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Steven Sinofsky, ex Microsoft: The victim of an extremely complex web of the “western world” high-tech interests

November 13, 2012 12:45 pm / 8 Comments on Steven Sinofsky, ex Microsoft: The victim of an extremely complex web of the “western world” high-tech interests

See: Ballmer’s memo announcing Steven Sinofsky’s departure [CNET, Nov 12, 2012]
and Microsoft Announces Leadership Changes to Drive Next Wave of Products [Microsoft press release, Nov 12, 2012]

A Microsoft Without Sinofsky? Mini-Microsoft Monday, November 12, 2012

Well, I can’t believe it: Microsoft Announces Leadership Changes to Drive Next Wave of Products.

People walking the hallways tonight at work certainly can’t believe it. I can’t believe it – working at a Microsoft without Sinofsky?
Inconceivable.

But, if you’re going to leave on a high-note, it doesn’t get much better. Mr. Sinofsky got a standing ovation from the Windows team during the Company Meeting for all that he’s done to take them on a multi-year journey to create Windows 7 and then hit the big multi-division reset button for Windows 8. He truly demonstrated technical leadership at its best.

And I don’t believe his departure rules him out at all for Microsoft CEO. In fact, I think if he stays in tech and becomes CEO of another company it makes him an even more obvious choice to come back to Microsoft as its leader.

Meanwhile, Ms. Larson-Green: best of luck following this act.

The only response to A Microsoft Without Sinofsky? I think is worth to include here as representing the only factual evidence which might be behind Steven Sinofsky’s abrupt departure from Microsoft (although not in such a direct way as you might think from this, see my remarks following that):

1. Monday, November 12, 2012 10:58:00 PM

So Sinofsky is gone and replaced with a completely talentless hack like Julie Larson-Green. Seriously? Her ascent through the ranks is a case study in the Peter Principle… I worked with Julie when she was on FrontPage, and she was nothing more than a talking head then. She’s now a ridiculous joke, and she’s running the show.

Surface RT is on track to be a disaster, as is the upcoming Surface Ultrabook thing. Someone stick a fork in Microsoft already, jeez.

2. Monday, November 12, 2012 11:31:00 PM 

“What facts do you have to back that up? Sounds like you’re another opinionated MSoftie.

Also, why are you panning Julie already? Another ax to grind?”

First: I drive by the Microsoft store every day. The first week after Surface released it was fairly busy — it’s now a ghost town while the Apple store across the street is always SRO. Given that it’s the only store where can buy Surface, that tells you everything you need to know.

And seriously – real the media commentary. Even ignoring Ballmer’s “sales are modest” quote, they’re all saying that consumer interest has fallen off a cliff over the last week. It’s as dead as Windows Phone. But don’t take my word for it, just wait and see.

As for Julie, she’s one of those Microsofties who everyone always threw their hands up about whenver we heard she was promoted again. They are all over Microsoft — people with no actual talent but who excel in the art of succeeding in a big corporate environment. Seriously, search out her talks on Youtube — the woman is barely cogent at the best of times, and at her worst she’s an unintentional comedian.

I left Microsoft a while ago so my axes are long since ground. Now I just enjoy watching the clown car roll along.

So the real question is: Why “Surface RT is on track to be a disaster”?

My answer to that was already published yesterday:
Microsoft Surface with some questions about the performance and smoothness of the experience [this same blog, Nov 12, 2012]

In the end of that post I’ve included also the reasons for the performance and smoothness problems of Microsoft Surface as it stands now, and in very factual way:

