all PCs that ship to consumers will have this pre-installed so people will have this personal cloud experience as part of their Windows 7 experience right out of the box, and of course that will come with every Windows Phone 7 as well.
Meantime the service part of that personal cloud was introduced, see my WHAT? … Windows Live Spaces SaaS moving to WordPress.com SaaS? … It is part of a NEW strategy with Windows Live Essentials 2011 released now! [Oct 2] post regarding that. We also have the Office add-on to that, see my Microsoft Office 365 SaaS (now in limited Beta) [Oct 20] post regarding that. Also these are essential parts of well thought-out overall strategy, so called “three screens and a cloud”, see my Microsoft (Ray Ozzie, Steve Ballmer) on the cloud clients [Oct 9] post.
So what Microsoft could indeed introduce as an overlay software on Windows 7 slates when they are operated without a keyboard is a personal cloud based new interface optimized for touch (over the traditional Windows 7 interface). This is only which still missing.
Regarding the HTML5 rumor there is also nothing essentially new since it could have been noted earlier as per my existing posts on this website:
Microsoft going multiplatform? [Sept 17]
Microsoft to lead standards compliance and implementation? … or how Microsoft is aiming to create a radically new Windows client platform via a set of “whole computer capable rich web” standards. [Sept 20]
Split strategy for HTML 5 and Windows only enhanced development from Microsoft [Dec 3]
And regarding the dependency of Windows slates on Intel SoC advancements there were clear posts here as well:
Intel SoC for Cloud Clients [June 27]
Windows 7 tablets/slates with Oak Trail Atom SoC in December [Nov 1]
Intel Oak Trail to beat ARM with MeeGo specific prices [Nov 25]
Intel’s industry position and prospects for years ahead [Dec 9]
So by CES 2011 time (January 6-9, 20011) everything will be ready to launch a truely competitive Windows 7 slate strategy. And one look at the program shows that Microsoft will quite probably be THE major keynoter with (emphasis is mine):
Steve Ballmer will kick off the 2011 International CES with a preshow keynote address at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 5, in the Las Vegas Hilton Center. In previous years, Microsoft has used the CES keynote stage to launch major products including Xbox, Windows Vista and its Sync technology partnership with Ford.
(Note: a year ago, as always, Ballmer was also a preshow keynoter. Let’s hope this time his keynote will indeed have a major industry impact since tooo many people are using Microsoft legacy client solutions which indeed urgently need a strategic update for the fast emerging cloud clients environment.)
Intel Oak Trail to beat ARM with MeeGo specific prices
As per Digitimes Intel starts mass producing Oak Trail platform [Nov 24]
… specifically for tablet PCs, with the combination of Atom Z670 processor and SM35 chipset the initial product, according to industry sources.
The Oak Trail platform will sell at about US$25 with MeeGo, and the price for Oak Trail and Microsoft’s Windows 7 will be higher.
There were a couple of news regarding the state of MeeGo a month ago as well:
– For developers’ eyes only: MeeGo version 1.1 [Oct 21]
Today marks a new project release of the MeeGo software, the open-source next-gen operating system for computing devices that Nokia and Intel kicked off earlier this year. The release brings it to version 1.1. This includes updates to the Core operating system, together with the Netbook, In-Vehicle and Mobile Handset packages. An updated Software Development Kit (SDK) for version 1.1 will follow shortly. So MeeGo’s well on its way and showing great progress.
So what is a “project release”? Let’s start with what it isn’t. This isn’t a finished product for you to load up on to your phone and use on a day-to-day basis. The user interface is neither finished nor is it representative of what the experience will look like on future Nokia devices (we’re creating our own unique experience using Qt). What it is, is a generic version intended to allow developers and device manufacturers to get familiar with the code and the capabilities of future devices.
… Version 1.2 is scheduled for April 2011, by which point the MeeGo handset user experience software should be pretty much complete. For all the technical details, jump to meego.com.
– MeeGo 1.1 Release [Oct 28]
This release includes:
- Core OS 1.1 – consolidated common base operating system for all UXs
- Netbook UX 1.1 – complete set of core applications for netbooks
- In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) UX 1.1 – includes a sample IVI home screen and taskbar built with Qt 4.7 and speech recognition
- Handset UX 1.1 – technology snapshot implements basic development UX for voice calling, SMS messaging, web browsing, music and video playback, photo viewing, and connection management
- SDK 1.1 Beta – SDK for MeeGo Core OS and supported UXs will be released during the coming days before the MeeGo Summit conference in Dublin.
…
Looking Ahead to MeeGo 1.2
MeeGo development continues forward on a six-month cadence. MeeGo 1.2 is scheduled for April of 2011 and it will include a Handset UX release with a complete set of applications, and support for other device usage models.
Relative to that nothing really new came out of the MeeGo camp. Chippy has a good Report: Timeline for MeeGo Netbooks, Tablets and Smartphones [Nov 20] for those who want to understand in all details what Meego will bring next year and when. Author’s final conclusion is:
We could see MeeGo netbooks with AppUp as early as January with ‘features’ such as quick-boot, lower cost, a simple-to-use operating system with a social-networking slant. We’re unlikely to see too much excitement around these early devices though because platforms and applications need to develop to create products with any major selling points. ARM do have an opportunity to get MeeGo on a netbook-style device in order to create an interesting long-battery-life product.
Tablets could appear in the early part of 2011 as 3rd-parties are already working on UI solutions based on MeeGo 1.1 but for interesting multi-touch products, with an application store, this won’t happen until around June 2011.
The first MeeGo smartphone requires MeeGo V1.2 and won’t happen, either on Intel or ARM until around June 2011. That phone is likely to be a Nokia product and its success will be critical to MeeGo.
Everything up until this Nokia/MeeGo phone can be called Phase-1 – led by Intel/Nokia investment. If these products show class-leading features and the developers start to create applications then we’ll start to see Phase 2 products created through independent investment that are true indicators of MeeGo momentum. That story starts in Q3 2011.
This means that Intel cannot effectively compete against ARM for another half year at least. Intel’s ally in the MeeGo strategy is also under reorganisation:
The mid-2000s represent something of a high-water mark for Nokia. In 2005, it was the undisputed king of the mobile market having sold its billionth handset.
Today, while Nokia remains the world’s largest seller of mobile phones, its prospects have changed dramatically. The company now faces slipping market share, competing mobile operating systems and a world where Apple and Android are regarded as the smartphone leaders.
… The fightback will be headed by Stephen Elop, the former head of Microsoft’s business division, who replaced outgoing CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo on 21 September.
- Nokia Hires A New Exec To Save Its Brand [Nov 24]:
Nokia’s new CEO just hired a new chief marketing officer to help the once-hot cellphone maker fix its dying brand.
Digitimes recently also had the opportunity to talk with ARM president, Tudor Brown and share his views regarding the market for tablet PCs in 2011, and the role of Taiwan’s hardware manufacturers in the booming business. Brown also discussed ARM’s business opportunities in a PC industry that is moving toward increased mobility. See:
– Tablet PCs are opportunities to redistribute profits among supply chain players, says ARM president [Nov 19
– Toward increased mobility: Q&A with ARM president Tudor Brown [Nov 24]
The leading vendor in Taiwan meanwhile unveiled its strategy as follows:
– Acer adopts AMD CPU for tablet PCs [Nov 25]
Among Acer’s announced initial batch of tablet PCs, a 10.1-inch Windows 7-based model is believed to use AMD’s Ontario APU codenamed C-50, according to sources from notebook players.
… The dual-core C-50 APU, which consumes only 9W of power, is currently priced at about US$55-60 and includes an integrated Radeon HD 6250 graphics chip [and also UVD dedicated hardware acceleration for HD video including 1080p resolutions, see later].
– Live and interact in total mobility – Tablets according to Acer [Nov 23]:
… support of its goal to simplify content consumption – a strategy which began with the development of Acer’s multimedia sharing system, Clear.fi. Acer’s strategy is based on the concept of sharing multimedia content and enjoying it across any device, and Tablets are ideal devices for this purpose.
A 10.1” Android tablet for a superb mobile and home entertainment experience … Designed for HD entertainment, this tablet comes with a high resolution, high color contrast display, allowing you to play or share HD video with your friends wherever you are. … Available April 2011
7” Android Tablet: the epitome of mobility … On the 7” (1280×800) 16:10 aspect ratio full touch screen, you can enjoy games, photos, videos while keeping up with your emails or your favourite social networks. Video chat or record a video with the front-facing HD camera. With HDMI support, hooking it up for a big screen video experience is easyier than ever! … Available April 2011
10.1” Windows Tablet: Versatility in a tablet form factor … an extremely innovative solution that combines touch screen user-friendliness with the comfortable experience of a physical keyboard. In fact, the tablet comes with a docking device that includes a full-size keyboard and more connectivity options to enhance the user experience. … Thin and light (only 15 mm and less than 1kg), and with a 10.1”, high resolution display, it’s easy to carry around and really unobtrusive. This tablet ensures outstanding entertainment and a superior touch experience. … Available February 2011
– Acer debuts 10.1-inch Windows 7 tablet: AMD-powered, inbuilt 3G, coming February 2011 [Nov 23]
– Acer aims at largest global market share for tablet PCs in 2-3 years, says CEO [Nov 26]. A detailed interview.
– Compal, Wistron to station in Chongqing, says Acer source [Nov 23]:
…accepted an invitation from Acer to set up production bases in Chongqing, western China, to support Acer’s operational headquarters there, according to a source inside Acer.
Acer’s headquarters in Chongqing will start operations in the second or third quarter of 2011 and are expected to handle half of Acer’s PC shipments in 2012, which is about 30 million units, the source said.
More information regarding AMD’s new APUs based on brand new Bobcat cores see in my post SoC advances for client, server and mobile basestation level [Aug 25, with updates going as of Nov 25]
More information regarding Intel’s Oaktrail see in my posts:
– Windows 7 tablets/slates with Oak Trail Atom SoC in December [Nov 1, with updates going as of Nov 24]
– Intel SoC for Cloud Clients [June 27, with updates going as of Aug 23]
More information on the current leading edge in ARM offerings see in my posts:
– Marvell ARMADA with sun readable and unbreakable Pixel Qi screen, and target [mass] manufacturing cost of $75 [Nov 4]
– Marvell ARMADA beats Qualcomm Snapdragon, NVIDIA Tegra and Samsung/Apple Hummingbird in the SoC market [again] [Sept 23, with updates going as of Nov 2]
More information regarding Windows slates/tablets see in my posts:
– Windows 7 tablets/slates with Oak Trail Atom SoC in December [Nov 1, with updates going as of Nov 24]
– Windows slates in the coming months? Not much seen yet [July 13, with updates going as of Oct 9]
Cloud Computing Strategy for Digital China: Taiwan is leading the way except IOT
In my post Be aware of mainland China and Taiwan stronger manufacturing links in ICT [Sept 2] it has already been proven that mainland China and Taiwan are fast becoming essentially one in the important ICT sector. Moreover, it was a recent acceptance of IMT-Advanced (4G) for the next-generations of interactive mobile services, China is triumphant [Oct 24] as major effect of that acceptance. It is more visible for mainland China as for them the #1 issue is Could China close the gap in mobile Internet? It should! [July 21]. For Taiwan the issue in this regard was the one related to Intel dismisses WiMAX Program Office [July 1] only. With IMT-Advanced (4G) accepted by ITU the Taiwanese concern about their strong and already very much advanced WiMAX commitment has also been resolved since the WirelessMAN-Advanced within IMT-Advanced is in fact a kind of WiMAX 2.
With such triumphant continuation assured for both the Taiwanese mobile Internet as well as that of mainland China (see 3.9G TD-LTE rollout in 2012 with integrated 2G, 3G and 4G? [July 19]) for an ardent China technology watcher like myself the next issue is what about their cloud computing strategies?
For mainland China the most visible manifestations of any cloud foundation related strategies of their own have been the OPhone OS (OMS) 2.0 based on Android 2.1 [July 5] and the Mobile search SaaS battle [June 28]. On behalf of the large international ICT players, on the other hand, the most visible mainland China related cloud effort has been so far the SAP’s Business ByDesign SaaS to be relaunched on July 31 with mobility as one of key attractions [July 28] only. So a kind of core coverage has already been provided on my “Experiencing the Cloud” blog.
- Update: China Mobile Expands Cooperation With Taiwanese Suppliers on 4G Biz [Dec 30]
-With a TD-LTE (time division long term evolution) testing lab jointly established by Taiwanese end-user instruments makers in China becoming operational, China Mobile, one of China`s big three telecom service providers, will move to expand its cooperation with them on 4G business in the country soon.
Yvonne Li, president of Taiwan`s Far Eastone Telecommunications Co., Ltd., one of founders of the TD-LTE testing lab, has confirmed that several Taiwanese handset makers, including High Tech Computer (HTC) Corp. and Asustek Computer Inc., have sent their smartphones to the lab for testing, which will be adopted by China Mobile for launch in China in 2011 at the earliest.
Also, Taiwan-based MediaTek Inc., a globally leading handset IC designer, is expected to count on the lab to accelerate development of its chipsets for TD-LTE phones, industry insiders noted.
Through the testing lab, Li stressed that Taiwanese firms relative to 4G communications can tap China Mobile`s supply chain of 4G phones more easily in the future than before. In short, the lab will also help step up cooperation between the Chinese telecom service provider and Taiwanese manufacturers.
Li also indicated that his firm has moved to expand collaboration with China Mobile on value-added mobile services, with the former`s application software and e-book readers already available on the latter`s online shopping store. Prospectively, said, the cooperation will open the door wider to China`s e-book reader market for other Taiwanese firms in the future.
So far, China Mobile has decided to set up over 3000 TD-LTE base stations in six metropolises, such as Beijing and Shanghai, in China, and, to counter underdevelopment of related 4G phones, has planned to rely on Taiwanese suppliers` cutting-edge product R&D capability to boost promotion of the 4G services.
Taiwan-based mobile telecom carrier Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) has launched 25 Chinese-language Android applications om Mobile Market, the online store operated by China Mobile, with market response better than originally expected, according to FET.
The 25 applications, with 23 ones free and two chargeable, are selected from S Mart, FET’s online store of which 40% are for chargeable download, FET indicated. The launch on Mobile Market has hit a record of 43,000 downloads a day and reached more than 140,000 downloads cumulatively, FET noted. With 40 more applications under review by China Mobile, FET expects to have 100 applications available on Mobile Market at the end of 2010.
Most of the applications on Mobile Market should be for free use in order to cultivate habits, a necessary measure to pave the way for launching more chargeable applications in the future, FET pointed out. FET plans to invest NT$300 million (US$9.6 million) in three years offering free applications to tap the China market.
- Update: Internet is Major Helper of Home Economy in Taiwan [Dec 17]
Taiwan has about 15.42 million computer users and 14.46 million being habitual Internet browsers, 63.9% of which have shipped [shopped?] online, up 10 percentage points from the corresponding 53.9% of last year, according to a recent survey by the Research, Development & Evaluation Commission (RDEC) under the Taiwan Cabinet.
Online shoppers have spent on average this year NT$13,864 (US$447.23) per person, surging 41.24% from last year`s NT$9,816 (US$306.75). In addition, 26.4% of the browsers have used online financial services, up five percentage points from that recorded a year earlier. Such uptrend reflects the increasing dependence on the Internet by Taiwanese in home economy, or the art and economics of home management.
The survey shows that 86 of every 100 households in Taiwan own computers, with 81 being online browsers. This year the proportion of mobile online users has increased to 53% from last year`s 41.9%; while 75.6% of the island`s 12-and-older people have used computers and 70.9% have used the Internet.
Some 64.9% of Taiwan`s online users have participated in Internet communities, 48.8% have joined MSN, and 41.4% have participated in Facebook, with 34.9% having set up personal blogs.
- Update: VIA, Skycloud to Jointly Venture Into Cloud Computing [Dec 17]
The joint venture … will be the first manufacturer of cloud computing equipment co-founded by industries on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits.
Tian [Sounin, Skycloud Chairman] noted that mainland China has included cloud-computing development in its 12th Five-Year Plan, setting to push for one mega cloud computing plan each in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuxi and Nanjing in five years.
Of the five mega programs, the one for Beijing will cost at least RMB50 billion (US$7.5 billion at US$1:RMB6.6) in investment and create an industry revenue four times the investment costs. The one for Shanghai is also expected to create revenue the same size of the Beijing plan.
According to executives of Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., the mainland`s top three telecom carriers—China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom—will also start their own cloud-computing programs.
…
Taiwan`s Ministry of Economic Affairs estimated global revenue in cloud-computing industry will reach US$409.6 billion in 2012 and Taiwan has designed cloud computing as next NT$1 trillion (US$33 billion at US$1:NT$30) industry.
The cooperation is for Skycloud help CHT market CHT-developed cloud computing infrastructure and application services and ICT-based intelligent services/solutions for home, business and government use in China, with Skycloud to provide hardware and system integration services, CHT pointed out. In addition, CHT will set up an exhibition center of its cloud computing products in a cloud computing park developed by Skycloud in Beijing, with completion scheduled for the end of January 2011, CHT indicated. CHT will then introduce its cloud computing products, the HiCloud CaaS (compute as a service), to the China market in March-April 2011, the company noted.
…
Skycloud, in order to promote cloud computing business, has set up 13 offices around China and the nationwide promotion network will be expanded to 35-40 offices in 2011, Tian [Edward, Skycloud chairman] pointed out. Skycloud has been in cooperation with Taiwan-based IC design house VIA Technologies, and both sides will set up a China-based joint venture in 2011 to develop terminal devices specifically for cloud computing application, Tian indicated.
- Update: Taiwan, China to Jointly Offer Cloud Computing Commercial Services [Dec 16]
Two top companies of Taiwan and China have signed a memorandum of understanding to start the cooperation on jointly tapping the commercial opportunities in cloud computing services for companies in the Greater China area.
Lu Shyue-ching, chairman of Chunghwa Telecom Co. and concurrently head of the Taiwan Cloud Computing Consortium (TCCC), inked the document with chairman Edward Tian of the Beijing-based Skycloud Technology (China), Inc.
The pact marks the closer cooperation between the two companies, but executives at Chunghwa Telecom, the leading telecommunications service company in Taiwan, said the project also represents the beginning of mutual assistance between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait concerning cloud computing services.
They said Chunghwa Telecom will team up with Taiwan-based enterprises to formally start providing services in the Chinese market in 2011, including shipping the turn-key projects there.
The partners of Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan include Quanta Computers, Inventec, and Trend Micro Incorporated.
…
Skycloud Technology, a leading cloud computing system integration company, has become a bellwether of the cloud computing sector in China after integrating resources at several other companies, including Centrine Data Systems, CE Open Source Software, and a software firm set up by the Beijing University of Technologyto form the China Cloud Computing Technology and Industry Alliance (CCCTIA).
Chunghwa Telecom is playing a similar role in Taiwan.
Shareholders of Skycloud Technology (China) also include Yahoo founder Jerry Young, and executives from Taiwan like chairman Barry Lam of Quanta Computer, president Chen Wen-Chi of VIA Technologies, and chairman Steve Chang of Trend Micro, a computer and Internet security company.
Skycloud Technology, which aims to bring enterprises in China into the “cloud era,” was understood to have won several contracts to develop cloud computing projects in China, including the one at Beijing Zhongguancun.
- Update: Chunghwa Telecom, Inventec Enter Into Cloud Computing Deal [Dec 31]
Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. and Inventec Corp. yesterday announced cooperation on four cloud-computing projects, including establishing a cloud-computing equipment laboratory, developing cloud-computing equipment for end-user market, and setting up an online store offering content applications.
Also, the two companies decided to work with Skycloud Technology (China) Inc. on integrated solutions for mainland China`s cloud-computing market, which is estimated at around NT$1 trillion (US$33 billion at US$1:NT$30) over next five years.
Inventec will place all the application software it co-develops with content-service developers on Chunghwa Telecom`s cloud-computing Internet data centers set up around the island. Industry watchers said Inventec and Chunghwa Telecom do not rule out the possibility of founding a joint venture to develop cloud-computing application software. Chunghwa Telecom executives said the jury is still out on the joint venture plan.
…
The idea of the two companies’ online content store is inspired by Apple Store. The online store will help Taiwan`s developers of cloud-computing software open online shops to sell their products.
- Update: Taiwan well poised to break into cloud computing: analyst [Dec 1]:
… Meanwhile, Platform Computing, a leading company in cluster, grid and cloud management software with 80 percent of the global market share, said on Monday that it planned to build an operating center in Taiwan within six months. The Canada-based company expects the new center to handle its cloud computing business in the greater China area …
- Update [Nov 22]: Taiwan is indeed recognizing its window of opportunity in cloud computing space on the Greater China market and elsewhere:
– Taiwan`s Cloud Computing Alliance to Tap Mainland China Market [Nov 22]
– Acer Debuts Cloud Computing Desktop Addressing Digital Home Market [Nov 22]
- Update [Nov 16]: Gene Perez from GMS (Santa Maria, California, US) noted in the comment below, that “labor is pretty damn cheap there as well”. Indeed, the graph below is showing the case for Taiwan (from U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Table 1 of International Comparisons of Manufacturing Productivity and Unit Labor Cost Trends or http://www.bls.gov/fls/prodsuppt.xls):
- Something similar for Greater China (PRC) from the same source [Nov 17] which shows that manufacturing employees in Greater China get upto 10 times less than even their counterparts in Taiwan — a huge competitive edge for many years and decades ahead which is when combined with cloud computing foundation will be an even more killing combination than upto now:
Table 1. Hourly compensation costs of manufacturing employees in China, 2002-2008
Year National currency basis
(Yuan)U.S. dollar basis
(US$)Index1
(US = 100)2002 4.74 0.57 2.1 2003 5.17 0.62 2.2 2004 5.50 0.66 2.3 2005 5.95 0.73 2.4 2006 6.44 0.81 2.7 20072 8.06 1.06 3.4 2008 9.48 1.36 4.2
The current issue for me is therefore Taiwan related. What is the cloud computing strategy in Taiwan? How that strategy has taken into consideration the huge potential of mainland China? Not only as a market to sell into but as well as a huge and growing ICT industry to collaborate with. What is the role of the government there? Etc.