Who is gaining with that?
It is no doubt that Intel is the party gaining most with that!
Look at the stakes:
– Intel market capitalisation: US$ 103.50B which is critical for large investors because a collapse of Intel may cause an unprecedented upheaval on the stock market. Also note that Windows 8 is the last chance for Intel to prevent such collapse to happen.
– Intel fabs which are:
    1. Huge, numerous and most of them are representing the latest manufacturing technologies: see List of Intel manufacturing sites on Wikipedia
    2. Each representing multibillion dollars of multi-year investments:
      see New $5 billion Intel facility planned for Chandler [AZCentral.com, Feb 19, 2011] as the latest example
    3. A tremendous effort made by Intel to outgun its fabless competitors exactly through such cutting-edge manufacturing. It is now described not only as leading edge in terms of smaller die sizes and thus higher chip volumes on the same wafers, better performance and/or lower power use, but also speed and agility with the time to manufacture a component halved in the past five years.
    4. Strategic for the US economy as whole to prevent its advanced manufacturing sector to go the way of its lower-tech predecessors – to Asia. See Insight: As chip plants get pricey, U.S. risks losing edge [Reuters, May 1, 2012].
    5. Entering into a critical phase against its major by far fab competitor, TSMC for whom the capacity shortage of its leading 28nm nodes will end by December, 2012. See my Qualcomm’s critical reliance on supply constrained 28nm foundry capacity [this same ‘Experiencing the cloud’ blog, July 27-Nov 8, 2012] post as updated just 4 days ago. Considering that the competitive strength of all of its fabless competitors depend on TSMC manufacturing capabilities this is the most critical window for strategic survival in Intel’s whole history.
      A further evidence of why Intel’s survival might be behind that is the fact that the latest mobile SoC from Intel, so called Clover Trail will be in the Windows 8 tablets only in the later part of November. Even the first tablets based on that, the Acer Iconia W510 models are “Temporarily out of stock” on the Amazon while it was oiginally promised to be available from Nov 9 in the US and Canada. See: Acer Iconia W510: Windows 8 Clover Trail (Intel Z2760) hybrid tablets from OEMs [this same ‘Experiencing the cloud’ blog, Oct 28, 2012]. So the tuning was going on well after the “final” Windows 8 launch of Oct 26, and might continue even these days.
      Another evidence is the fact that the x86-based version of the Microsoft Surface, Surface Pro will arrive just 3 month later as was pointed out in the leParisien interview of Steve Ballmer referred to in beginning of this post. Moreover when it was announced it was for the much better performing Ivy Bridge processor, not the Clover Trail we indicated here as available in a numerous products by the end of November. This could mean a delivery of Surface Pro as late as January next year! Plenty of time to make the new Windows software and the available applications performing well and smooth in all respects.

      Which needs only a few additional explanations, mainly for the overwhelming misunderstandings absolutely typical in the opinions about the reasons of Sinofsky’s abrupt departure from the company he was working for since he finished his university studies in 1989.

      1. Microsoft is sitting in the centre of an extremely complex web of interests. In fact most of the high-tech pile up of the “Western world” on the stock market is highly dependent on the course of actions Microsoft is taking along the ARM route of the hardware platform opportunity.
      2. As the HW future of the Android SW platform is already outside of the influence of that high-tech pile up, the only remaining potential to defend its diminishing position is in the Windows.
      3. The measures taken during the Windows development to pressure Microsoft and its CEO to “under-engineer” the Windows RT version (which is well reflected in Microsoft Surface as it was brought out 18 days ago) were clearly not enough to achieve the established goals of such a defensive strategy. It might even be the case that the “half-hearted” Windows RT effort was decided to be “downscaled” even further as a last ditch effort by the forces of “Western world high-tech pile-up” interests.

      Just to remind you:
      – The SoC behind the $48 Mogu M0 “peoplephone”, i.e. an Android smartphone for everybody to hit the Chinese market on November 15 [this same blog, Nov 9, 2012] is sold for about $6 according to CEO of Spreadtrum saying that 37% of its Q3CY12 revenue of US$187.9 million “mostly address the smartphones” which were 11 million SoCs in the official financial release then “raised” somewhat to 12 million towards the end of the Earnings Call.
      – The leading entry level SoC for the Chinese made Android tablets, the Allwinner A10 and A13 is sold for $7 and $5 respectively, and the volume of them was quite high already in Q3CY12: 3.5 million SoCs in August rising to 5 million SoCs in October, according to Yoshida in China: ‘Shanzhai’ clouds tablet data [EE Times, Nov 8, 2012]
      – Intel’s latest technology entry level SoC, the Z2760 “Cover Trail” should definitely be more than $50 (even much more) as the latest (Q1’12 intro, with the same 32nm litography) traditional Atom model D2550, having price indication, has a published tray price of $47. This means an order of magnitude SoC price difference considering that by the end of 2012 the entry level tablet SoCs will come down at least to 2xCortex-A9 performance at 1 GHz+ (could be even quadcore at 28nm litography, we will see), so performance wise there will be at least parity.

      So these are the things everybody should think first and not the simplistic reasoning reflected everywhere. See a 24 hour search on “Sinofsky departure” which currently has headlines such as:

      End of the original post (as seen above), publication time: UTC 11:00 a.m.