Below are my findings for which it was more than enough to collect information from the relevant Taiwan Economic News of China Economic News Service (CENS). I would highly recommend to subscribe to that service.
- Items #1-3 are showing that Taiwan’s lead in cloud computing has been well established by their government led efforts in the last two years. Item #4-5 are indicating that from large international ICT players Microsoft has been the first to engage in this very early period. Item #6 is about the first government assisted megaprojects.
- Item #7 is referring to the latest Gartner view on mainland China.
- Item #8 is about the IOT (Internet of Things) situation (notable here is the active liason work of Newland Group of Greater China), while item #9 is about the cloud computing effort as a whole in Taiwan.
- Item #10 is about Intel’s involvement coming quite late to the party.
- Items #11-12 are about Chungwa Telecom (Taiwan’s #1 telecom service provider) efforts being with the government from the very beginning.
- Item #13 is a report about the one year results of another government lead effort to build a mighty e-Book Industry, application-wise closely related to the whole cloud computing strategy.
- Items #14-20 are about some “grass-root” efforts indicating the building strengths of ICT industry players in the joint cloud computing effort:
– #14: HTC which is also the most promising ICT brand in Taiwan [Oct 18]
– #15: a joint brain-drain effort by their major ICT players
– #16: BenQ-AUO Group
– #17: Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone, not to lag behind Chunghwa Telecom
– #18: Inventec
– #19: Chungwa-Fujitsu collaboration
– #20: Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., known internationally as Foxconn
1. Taiwan`s MIC Prescribes Manufacturing-to-Service Upgrade to Sharpen Edge (2008/12/24)
Despite the global economic downturn, the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan and its Industry & Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS) have been sponsoring a series of seminars themed “Discovering Taiwan 2008: Building Future Industries.” As part of this program, the Market Intelligence Center (MIC) of the Institute for Information Industry (III) has been exploring, based on tapping opportunities within the information and communication technology (ICT) sector, various issues, including “the developmental trends of Taiwan`s IT sector; building new superiorities in Taiwan`s IT sector by tapping green concepts and values; and the outlook on the ten key IT software issues in 2009.”
The MIC believes that it is critical for Taiwan to upgrade its industrial competitiveness by shifting from manufacturing to offering service-oriented products.
…
Top-10 IT Software Issues
After intensive investigation and interviews with companies and experts, MIC summarizes in the following the 10-top issues concerning the IT software industry in Taiwan.
1. Microsoft … Windows 7 operating system in 2010 …
2. IT software developers … vital to focus on energy-saving, carbon-reduction in 2009, as global information-software developers try to build new products … to help enterprises cut energy consumption and upgrade IT equipment operation efficiency in 2009.
3. The increasingly mature business model Cloud Computing, or the Internet-based “Cloud” development and use of computing. It is computer tech that enables offering IT-related capabilities as service, allowing users to access technology-enabled services online. With such increasingly mature computing meeting the trend of businesses to streamline computing equipment, Cloud would gain more attention and stir more buzz in 2009.
4. The Software as a Service (SaaS) will become a major option for enterprises. Eliminating the need to install, run an application on customers` own PC, SaaS is a model of software deployment that offers as service customers to access, run programs online. Like the Cloud Computing, SaaS allows enterprises to better control costs for software installation, maintenance, making such option a top-choice for SMEs.
5. With SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) solutions for systems development and integration increasingly maturing, and after IT software developers` aggressive promotion, such solution will no longer be a buzzword but more widely adopted in 2009.
6. Open-code software to be used for mobile applications: After Google`s promotion of Linux cellphone open software architecture and Nokia`s release of the Symbian code, open-code software will be rapidly applied in mobile applications in 2009.
7. … information security of smartphone applications …
8. Personal Data Protection Law …
9. Taiwan`s contract software-developers …
10. Knowledge Process Outsourcing or KPO will continue to gain momentum, with the American legal profession already adopting such model. KPO is simply having staff in a different company or subsidiary of the same firm in the same country or offshore do knowledge- and information-related work to save cost, or a form of outsourcing. The highly localized, customized KPO is the next stage in the IT-outsourcing evolution.
2. Four Taiwanese Companies, Institutes Set Up Taiwan Cloud Computing Center (2010/01/29)
The four members include telecom carrier Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. (CHT), anti-virus software company Trend Micro Inc., government-sponsored technology R&D institute Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), and information technology (IT) industry knowledge center Institute for Information Industry (III).
The center will be responsible for helping push six emerging industries on the island into the cloud computing field, and develop Taiwan into a global supply base of cloud-computing equipment and an application headquarters.
Taiwan`s Premier Wu Den-yih said earlier that the TCCC is expected to further upgrade the development of local information and communication technology (ICT) industry and that the Executive Yuan (the Cabinet) has enlisted cloud-computing a key sector for priority development.
…
Targeted cloud-computing applications in Taiwan include medical-care and educational industries in the initial stage; as well as six emerging lines for the second stage, such as green energy, tourism, health-care, biotechnology, dedicated agriculture, and culture/creativity industries.
3. ITRI Kicks Off Operation of Cloud Computing Research Center (2009/12/29)
Since setting up the Cloud Computing Research Center in September of 2009, the ITRI has actively recruited top engineers with related technical background, including Dr. Chiueh Tzi-cker, the head of the center, and sought cooperation with enterprises, in an effort to activate the center as soon as possible and assist industries on the island to carve out new niches through earlier involvement in the technology.
Chiueh noted that the center will be dedicated to development of software, hardware and application services based on cloud computing technology. Plus, he added that ITRI will establish a containerized data center, which will be installed with a total of up to 2,000 servers and related necessary equipment.
4. MOEA Signs MOU With Microsoft to Tap Cloud Computing Technology (2009/11/09)
Besides, Taiwan`s Economic Minister Y.S. Shih and Microsoft`s CEO Steve Ballmer also announced at the MOU signing a joint investment to establish the “Software and Services Excellence Center” on the island, which will employ engineers from Taiwan`s nationally funded Industrial Technology Research Institute and Institute for Information Industry to develop and apply the could computing technology.
Also, Shih said that through collaboration with Microsoft, Taiwanese R&D institute and enterprises can gain invaluable experience in development of application services based on the technology. Besides, he added, technically supported by Microsoft, the government can also effectively assist local enterprises to apply such technology to step up development of the island`s emerging industries as creative culture and e-book reader sectors.
… Microsoft has also signed a cooperation agreement with Taiwan`s largest telecom company, Chunghwa Telecom Co., to develop application services and platforms based on the technology.
5. Microsoft to Pour 90% R&D Resources Into Cloud Computing (2010/10/28)
There are many opportunities for Taiwanese OEMs/ODMs (original equipment /design manufacturers) in the “cloud computing” era, due mainly to strong demand for data-center construction and hardware such as servers, according to Zhang Yaqin, corporate vice president of Microsoft and chairman of Microsoft`s Asia-Pacific R&D Group.
In addition, Zhang said, Taiwanese information technology (IT) hardware makers have enjoyed strong advantages in making terminal products.
In the future, Zhang said at a recent IT industry trend forum held in Taiwan that major battlefields of the IT industry would lie in platforms, cloud computing, and portable devices. Any company that wins in the three fields would be the next-generation leader, Zhang said.
6. Multibillion Cloud Computing Projects Kick Off in Taiwan (2010/07/09)
At a cloud-computing forum recently held in Taipei, attending Taiwan government officials and top executive of Taiwan`s No.1 telecom carrier announced the commencements of their five-year, multibillion-dollar cloud computing projects.
Government representatives said the government will funnel NT$24 billion (US$750 million at US$1:NT$32) in five years into cultivating Taiwan`s cloud-computing industry, with the ultimate goal set to transform the island`s information-communications technology (ICT) industry into the cloud-computing industry.
Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. will invest NT$40 billion (US$1.2 billion) in five years to set up the island`s biggest cloud-operation and data centers, the company`s chairman, S.J. Lu, vowed,
To smoothen the development of the Taiwan industry as expected, a cloud-computing alliance representing around 80 of the island`s manufacturers will set up a system-test platform, according to Lu, who is chairman of the alliance.
7. Gartner Says IT Spending in China Will Reach $216.7 billion in 2010 (2010/05/07)
… the IT economy in China is driven by large verticals, rather than by consumer IT spending; however, it is slowly evolving toward the consumer market.
… Demand from Chinese companies for emerging technologies like software-as-a-service (SaaS), virtualization, cloud computing, unified communications and green IT is low but rising. IT vendors should help their channel partners continue to build skill sets around these emerging technologies, as spending on these technologies may help drive IT spending to 2013 and beyond.
8. MIT-invented IOT Seen as Moneymaker for Taiwan and China (2010/06/29)
Even in this age of lightning speed Internet communication and technologies, the concept of IOT (Internet of Things), attributed to the 1999-founded Auto-ID Center of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is reportedly just catching on with firms in Taiwan and China. IOT, arguably the Net-era sibling of the original universal bar code that is still ubiquitous and tracks goods in quantifiable terms, is manifested as a self-configuring wireless network of sensors whose purpose is to interconnect RFID-tagged routine things via the Internet.
Companies in Taiwan and China eager to tap business opportunities of Internet of Things will form an alliance in late June to develop industry standards for their operations in Greater China.
The alliance will consist of telecoms from China such as China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, as well as those from Taiwan as Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone Telecom and Taiwan Mobile. Such move reflects the telecoms` optimism about the potential of IOT, touted as the next major moneymaker in telecommunications valued at US$1 trillion worldwide by 2020, as well as seen by leading economies as a pivotal industry to drive growth and offset economic downturns.
[More information: Heavyweight Manufacturers Co-open Cross-Strait IOT Alliance (2010/07/21); ??? “Sensor China” Internet of Things Alliance established in our city, Wuxi Daily (2010-6-28) ??? <<< the exact relationship is not yet clear ]President Barrack Obama of the U.S. reportedly equates IOT with green energy in degree of importance, believing these two key sectors can generate short and long term benefits.
Futuristic Inventory Management
As with the UPC or barcode, industry executives say that if daily objects like canned goods, books, shoes or auto parts are integrated with micro-identifications that are linked via the Internet, depleting stock or product waste will be minimized as suppliers can track effectively and instantly inventory levels, whether in Mumbai or the Mojave Desert. Industry watchers say that IOT can theoretically encode 50 to 100 trillion objects and track their movements via the Net.
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China Mobile president J.Z. Wang summarizes IOT as “extensive sensing, reliable transmission, and intelligent treatment.” Market analysts at the Topology Research Institute, a Taiwan-based market consultant, cites a real-world product incorporating extensive sensing: the world`s first IOT-enabled fridge that was recently introduced by the Haier Group, China`s No.1 household appliance maker. Linked via the Net to the supermarket, the fridge has a display panel that tells the user freshness of foods in the supermarket as well as characteristics, origins of food stored in the freezer.
Upbeat Outlook
Despite its budding stage in China, revenue from the IOT sector as from infrared sensors and RFID manufacturing is expected to top US$14.7 billion by the end of this year and US$36.7 billion by 2015.
During a tour in August 2009 of the Wuxi Internet of Things Research Institute, Chinese premier J.B. Wen proposed to set up the “Experience China” center to enable the world to experience everything in China through IOT applications. Now upgraded to a national organization, the center in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province is China`s first IOT city.
Also China has invited Taiwan`s IOT developers to visit the officially-invested IOT facilities in Wuxi, with the invitees including Chunghwa Telecom, D-Link, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), GemTek, First International Telecom, Tatung, and Alpha Networks.
Wen`s IOT vision and instructions have spawned a slew of developments: Since early this year, China has accelerated interconnecting telecom networks, telecasting and broadcasting networks and the Internet, offering subscribers on a single platform wide ranging services including voice, data and telecasting and broadcasting, with the triple-play network considered the foundation of China`s IOT future.
Vice Chairman of Chinese National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) X.Q. Zhang says that the commission will aggressively promote six measures to develop IOT and other emerging industries in China, including interconnecting the three networks, inspiring investments in IOT projects, and creating demand for IOT applications.
IOT Fever
Apparently China is serious about building the IOT sector in the nation. Chengdu, capital city of the southwestern province of Sichuan, announced in May a municipal IOT project with estimated revenue of US$4.4 billion; Guangzhou, the capital city of the southernmost province of Guangdong, announced plans to generate IOT revenue of US$14.7 billion in five years; Shannxi Province has launched an IOT alliance; Jiangxu Province has started a plan to build an IOT industry valued at US$58.8 billion; and Beijing announced the establishment of a national committee to set IOT standards.
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Y.J. Lee, a senior market researcher at Topology, advises Taiwan`s IOT developers to watch closely China`s standardization of its RFID and electronic-labels, as well as try to work with China`s agency on IOT protocols based on its homegrown TD-SCDMA 3G technology and take part in China`s IOT infrastructural projects. Lee also believes that entering China`s market and working with its standard-setters will help Taiwan`s IOT developers penetrate other emerging IOT markets, as well as become a dominant global player.
Lee notes that Taiwan`s IOT developers lag their Chinese counterparts as China Mobile, China Unicom, Invengo Information Technology and Tongfang in terms of network and service technologies, as China offers opportunities for field testing of integrated systems. In contrast, Taiwan is ahead of China in integrated-circuit design, components and equipment manufacturing, making the two sides more friend than foe.
Taiwan Makers Contracted
As such, the Newland Group in China, recognized as the No.1 IOT equipment supplier in Greater China, recently announced it would contract Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), Largan Precision Co., Ltd. and Faraday Technology Corp. as suppliers. [See also: Newland Europe & Taiwan.]
[From that recent announcement: “Wang said she had approached Chairman Terry Gou of the Hon Hai Group and Honorary Vice Chairman John Hsuan of UMC over cooperation deals on Internet of Things. She added that the Internet of Things industry in mainland China and that in Taiwan can complement each other with their own advantages. For instance, Taiwan is good at raid frequency identification (RFID), high-end chips, barcode test, and consumer-premise equipment while the mainland is adept at matrix code and sensor transmission. Newland’s executives pointed out that Newland is moving to integrate upstream, middle-stream and downstream sectors of Internet of Things to constitute a complete supply chain for the mainland’s Internet of Things market.”]
Newland is one of the three Chinese manufacturers contracted by China Telecom, China`s No.1 telecom carrier, to supply IOT equipment.
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Regarding Taiwan`s lack of field testing of integrated systems, Topology`s Lee suggests Taiwan`s IOT developers focus on applications for urban life, transportation, residence, finance, retail, energy, production, and agriculture.
Wireless Sensor Network
Y.S. Hsieh, another Topology analyst, suggests Taiwan`s equipment supplier emphasize wireless sensor network, with service providers to use the network to develop IOT applications like intelligent data transmission system, homecare for seniors, as well as home and community security. She notes that although manufacturing of WSN equipment as chips, modules and end equipment is mature in Taiwan, very few developers are capable of integrating such equipment and no open interoperability platforms have been set up on the island. These deficiencies hamstring development of Taiwan`s IOT industry, she stresses.
China`s significance in global RFID manufacturing, including manufacturing of tag, reader, and infrastructure equipment, also strengthens its IOT development, according to watchers in Taiwan. China`s RFID strength is driven by robust demand, which totaled around US$1.4 billion in 2008, with the global market valued at US$5.2 billion, up from 2007`s US$4.9 billion.
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9. Taiwan Sees Sunny Future in Cloud Computing (2010/07/22)
The government of Taiwan is vigorously working with the island`s information and communications technology (ICT) sector on strategies to facilitate the development of cloud-computing industry. The emerging industry has been singled out as an area that could fast-forward the island`s ICT sector into a leading provider of system-integration services incorporating software and hardware.
Cloud computing is a cost-effective alternative for delivering computing power to organizations over the Internet. Computer hardware, software and information are provided online based on demand, like electricity, and service is charged by usage. Some analysts figure that cloud computing can save a company of 200 employees about 30% on software expenses.
Late last year, the United States Federal Government launched the Apps.gov, a cloud-computing application site, which is a major feature of the Obama Administration`s initiative to cut down operating costs while boosting government efficiency. The federal government is estimated to be able to save US$75 billion by offering administrative services via the cloud site.
Government Support
Taiwan`s government-backed Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) estimates that the global market for cloud applications and services will top US$160 billion in 2015. The Executive Yuan, Taiwan`s Cabinet, projects the island`s cloud-computing industry will generate revenue totaling NT$1 trillion (US$31.2 billion at US$1:NT$32) and create 50,000 jobs in 2014.
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The government`s first step to materialize its cloud policy is “Government Cloud” or “G Cloud” plan, which will provide contracts to local manufacturers to help them foster cloud computing capability. “G Cloud” will offer applications associated with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), medical services and healthcare, homeland security, online education, digital content, tax, electronic invoice, trade, and finance services. Applications will be stored in “container data centers,” which eliminate the need to download memory-consuming applications to end-user devices like desktops, laptops, and handheld gadgets.
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Senior government officials pointed out that South Korean and United States governments have combined information centers in all government organizations across the two countries into two to three centers and are equipping these centers with cloud-computing capability to cut software leasing costs.
Cloud Computing Alliance
An alliance of 65 Taiwanese manufacturers is planning to co-organize a private company to vie for contracts under the ambitious project. The alliance was launched on April 7 with coordination by ITRI. Alliance members include Wistron, Quanta Computer, Inventec, Accton Technology, Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone Telecom, and Taiwan Mobile.
… Chunghwa, Taiwan`s No.1 telecom carrier, will help the government foster Taiwan`s cloud-computing industry with its Internet Data Centers (IDCs) across Taiwan. The company is building a center in Banqiao, Taipei County. … Inventec Corp. Chairman Shiqin Li, expects Taiwan to ship its first integrated cloud-computing system by the end of this year. Insiders of the Taiwan industry estimate that the United States or mainland China would be Taiwan`s first export destination.
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Quanta Computer, the world`s No.2 contract supplier of laptops, has entered into alliance with Chunghwa Telecom to set up a cloud-computing platform for enterprises and will open a cloud-computing company at yearend to sell the applications.
The enterprise cloud-computing platform, Quanta`s vice president, T.J. Fang stresses, will not only provide applications to Taiwan`s 80,000 manufacturers but also to the millions of manufacturers in mainland China. He adds that the platform`s applications may be bundled with Quanta`s servers and storage equipment or even as total solutions.
Currently, Quanta`s enterprise cloud-computing applications will at least include enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply-chain management, work-process management, provision of software crucial to product designs, and emergency response centers (ERCs).
According to Fan, Quanta has been involved in cloud-computing development for some time and sees the new IT sector as a chance to evolve into a software-service provider from a hardware manufacturer. “Quanta has established an R&D center to develop application software and expects cloud computing to bring it another NT$1 trillion [US$31 billion] of revenue after notebook-computer production,” he says. He stresses cloud-computing application software can help small and midsize businesses slash software licensing fees.
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Microsoft on Board
Taiwan`s strength in developing the cloud-computing industry convinced Microsoft to open a Software and Service Excellence Center (SSEC) in Taiwan, its first on the island and fourth in the world, in early June. Microsoft will work with the first batch of Taiwanese tenants in the center, including Quanta, Inventec and Delta Electronics, to develop new generation of cloud servers.
… Microsoft expects more than 100 Taiwanese ICT companies to join the center in developing cloud computing solutions over the next three years.
Security Concerns
W.N. Jan, a senior consultant and director general of Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC), categorizes the cloud industry chain into service provision coupled with transmission and service equipment. “MIC`s viewpoint is that service provision involves bigger business opportunities and its business model emphasizes offering services on the Internet. Accordingly, information security will become a top concern in cloud applications,” he notes.
MIC`s surveys, Jan says, show that Taiwan`s enterprises still are hesitant to embrace cloud services all because of security concerns. “CIOs and CTOs are reluctant, or even opposed, to using cloud services,” he stresses. To fix the issue, the Legislative Yuan, he says, is revising an act associated with protection of computer-processed personal data to regulate all enterprises holding personal data.
10. Intel Joins Hands With Taiwan in Developing Cloud-Computing Technology (2010/10/29)
Paul Otellini, president and chief executive officer of Intel, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday (Oct. 28), aiming to join hands with the Taiwanese government, universities, and enterprises in the development of the cloud-computing industry.
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Otellini pointed out that the Internet population will top 4 billion in the coming years, leading to the emergence of various Internet-access devices, such as TV and set-top box, which will bring good business opportunities for both Taiwan and Intel.
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He pointed to the tremendous change in the pipeline for Internet-access devices, whose functions will cover intelligent control, two-way interaction, hi-tech sensing, and distant care, saying changes in this sector in one year will equal changes in the past 50 years. In the future, mobile devices will have constant connection with the Internet and digital signals, enabling people to access information and entertainment services anytime, according to him.
Lu Shyue-ching, chairman of Chunghwa Telecom, reported that his company has signed an MOU with Intel for the joint development of cloud-computing technology, as well as close- and open-end platforms for smart TV. The company has also joined Open Data Center Appliance, in order to accelerate the development of cloud-computing technology. In addition, it signed an MOU with NTT.com the other day for the same purpose.
11. Chunghwa Telecom Projects Sales at NT$220B in 2015 (2010/10/19)
The telecom carrier has designated overseas operation, cloud computing, iEN, movie-on-demand and value-added mobile services as major growth drivers for sales over the next five years. Mainland China is set to be the company`s major overseas market as soon as its mainland branch starts operation early next year.
For cloud computing service, the company will spend NT$40 billion (US$1.29 billion) over next five years beginning this year on installation of cloud computing facilities. The service is estimated to drive up the company`s sales over the next 10 years.
12. Chunghwa Telecom Unveils Five-Year Roadmap (2010/07/27)
Over the next five years, the company`s investments will focus on cloud computing, digital convergence, intelligent energy network, information-communication technology, movie-on-demand (MOD) service, value-added mobile service, and reinvested businesses at home and overseas.
Many of the investment projects are associated with the bright future of related markets in mainland China, where the central government has worked out development projects for intelligent energy network and digital convergence industries.
13. Year One for Taiwan`s e-Book Industry (2010/02/09)
Joining the global rush into the rapidly evolving e-book market, Taiwanese e-reader makers are joining hands with content suppliers in launching e-book services whose reach could extend to the huge market across the Taiwan Strait.
Such ventures were at center stage during the 2010 Taipei International Book Exhibition, held at the Taipei World Trade Center on Jan. 27-Feb. 1.
BenQ, for instance, teamed up with eBook Japan to launch eBook Taiwan during the book fair. eBook Taiwan enables readers to tap a bonanza of digital content via its e-reader, dubbed the BenQ nReader.
Jerry Wang, vice chairman of BenQ, claims that the combination of eBook Taiwan and BenQ nReader offers consumers a reading experience approaching that of print publications and enables them to buy books with just a touch on the e-reader.eBook Taiwan is an open-end platform with a webpage featuring a safe, stable, smooth, and simple design. It serves as a neutral outlet for Taiwan`s digital-content providers, with a reasonable sharing of profits and a DRM (digital rights management) mechanism capable of offering publishers full protection of their rights. Thanks to the support of cutting-edge technologies such as a high-clarity, high-compression post-production tool, chapter-based sales management, and the ability to support multiple formats including ePub, EFI, PDF, and TXT, e-books can be easily put on the shelf of the platform. This capability enhances timeliness and enriches the content of the platform, which in turn will boost consumer willingness to use it.
In addition to the provision of popular books and magazines in traditional Chinese characters, simplified Chinese characters, and Japanese, eBook Taiwan also offers publication and delivery of magazines simultaneously with the print versions. More than 10,000 books and magazines covering a variety of fields are now available on the platform, and readers can even access parts of books and summaries of feature reports in magazines before placing purchase orders.
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In view of the e-book surge, market insiders are calling 2010 “year one for Taiwan`s e-book industry.” This underscores the rosy outlook of the industry, which has been incorporated into the government`s flagship development plan for the digital content industry. The government predicts that the production value of the local e-book content industry will hit NT$30 billion (US$937 million at NT$32:US$1) in two years and NT$100 billion (US$3 billion) in four years.
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Attracted by the huge market potential, growing numbers of domestic electronics firms have been jumping onto the bandwagon for e-readers and related products. The Economics Ministry reports that total investment by local firms in e-readers and components/parts has topped NT$15 billion (US$469 million), with major participants including Prime View, BenQ, Delta, Hon Hai, Gold Circuit Electronics, and ASUS.
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The Topology Research Institute predicts that Taiwan`s e-reader market will reach 100,000 units this year, compared with 1 million in the Chinese market and only a fraction of 9.1 million globally (including 6.8 million in the U.S.). Topology believes that the global e-reader market will remain in the fledgling stage for two more years before embarking on a period of vigorous development.
14. HTC Debuts Two New Models in London (2010/09/16)
Along with the new models, HTC also debuted a free Internet service, dubbed HTCSense-com, which will enable subscribers to tap cloud-computing service offered by HTC. The service is similar to Microsoft’s MyPhone service and Apple’s MobileMe service. The service, for instance, enables owners to give directions to their lost phones via the Internet, such as making it ring, sending messages to the phone for the obtainer, locking up the phone, or even eliminating data stored in the phone.
15. Taiwan`s Hi-Tech Manufacturers Go to U.S. to Solicit Talents (2010/09/13)
Delegation members planned to offer a total of 1,200 jobs covering R&D specialists, market researchers, market managers, and accountants.
The delegation was accompanied by a cloud-computing alliance, which would visit Intel, Microsoft and IBM.
16. BenQ-AUO Group Eyes US$22 B.-beyond Revenue This Year: Chairman Lee (2010/09/01)
According to Lee, BenQ-AUO will focus its future development on medical care, cloud computing, green energy, and environment protection etc.
BenQ-AUO group has opened a hospital in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province of China with more than 3,000 beds. The group is scheduled to inaugurate another big hospital by the end of 2011 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province of China.
17. Taiwan`s Top 3 Telecom Companies Zero in on Market for Application Services based on Cloud Computing (2010/02/09)
Not to lag behind Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile and Far EasTone have been stepping up their business deployment in the emerging segment for cloud computing technology-based services.
For instance, Taiwan Mobile has cooperated with Fubon Financial Group on constructing an extensive cloud computing network for their respective subsidiaries.
… Far EasTone has also been in talk with HP, IBM, Quanta Computer, Data Systems Consulting Co., Ltd. and related software developers on formation of a cooperative alliance, in which the telecom company will take charge of building a cloud computing platform and other members will supply needed software and hardware for operation of the platform.
18. Inventec Announces Venturing Into Cloud Computing, Online Gaming (2009/12/16)
Inventec Corp. of Taiwan recently announced plans to step into the high-potential cloud-computing business, and will provide software download online by the year-end, as well as moving into online gaming in 2010.
… Chiu Chuan-chen, president of Inventec`s software business division, pointed out that his company has been cultivating the software business for more than 10 years and now is the right time to commercialize products. Inventec`s software business would first focus on two major fields, including the intelligent learning and healthcare, while keeping an eye on online gaming.
19. Chunghwa, Fujitsu Collaborate on E-Commerce and Others (2009/11/17)
The pact is part of Chunghwa Telecom`s efforts to enhance cooperative ties with Japanese hi-tech manufacturers. … In the near future, Chunghwa plans to work with Japanese internet-TV, digital-content and TV shopping service providers.
20. Hon Hai Joins Forces With III to Develop Cloud Computing Software (2009/06/03)
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., the largest EMS (electronic manufacturing service) provider, has joined forces with the government-funded Institute for Information Industry (III) of Taiwan to develop Cloud Computing application software as the first Taiwanese company to get engaged in the field.
Hon Hai and III will seek financial aid from the government for establishing the first lab of Cloud Computing as a joint venture between industries and the government on the island. So far, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has already lifted restrictions on official subsidization of development of related application software, paving the way for local companies to dedicate their energies to the field.
Hon Hai has decided to invest a total of NT$1.9 billion (US$58.46 million at US$1: NT$32.5) in constructing an R&D building in Kaohsiung Software Technology Park, southern Taiwan, to specialize in research and development of digital contents and information service offerings.
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On the other hand, by investing in R&D of Cloud Computing, Hon Hai is to diversify its business operation into information services from manufacturing. Furthermore, the firm plans to apply Cloud Computing platform to the long-distance health care, showing its determination to venture into the medical care industry.
Windows 7 tablets/slates with Oak Trail Atom SoC in December
Intel “is aiming to mass produce its Oak Trail platform for its Sleek Netbook segment targeting the tablet PC market in December 2010. The Oak Trail platform is a combination of Intel’s Lincroft (Atom Z6xx series) processor with Whitney Point chipset.”
See: Intel reveals Chief River platform for notebooks [Digitimes, Nov 1].
- Update: Intel starts mass producing Oak Trail platform [Nov 24]
… specifically for tablet PCs, with the combination of Atom Z670 processor and SM35 chipset the initial product, according to industry sources.
The Oak Trail platform will sell at about US$25 with MeeGo, and the price for Oak Trail and Microsoft’s Windows 7 will be higher.
This notification given to Intel manufacturing partners in Taiwan might remove the long-standing barrier for Microsoft to introduce its long awaited Windows 7 slates to the market as early as in the second half of November, with retail availability in December. This would be even more than that since on November 20th the company will celebrate the 25th anniversary of Windows. Steve Ballmer might also have an additional, big case for celebration as whatever he has been telling in the last months there had been no sufficient evidence to back his claims, see: Windows slates in the coming months? Not much seen yet [July 13 – Oct 6, 2010]. And for people interested in technical details it has been well known all along that the Moorestown Atom chip (Atom Z6xx series) has not been developed to run the prime Windows software so Microsoft should wait for arrival of a Windows 7 capable version, code-named Oak Trail and originally promised for early 2011 availability only. See: Intel SoC for Cloud Clients [June 27 – Aug 23].
What kind of Windows 7 tablet/slate might soon arrive with Oak Trail availability? Will such a “sleek netbook” device (as per Intel’s new terminology) be able to compete with Apple’s highly successful iPad or even surpass that in capabilities. Before those devices are announced no definite answers could be given. Nevertheless there is sufficient evidence already that there could be very big surprises in that regard.
Here is Dell Inspiron Duo flipping tablet/netbook device first shown on the Intel Developer Forum in September:
Update: Dell is definitely the #1 Microsoft ally now as evidenced by Michael Dell: Developing Windows smartphones ‘easier’ than Android [Nov 2]
More information:
– Hybrid Dell Inspiron Duo Tablet : A Netbook and A Tablet Device [Sept 19]
– Dell’s Atom-powered Inspiron Duo: 10-inch netbook / tablet hybrid with a crazy swivel (update: more video and detailed press photo!) [Sept 14]
– Dell to Reinvigorate Its Brand Name with New Campaign [Oct 21]
The marketing campaign will include television spots, due to start November 6, and print ads about a week later. According to the company, the campaign would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
Even Intel Free Press, a 3 weeks only Intel tech news initiative is drawing attention to it by a title telling a lot – Free Shot: Looking for Tablets this Holiday Season? [Oct 8]:
This is the first year when tablet computers have a chance of hitting a relative’s top 10 wish list for the holidays. In addition to the widely popular iPad, several new touch screen tablets are rumored to be coming before the end of the year, including the hybrid Dell Inspiron Duo tablet-netbook. Moving away from a physical keyboard and familiar computing experience might scare away many people, but Dell seems to have found a nice middle ground. This video shows how the 10-inch touch screen flips transforming the tablet slate into a traditional netbook with keyboard.
Look at the video and you will be more than convinced.
There is also an explicit confirmation from Microsoft in Ballmer: Windows 7 tablets to be seen by Christmas [Oct 5]:
A spokesperson said Microsoft can confirm three Windows 7 slates: one from Hanvon in China, Toshiba’s Libretto W100 (which doesn’t really count because it’s a limited-quantity prototype) and the Dell Inspiron Duo Tablet, which Dell has said will be available later this year.
We can already see from this that there will be other vendors with Windows 7 slates/tablets. There is more evidence to support that:
– Intel: Our Tablet Design Momentum Is Very Strong [Oct 13]
– Acer tablet PC line launching on November 23rd, priced from $299 to $699 [Oct 27]
– Acer set to unveil multiple tablets on Nov. 23 [Oct 29]
– Acer first tablet PC aimed at fulfilling telecom carrier demand [Oct 29]
– Asustek details tablet PC plans [Oct 29]
– Latest Update On ASUS Tablets – 7-Inch to 12-Inch Range [Oct 29]
Furthermore Intel has already started to mount a strong market attack:
– via their own CEO at the current earnings conference call with: Intel CEO praises iPad, throws down gauntlet [Oct 12]
– via the well-known market research company iSuppli explicitly stating: Intel Aims to Enter Tablet Market With Oak Trail Processor [Oct 19]
– via their own Intel Free Press with an extensive article about Reports of Netbook’s Death Greatly Exaggerated, Experts Say [Oct 26]
And this is all before the 25th anniversary of Windows! Watch the news!
Microsoft Office 365 SaaS (now in limited Beta)
Really big thing, an industry milestone similar to SAP’s (see: SAP’s Business ByDesign SaaS to be relaunched on July 31 with mobility as one of key attractions [July 28]).
Now Microsoft Announces Office 365 [Oct 19]. The number after its familiar brand name is reflecting the idea of “always on”, i.e. the cloud services to be provided by this new product are meant to be available throughout the 365 days of a year. Being curious I have signed up immediately to experience this new kind of cloud service. In return, however, I got an e-mail saying (emphasis is mine here and elsewhere):
We appreciate your interest in our recently announced limited beta for Microsoft Office 365. Due to the high level of interest, we will let you know if space becomes available. In the meantime, we hope you take the opportunity to learn more about Office 365 and keep up with the buzz.
Update: Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNet’s All About Microsoft has three excellent posts about Office 365:
– The road to Microsoft Office 365: The past [Nov 30]
– The road to Office 365: The present [Dec 1]
– The road to Office 365: The future [Dec 2]
Update: General Manager of the SharePoint Product Management Group Eric Swift on Office 365 [Oct 26]:
SharePoint Online helps organizations and professionals create sites to securely share information, insights, and important documents with colleagues, customers, and partners.
It’s simple to create Office documents and save them directly to SharePoint Online, easy to access your content off-line or on your phone, and quickly share information and insights using familiar tools.
And, with Office 365, organizations get the full benefit of Office, Exchange, Lync, and SharePoint because it is designed to work together.
For SharePoint developers and independent software vendors (ISV’s), the opportunities to configure and extend SharePoint Online today include the ability to:
– configure master pages, templates, page layouts, and site columns
– customize the site UI with custom Silverlight controls, navigation or functional controls
– build customized document workflows, using data and documents contained within SharePoint Online
– customize lists and content types
– use Sandbox Solutions to build custom web parts
– design browser based forms using InfoPath forms
Update: Azure, jQuery & SharePoint: Huh? [Nov 26]
… three permutations of how SharePoint can map to or integrate with the cloud:
- Office 365 (with specific focus on SharePoint Online). Office 365 represents the next wave of hosted productivity applications (and includes Office 2010 Client, SharePoint Online, Lync Online, and Exchange Online).
- SharePoint WCM. Essentially, building Internet-facing web sites using SharePoint 2010.
- SharePoint integrating with wider cloud services. This might be leveraging Twitter or Facebook to harvest social data and creating ‘socially intelligent’ solutions in SharePoint or using Bing or Azure to create expansive applications that integrate/leverage the cloud.
… a number of different patterns that cut across Twitter and SharePoint integration, oData and Office/SharePoint integration, Office Server-Side services, and SharePoint and Azure.
One pattern … was integrating jQuery and Azure in SharePoint. This pattern is interesting because you’re leveraging jQuery as a client technology in SharePoint and also using Excel Services, and you could potentially divorce yourself from server-side dependencies to integrate with Azure, thus no need to install assemblies on the server. This means that you have improved code reusability across SharePoint On-premises and SharePoint Online.
… Using jQuery is interesting; using it in the context of Azure service-calls to update views is compelling (think financial models that depend on a cloud-service that delivers daily integer values that have significant cascading effects on the model).
This post showed you how you could leverage an Azure WCF service call and wrap with an ASMX SOAP call, which you could then use in JavaScript and jQuery to update an Excel view. The next step would be to craft an app that will eventually live and act entirely in the cloud—i.e. it uses data stored in Azure and uses jQuery to interact with an Azure WCF service.
Update : Chris Mayo’s Blog – SharePoint Development in the Cloud for more information continously updated
So this is what I could only do now.
Microsoft characterizes Office 365 in the press release as:
… the company’s next generation in cloud productivity that brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in an always-up-to-date cloud service. … Office 365 is built on years of experience delivering industry-leading business cloud services ranging from the first browser-based e-mail [i.e. Hotmail] to today’s Business Productivity Online Suite [BPOS], Microsoft Office Live Small Business and Live@edu.
… With Office 365 for small businesses, professionals and small companies with fewer than 25 employees can be up and running with Office Web Apps, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online and an external website in just 15 minutes, for $6 or 5.25 euros per user, per month.
… Office 365 for enterprises introduces an array of choices for midsize and large businesses as well as government organizations, starting for as little as $2 or 1.75 euros per user, per month1 for basic e-mail. Office 365 for enterprises also includes the option to get Microsoft Office Professional Plus desktop software on a pay-as-you-go basis, for the first time ever. For $24 or 22.75 euros per user, per month1, organizations can get Office Professional Plus along with e-mail, voicemail, enterprise social networking, instant messaging, Web portals, extranets, voiceconferencing and videoconferencing, webconferencing, 24×7 phone support, on-premises licenses, and more.
… Office 365 will be available worldwide next year. Starting today, Microsoft will begin testing Office 365 with a few thousand organizations in 13 countries and regions around the world, and the beta will be expanded to include more organizations over time. Office 365 will be generally available in 40 countries and regions next year.
And here are two screenshots to illustrate the kind of capabilities (see more on Microsoft’s image gallery):
With Office Web Apps, you can review documents and do lightweight editing
from virtually anywhere and on any device with a browser. (The image is courtesy of Microsoft)
With co-authoring, edit the same document at the same time with others.
No more multiple versions or waiting your turn. (The image is courtesy of Microsoft)
From the Hello Office 365 [Oct 18] post on the new Microsoft Office 365 blog comes a more detailed overview of the differences from the well known Office product suite on our PCs:
… Office 365 is the next step in the future of productivity. Is this what’s next for BPOS? Yes. Is this what’s next for Office Live Small Business? Yes. Is this what’s next for Live@edu? Yes. Will Office desktop software be available as part of a cloud service? Yes. Is this productivity in the cloud? Yes. And, it’s even more than that.
… With Office 365, everything is designed to work together. Earlier this year, the launch of our flagship products, Office, SharePoint, and Exchange 2010 ushered in the future of productivity. Together with Lync, these products provide the backbone for the modern business. Customers using these 2010 products are benefiting from super productive employees who can work from anywhere, on any device and from anywhere in the world. But what if you are the local cupcake shop on Main Street – have you been using all these kinds of tools for your business? Probably not. What if you are a bigger business, trapped on legacy technology that limits accessibility behind the firewall – have your people been as productive as those using the latest innovations? Probably not.
Now, you can have it all with Office 365. We’ve not only designed and built our flagship products to work together, but with Office 365, we’re taking the next step and delivering all these capabilities as designed in the cloud. ‘Rich presence’ suddenly lights up everywhere in Office, and you can see at-a-glance if a colleague is available and call, IM, e-mail, or even start a video conference in one click. You can bring social networking to everyday work tasks like document sharing and collaboration – but with all the security and privacy that a business requires. These are just a couple of the many amazing features you get with Office 365.
… You’ll be able to pick and choose services and tailor the package to fit your needs – whether you are a government agency, small business or enterprise company; whether you have information workers or factory floor workers, store managers on location or on the go, or a combination of all types.
‘Game changer’ is a big statement, but we believe this will change the way you do business. The technology is the latest, most up-to-date and comprehensive service you can find. It’s based on Office, so you already know how to use it. It’s online and designed to work with the software, phones and browsers people use most today, including the new Windows Phones as well as a host of others. We are investing deeply and have tens of thousands of people around the world backing this service. We have secured the industry’s most rigorous security and privacy standards and will bring those to Office 365 along with 24/7 phone and community support. …
What Is Office 365? an official Microsoft video [Oct 19]:
What is Office 365? What the product-related Microsoft leaders are saying about a few of the productivity, communication and collaboration benefits of Microsoft Office 365?Watch Chris Capossela, Senior Vice President, Microsoft Business Division; Betsy Webb, General Manager, Microsoft Business Division; Ron Markezich, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Online Services, and Takeshi Numoto, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Business Division.
From the Office 365 site:
[mixed with a little additional information from this:] Office 365 Fact Sheet (docx file)
Microsoft Office: The world’s leading productivity tool on the desktop (Office Professional Plus) and on the Web (Office Web Apps) now seamlessly connected and delivered with cloud services – for the best productivity experience across the PC, Phone and Browser.
Sharepoint Online: Cloud-based service helps businesses of all sizes create sites to share documents and insights with colleagues, partners and customers. Includes enterprise social networking and customization options.
Exchange Online: Cloud-based email, calendar and contacts with the most current antivirus and anti-spam solutions. Includes the ability to get e-mail on virtually any mobile phone and options for voice mail, unified messaging and archiving.
Lync Online: Cloud-based instant messaging, presence, and online meeting experiences with PC-audio, video conferencing and screen sharing.
Office 365 FAQ
More information:
In the Cloud With Kurt DelBene [Oct 19]. Microsoft News Center caught up with newly appointed Microsoft Office Division President Kurt DelBene to discuss the strategy and his view of cloud services. A Q&A type article.
Microsoft Office 365: The Power to Think Big and Be Small, to Be Big and Act Fast [Oct 19]. A Microsoft provided feature story to illustrate that the productivity power of the cloud just got a turbo boost for customers of all sizes. To show via a number of case studies that:
Any business will be able to transform the way it works with Office 365, and make it dramatically easier for people to connect to co-workers, partners, customers and the information that keeps business moving forward – instead of spending valuable time on technology management and maintenance.
Microsoft Online Services Team Blog
Microsoft Online Services gives your business the powerful productivity capabilities of Microsoft Exchange Server, Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server, Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Microsoft Office Live Meeting —all hosted online and all up and running quickly and easily without the upfront costs of an on-premise deployment. The suite of productivity tools enables your workers to communicate and collaborate effectively, while enabling your IT team to focus on more business-critical tasks. And with services hosted by Microsoft, you can have peace of mind knowing that experts are managing your IT and that your services will be available when you need them.
Erik Gunvaldson, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Online, http://www.microsoft.com/online
Office 365 and the Family Tree – Leadership [Oct 19]. New customers for the current BPOS (as the previous, not so full version available in production version, is named), and illustration of the completeness and leadership quality of the Office 365 composite parts via their evaluation by Gartner in their “Magic Quadrants” as:
Horizontal Portal Products – Leader
Corporate Telephony – Visionary
Web Content Management – Challenger
Unified Communications – Leader
Externally Facing Social Software – Challenger
Enterprise Wireless E-Mail Software – Leader
IT Project and Portfolio Management – Leader
Secure Email Gateways April 2010 – Leader
Business Process Analysis Tools – Leader
Business Intelligence Platforms (Public) – Leader
Unified Communications as a Service North America – Challenger
Social Software – Leader
Enterprise Content Management – Leader
Information Access (Enterprise Search) – Leader
Managed File Transfer – Challenger
Web Conferencing – Leader
State of California Selects CSC and BPOS! Google Can’t Meet Needs of the State [Oct 19]:
… the State of California awarded CSC a contract to migrate its current multiple e-mail applications to a cloud-based solution with Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS).Please take time to read more about the announcement.
…
This decision for Microsoft is similar to recent announcements by the State of Minnesota’s, Commonwealth of Kentucky DOE even the Royal Mail in the UK to upgrade their messaging and collaboration software with Microsoft’s technology.
…
I found it odd when Google went very public with complaints of rigging and trickery on behalf of the State during the bid process only to later acknowledge Google Apps couldn’t meet the needs of the state. Such a PR smoke screen is a way to go on the offense with ton’s of players so no one notices you have an empty net. Gretzky would be proud.
What’s even more odd about Google’s tactics are that from what I understand some of their questions and concerns were answered or remedied by the State. The Ad Company complained that many of the requirements put forth were too Microsoft centric or simply wrong to ask for in the first place. Some of these radical features included elements like:
- allowing a user to create a mail ‘folder’
- ‘request delivery receipt’ for a email.
- ‘ability to invite attendees as optional in calendar notices.’
- ‘ability to create calendar appointments or task while off line’
Sorry Google, these are actual features used in businesses, especially in government where understanding and tracking information flow can be the law.
It’s not unfair for a company in any sector to request a set of features that reflect how they work. I’ve said it many times before, developing software is hard. It’s gets harder the more users you get because everyone has different needs. As a software company you balance this by building for what they need AND building for what you know they’ll want. Google must understand that simply showing up isn’t good enough. Despite their attractive price, more and more customers share that ‘you get what you pay for’.
Then some more information is provided on this Google competitive situation with heated comments following that by Jim McNelis from a Google Apps Authorized Reseller, with answers to them provided by the same Microsoft author. An excellent glimpse into the current competition which could just intensify when Office 365 will become production ready in [the first half of] 2011 [presumably, as seen below]. A must read!
Ten more tidbits on Microsoft’s new Office 365 cloud play [Oct 19] from Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet. A very good analysis. Greatly recommended. Things like this are mentioned by the author:
1. When do the BPOS v2 services — the new Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online — go live?
A: Microsoft execs are saying 2011. But a Microsoft fact sheet I saw today said “early 2011.” This past summer, Microsoft execs told partners that the new version of BPOS would be out in the first half of this year. So I’m saying (unless there’s a delay) that “first half of 2011″ is probably a safe bet — even though Lync Server 2010 still has not been released to manufacturing and the Lync Online update of that product won’t be ready until early 2011, at best.
…
Browser Requirements (for Administration Center and My Company Portal): Internet Explorer 7 or above, Firefox 3.x, Safari 4.x
Browser Requirements (for Outlook Web App): Internet Explorer 7 or above; Firefox 3 or higher; Safari 3 or higher on Macintosh OS X 10.5; Chrome 3 and later versions. Note: Outlook Web App also has a light version that supports a reduced set of features across almost any browser
…
The lowest-priced option is the basic version of Office 365, which is the new name for the Deskless Worker SKU. It includes e-mail and is priced at $2 per user per month.
For SMBs (primarily 1-25 users), Microsoft is offering a $6 per user per month SKU that was codenamed “BPOS Lite.” The high-end version of Office 365 is the full enterprise SKU, which includes licenses for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online for $10 per user per month. Users can add licenses for their users of Office desktop software, on a subscription basis), raising the price to $24 per user per month.
…
Office Live Small Business is going away. From Microsoft: “The Office Live Small Business service will continue to run as it does today through at least October 2011. As a valued Office Live Small Business customer, you will be offered 3 months free of the Union (the codename for Office 365) service should you choose to transition your account to Office 365. Nothing will change for Office Live Small Business customers now.”
….
Live Meeting, the conferencing component of BPOS, goes away as a standalone product with Office 365. That functionality is going to be part of Lync Online.
Microsoft christens its cloud business suite as ‘Office 365’; launches beta [Oct 19] also from Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet. Equally good. Some additional “information nuggets”:
It’s been known for some time that Microsoft was refreshing its BPOS elements with a number of the features it has delivered (or soon will deliver, in the case of its Lync offering) as part of its “Wave 14″ on-premises software releases. Exchange Online in the new version of BPOS will get features from Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 1. SharePoint Online will get some of the features — especially the Office Web Apps support — that are part of the SharePoint Server 2010 release. Lync Online will get selected features from the Lync Server 2010 product that Microsoft is expected to release to manufacturing any day now. (The Live Meeting conferencing product, which used to be part of the BPOS bundle, is being subsumed by Lync.)
…
On the promised feature list, in addition to updates to the core products in the suite, were also single sign-on with identity federation; a redesigned User Interface (for the console); More administration and access control; support for new markets and languages; and an enhanced Syndication partner interface. (”Syndication” is Microsoft’s program allowing mostly telco companies, but also some other partners to private-label its BPOS services.)
Microsoft (Ray Ozzie, Steve Ballmer) on the cloud clients
There have been great expectations about what Microsoft will be offering against the incredibly successful Apple iPads. Microsoft ‘s CEO Steve Ballmer was also raising the expectations this summer and only this week has this been calmed down by him telling that:
… what you’ll see over the course of the next year is us doing more and more work with our hardware partners creating hardware-software optimisations with Windows 7 and with Windows 7 Media Center …
… Media Center is big and, when people say ‘hey, we could optimise [that] more for clients’ I think what they generally mean is ‘Big Buttons’. Big Buttons that’s, I think, a codeword for Big Buttons and Media Center is Big Buttons not Little Buttons. I’m not trying to trivialise that – it’s a real issue.
We’re not going to do a revamp of Windows 7 over the course of the next year for that purpose. Whether we should, or we shouldn’t, we’ve put all our energy around doing a great job on that and other issues in the next version of Windows …
See that and more on my earlier blog post which was regularly updated in recent months:
– Windows slates in the coming months? Not much seen yet [July 13 – Oct 6, 2010]
One should keep also in mind that Intel will be ready with sufficiently low-power x86 processors just in Q1 2010 as shown in my another post Intel SoC for Cloud Clients [June 27, 2010].
The major thing, however, is that Microsoft is pursuing a much different and broader strategy than Apple. This is the so called “three screens and a cloud” approach which has been extensively articulated by Microsoft a year ago. Nevertheless, in extensive web discussions about Windows slates vs. Apple iPad issue this clear and quite rational strategy has not beeen mentioned at all. Even such highly appreciated analyst firm as Gartner has not taken the implications of that strategy into account (at least not to a sufficient degree) as evidenced by Gartner: Global Tablet PC Sales to Top 100 M. Units in 2014 [Oct 5, 2010]. See also other recent reports such as:
– iPad leads the tablet PC charge as mini-note shipments plummet, says DisplaySearch [Oct 4, 2010]
– iPad-Killers Take Aim at the Tablet PC Market [Oct 4, 2010]
Therefore, in the post below I will first give a retrospective on the “three screens and a cloud” strategy (Part I.), and then give an overview of the company’s current standing on that strategy from the point of view of the cloud clients (Part II.)
I will also recommend to read additional posts of mine because they are quite closely related:
– Microsoft strengths for the PC -> cloud transition [June 27, 2010]
– Microsoft going multiplatform? [Sept 17, 2010]
– Microsoft to lead standards compliance and implementation? … or how Microsoft is aiming to create a radically new Windows client platform via a set of “whole computer capable rich web” standards. [Sept 20, 2010]
– WHAT? … Windows Live Spaces SaaS moving to WordPress.com SaaS? … It is part of a NEW strategy with Windows Live Essentials 2011 released now! [Oct 2, 2010]
Part I. Retrospective on Microsoft’s “three screens and a cloud” strategy
Ray Ozzie [& Bob Muglia] Day 1 Keynote: Professional Developers Conference 2009, Los Angeles, Calif. [Nov 17, 2009], see also the video recording in the time interval indicated by me with square bracketed numbers in the below text:
… [4:33] whether you’re developing for servers or services or PCs, phones or browsers, all of this diversity means that it’s a very complex software environment out there. Many platforms mean many choices. And whether users or enterprise IT, we all want everything just to work together very, very simply, interoperating as one.
And so across PCs, phones, TV, Web, and cloud, across our many products and platforms, across products serving both consumers and business, we at Microsoft have but one simple strategy, and that is to focus on leverage and seamlessness in everything that we do.
We aspire to deliver compelling, seamless, multi-screen experiences for users, and to enable skills leverage and investment leverage for developers and IT.
Of course, this is the very same vision that I laid out at last year’s PDC right here on this stage, and it’s a strategy embodied in a very simple picture we’d like you to keep in the back of your minds, and that is of [5:45] three screens and a cloud, three primary classes of screens, surrounding the Web as the hub of most everything we do.
Note: Those watching the video will notice that Ozzie was actually using a different picture, and before that a corresponding to that “N Screens and a Cloud”. I’ve put a different one here which I think is more expressive, and also putting the TV and XBox experience to the same screen which will be the case with Kinect delivered, as you could see from Steve Ballmer’s latest speech transcripts excerpted below.
With this picture you can visualize our fundamental belief in a world of Web-centric experiences that are also extended richly through apps on your desktop, through apps on the phone in your pocket, and delivered on the inherently shared big screen on your wall; experiences delivered from clouds in private datacenters or from the worldwide public cloud. [6:19]
More information on the “three screens and a cloud” strategy:
– Microsoft Cloud Services Vision Becomes Reality With Launch of Windows Azure Platform, Microsoft Press Release [Nov 17, 2009]
In his keynote address, Ozzie described the company’s “three screens and a cloud” vision, where software experiences are seamlessly delivered across PCs, phones and TVs, all connected by cloud-based services. Underscoring the IT industry’s shift toward a hybrid approach of online services combined with on-premises software, Ozzie described the programming model for a powerful new generation of applications for both businesses and consumers, enabled by new Microsoft development tools and technologies. He also demonstrated customer and partner commitment to Microsoft’s development platform with Seesmic, WordPress and Cheezburger Network.
– Read this Interview of Ray Ozzie, on Cloud Computing [Dec 22, 2009]
– Exclusive Interview With Steve Ballmer: Products, Competition, The Road Ahead [Sept 24, 2009]
– Steve Ballmer: Vision Forum Keynote [Nov 4, 2009]
Part II. Microsoft’s current standing on the cloud clients strategy
Steve Ballmer European Tour 2010 [Oct 4-8, 2010]: Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, was visiting Sweden, UK, Germany, France and Spain as part of his European tour to drive cloud computing adoption and discuss Microsoft’s innovation in the technology. He was also discussing Microsoft’s consumer strategy, highlighting the upcoming launch of Kinect for Xbox 360 and other products.
Microsoft has provided transcripts and Q&As for the major events on that tour. From this the following excerpts are providing a quite excellent overview of the company strategy regarding the cloud clients (emphasis used there is mine, if one goes through only that then one could have already enough information to grasp the essence of their current standing with the strategy):
Sweden Cloud Keynote, Cloud Day Summit, Stockholm, Sweden [Oct 4, 2010]
… when we talk about new client hardware and software, we’re not talking about clients turning away from the Internet and from standards, we’re talking about new ways in which clients — phones, PCs, and TVs — can embrace the cloud, but bring the benefit of intelligence on the device and the advantages of intelligence in the cloud together, and that’s really what we’ve done with Internet Explorer 9.
… it’s about integrating the smart client with standards from the cloud. … how to use the full advantage of PC hardware to make things go fast, and it treats applications on the device and websites both as first class citizens that can be mixed and matched and run concurrently, and we think that is an important part of the way we embrace this boundary between the cloud wants smarter devices, the cloud wants devices like Windows to know about it, to love it, and to treat cloud applications and client applications similarly and both as first class citizens. And I think by building an Internet Explorer 9 experience that loves the cloud and loves the Windows PC you start to see the direction in which we’re taking that.
Seizing the Opportunity of the Cloud: the Next Wave of Business Growth, LSE in London, UK [Oct 5, 2010]
The Cloud wants smarter devices. This is – it was semi-controversial; I think it is now 100% obvious. When we first started talking about the Cloud there was a view that said ‘yes, OK the devices that we use will all get dumb and all of the intelligence will move back out into the Cloud’. And what we have found is quite the contrary. People want smarter devices but smarter devices that can connect with the Cloud in intelligent ways. We just launched a new version of Internet Explorer 9 that really integrates with Windows. Why is it important? Because it’s about both supporting Cloud standards, HTML5 etc, but by doing a better job against those, by taking advantage of the hardware and hardware acceleration capabilities that are built into the PC.
As we buy smartphones people are writing little front-end applications that can talk intelligently to Cloud services. We are on the verge of launching a new such phone. But perhaps the device that I’m most keen on that will launch this Christmas season, which shows a different kind of relationship between the device and the Internet, is the next generation of our Xbox product, which allows you, with your body and your voice, to control everything that is going on on your TV screen. We say you are your control. And yet all of the important content, and information and interaction with friends is all happening out through the Cloud. So you want a smart device processing ‘me’, talking to a smart Cloud on the back end.
[Kinect video plays]
You will again see more when we actually ship next month, but it gives you a sense of why the Cloud might want smarter devices. You want the ability to do things locally; you want the ability to use natural user interface and process language and voice and action locally. And yet you do want to be able to participate in games and track meets and dance competitions with friends, potentially, around the globe. So we need to think about using the intelligent TV, the intelligent PC and the intelligent phone to participate in this new kind of application that people are really going to want to write.
… [in response to a question about what makes Microsoft’s Cloud computing offering distinctive] On the consumer side of the Cloud, I think we have some strengths and we definitely have some opportunities to improve our market share. Certainly with Windows, with IE, with Hotmail and Messenger, we have some strong positions. And I’ll say on the phone and all of the cloud infrastructure that backs it up, I’ll be pleased to announce our next generation of phone here in another week or two. And obviously the Kinect stuff. I’d say the whole sort of Cloud TV connectivity thing is really early. But if you take a look at what you can do with an Xbox this holiday, I think it’s quite a bit ahead of anything that at least our traditional competitors have.
… [in response to a question about making money out of the cloud while Microsoft has lost a pile of money in the past few years on that]
We had a round in the early 2000s where people were telling us we were wrong to do Xbox. I don’t feel wrong to be doing Xbox with the kind of profit that it’s making and the innovation that we’ve got. I don’t feel wrong about it at all. Does that mean that there aren’t things that I wish we’d done differently along the road and we’d be even more successful and even more profitable? Of course I do. That would be the case almost no matter what.… [in response to a question about his take on the future of our tablet computing in relation to the Cloud, the growth of Google’s Android operating system and Apple iOS devices hindering the growth of Windows in that region] … the thing for at least most of us in the developed world is: we are going to want to have and be able to afford to have technology in our pocket, on our big screen, and our mediumsize screen. Big screens are great for social activities with multiple people. You saw that a little bit in the Kinect demo. There’s nothing quite like having a bit of intelligence in your pocket. And, you know, on the pocket side, we got out to kind of an early jump. We’ve had competition come back in ways I’m not excited about. Now we’ve got to come back against competition. And I think, with our new Windows phones, we really have a beautiful product.
… The bigger screen form factor slate/tablet, very different discussion. We, as a company, will need to cover all form factors, and certainly we have done work around the tablet as both a productivity device and a consumption device. …
And so exactly where the form factors are and how they evolve – and you’ll see, you know, slates with Windows on them. You’ll see them this Christmas. You’ll see them continue to change and evolve. But if you really want most of the benefits of what a PC has to offer – the ability to create and consume, take documents of all types – a form factor that actually has been tuned for a lot of things over a number of years, we certainly have a superior device, and you’ll see us continue to expand the footprint that Windows does a good job of targeting over time.
But the job one thing, right now, is: we’ve got to get back seriously into the game of phones.
The Future of Cloud Services, BITKOM Conference ( of the German association of IT, Telecommunications and Consumer Electronics Enterprises), Cologne, Germany [Oct 6, 2010]
… the cloud wants smarter devices. When the word “cloud” first popped up two or three years ago, I think the view was with the cloud everything goes and becomes recentralized, and we use very dumb devices at the end of the day, and all the intelligence is in the cloud.
All the data since then is, no, we actually want smart devices, but we want smarter devices that think more intelligently about how to use the cloud.
Our new version of Internet Explorer we support HTML5 and the standards, but we’ve also taken advantage of the power of the PC to speed those things up and run them faster than you could in any other way.
… We’re going to launch a new version of the Xbox here in the next month called Kinect where literally you can control the TV set with your voice and your body motions. Well, that takes some intelligence, but you still want it designed so you can play games and connect with people intelligently across the cloud.
So, it will be a world of a next generation of smart device, a next generation of datacenter, a next generation of software that supports those, and a next generation of applications built on the corpus of information of the Web and the corpus of information of the social graph.
Kinect Press Event, Paris, France [Oct 7, 2010]
… back 10 years ago when we started down the Xbox path, we started and said, look, we’ve got to be very good at videogames, and videogames is a very important, big market. Over that time, we’ve sold over 42 million Xboxes around the world. … with the launch of Kinect and with the broadening out of experiences on the Xbox, based upon the kind of partnership that we’re talking about today with Canal Plus, I think you’ll see a real broadening out of the demographic, and we’ll really think about the Xbox as a family entertainment, TV entertainment center as we go forward.
Kinect will launch in November. You’ll be able to buy it in stores here in France in early November, November 10th. We have had a chance to show it in a few places. … so far the visceral response from people is really quite amazing to have such a powerful sensor technology, recognizing your voice and taking action, recognizing your body, and as we say, letting you be, if you will, the controller.
… As we think about the future of user interface to all devices, the notion of having the machines understand you, your actions, your behavior, your gestures, your writing, your voice, those natural interface techniques, they’re going to be very important across the gamut, from the family entertainment and TV, all the way through to important industrial applications.
… we have 25 million subscribers on Xbox LIVE out of a total of 43 million users. If we can dial up the number of users and the percentage of subscribers and the number of people who buy a sensor, I’m pretty — I’m enthusiastic
… One of the nice things is because we have a live service, we can tune the ability of the system to respond to voice and gestures. We’re getting smarter all the time. Kind of one of the magic of let’s call it the cloud approach, we don’t have to build one technology that recognizes voice the same way for the next — for the next few years; we get smarter the more voices we hear, again with appropriate privacy and all of that ensured.
… [in response to a question about whether they intend to use the Kinect with Windows] Do we plan on using — certainly these technologies will be used in all — at some point in different ways with all three screens. Initially we’ll launch the Kinect with the Xbox. But we do have certainly people in our labs who are experimenting with what I would call appropriate applications for various environments?
This sensor, as you will know when you get your hands on one, it actually works very well if you’re about three feet away to about 10 or 15 feet away — one meter to about four or five meters. And if you get too close it encourages you to get a little further back, and if you get too far away — and, of course, the technology will continue to improve, but if you think about at least many PC environments where you’re sitting less than two feet away, this particular technology would need to continue to evolve.
Now, there are plenty of places where the PC might be doing work on your behalf but you’re not sitting next to the PC, and we have a lot of work we’re doing to pioneer some of those applications.
… [in response to a question about what Steve Ballmer sees as job No. 1 among all things Microsoft is doing]
For Microsoft — the family entertainment scenario.
Microsoft is a company that — you know, in a sense I would say we have six different things we’re trying to get done as a company. It’s not the 52 that some people think, and it’s not the three that some of our — or one or two that some of our competitors are after. We’re trying to do great software and experiences for phone, for PC, and for TV, which is really what the Xbox is. It’s broader than just gaming. We’re certainly engaged in search with our Bing search engine; that’s very important to us. We provide tools at work and at home for people to be productive, Office and the like. And then we build platforms that are really enterprise specific and software developer specific for people to build applications and deploy them whether it’s in the cloud or the enterprise datacenter. So, that’s six, it isn’t 10, but it’s not two or three.
Microsoft Days – France [Oct 7, 2010]
The cloud wants smarter devices. A few years back, I think the theory would have been that as things move to the cloud, people are actually going to have less and less intelligence in their devices, and everything is going to operate in the cloud. We’ve seen exactly the opposite happen. We have smarter phones, but phones that are being built with the notion that says they’re going to plug into the cloud from the get go.
We see smarter and smarter PCs being redesigned around this notion of the cloud. What we’ve done in Internet Explorer 9 to speed up the cloud and integrate it with the smart Windows PC is such an example. We showed you the Xbox and the Kinect technology. You couldn’t do that with a dumb client. You can only do it with a smart client, but it’s got to participate in the cloud. So, our clients are being redesigned to be user friendly, easy to take care of and from the get go very cloud-aware.
Next week we get a chance to launch our Windows Phone 7 and the new Windows Phones I think are very good examples of this kind of next generation cloud-oriented, smart phones. We have an application model. I get a chance later today to go judge a little contest of some of the app developers here in France who have been doing applications for Windows Phone 7. We’ve got a new kind of a user interface that assumes that what you really want to do is focus not just on applications, but actually on the people and data that’s most important to you. And so we’ve re-pivoted the user interface consistent with some of the things that we think are possible in the cloud. It’s very different kind of user interface.
Nueva Economica Forum, Madrid, Spain [Oct 8, 2010]
… in the world of the cloud we can think of all of the world’s people and in all of their different personalities as individuals, as employees, as citizens, we want to be able to write new innovations to provide new solutions.
… New devices, there’s new devices coming. We’re always in big competition with other guys out there, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s really a tough world out there.
But we all know there’s a need for new devices. This meeting proves it. There’s a lady here with pencil and paper. I’ll prove I have one, too. I’m not giving her a hard time. (Laughter.) If I lose this paper, my whole week of action items is gone. That would be bad. There must be a digital form that’s better. But no matter what device you pull out today, if you sit there and start typing, it’s not very sociable, it’s not very pleasant, in some cases it’s not even very efficient compared to jotting a quick note.
We have lots of room to continue to invent what does the future of the television look like, what is the future of the PC, the phone, the note-taking device, the reading device.