      Postscripts:

      … Many have scratched their head about Windows RT, and in particular its lack of support for third-party “desktop” apps.  Ultimately I think Windows RT is the result of heavy reliance on telemetry. … reliance on statistical analysis may explain why the end-user reaction to Windows RT and Windows 8 overall seems much better than that of pundits and power users. …

      …

      Why did 90+% of users choose to pay more for a Windows-based Netbook than to go with a Linux-based Netbook?  If these devices were simply used for web browsing than the user behavior doesn’t make sense.  We can speculate on this of course.  Familiarity of UI, compatibility with devices such as printers, ability to run Windows applications (even though that is counter to the original idea behind netbooks), etc.  As I said we can speculate.  And analysts can survey customers and make their claims.  But Microsoft?  Microsoft has precise data from the CEIP.

      …

      And what do you think Microsoft got from the CEIP telemetry?  I’m guessing that they saw the vast majority of Netbook usage was for web browsing, with use of Microsoft Office representing a much smaller but still substantial portion.  And then I’m guessing they saw a dramatic fall-off with no apps really registering as significant.  Netbooks were basically web browsing plus Office machines.  Then they looked at the web usage and saw that a great deal of it matched the kinds of “consumption” apps that were popular on the iPhone and that they were going to target with the new Windows 8 “Metro” app model.  And they saw heavy use of traditional Windows features like broad peripheral support, network connectivity, etc.  Combine the actual usage data on Netbooks with the emergence of Natural User Interface and the re-invigoration of local apps that was demonstrated by the Apple App Store and you have Windows RT.

      …

      So take a look at Windows RT, or even better the Microsoft Surface, and realize what it is.  The Surface is the intersection of Netbook meets iPad.  It brings exactly what most users liked about Windows on Netbooks into the modern era while dispensing with much of the Windows world that Netbook users simply didn’t take advantage of.   It is exactly what users told Microsoft via their actual usage data, extrapolated from the historical Netbook world into the modern device world, they wanted.

      …

      The use of Telemetry may explain why Windows 8, Windows RT, and the Surface seem to do better with average users than the pundits and power users out around and beyond two standard deviations.  Windows RT and the Surface are designed to actual usage data on a segment of the computing spectrum that was also derided by many pundits and power users.   A segment that garnered (as I recall) about 20% of PC unit volume before being obliterated in the “post-PC” shift.  If Microsoft has used its wealth of telemetry to build something that nails the real world usage scenarios that originally made Netbooks popular, while also being roughly as good as the iPad for the scenarios Apple optimized for, than they have a huge winner.  Even if pundits and power users don’t seem to like what they’ve done.

      And if Windows RT fails?  Well it could be the result of pundits and power users convincing the target audience not to give it a chance.  Or it could be the result of poor design decisions being made despite having excellent data.  Or it could be a series of marketing, sales, and partner missteps that have little to do with the product itself.  Or it could be that particularly vicious form of lies known as statistics.

       

      I was only a few reports down from Sinofsky and actually had the pleasure of working with him in person. Always very professional and energetic. Nothing unreasonable for a corporate environment. And definitely nothing like what people compare to Steve Jobs or Bill Gates (check out “BillG review” on the Internet for what THAT was like).

      LOL, listen this is a great post and all but if he was truly great Ballmer would have kept him, more C level execs would have fought to keep him. The truth is there is a time and place for people like Sinofsky and there is time to ring them in and say “Hey you are making people’s lives hell!” That is a big deal by the way. MS may be a huge corporation with lots of people willing and wanting to work with them but word of mouth gets around and that is bad. …

      … Sinofsky has been nothing but excellent for Microsoft. He has fought for consumers and made the tough decisions that others would not have. Sinofsky made the trains run on time. He embraced the Metro design language, borrowing from the Zune team and Windows Phone team. It is quite clear that Sinofsky quit. I believe he wanted more power or certain decisions to go his way that did not and he ultimately decided to quit. Ballmer has been great at protecting himself and his position of CEO over the last decade. I do not think he wanted Sinofsky to gain more power and potentially become CEO down the road. It’s telling that he split Sinofsky’s position to two women who I think he can easily control. I think Sinofsky’s influence and legacy on the company will remain even though he is not there anymore. More things are going to be kept secret until it is the appropriate time to release the information. Microsoft will also get more and more into hardware. I believe we will see Sinofsky back a few years from now as CEO of Microsoft. …

      Then the whole essence of his writing is summarized in the end as:

      tl;dr: Steven Sinofsky rocks and was good for Microsoft! I also believe he quit on his own accord. Bloggers hate him because they had a direct financial loss due to having less information about the company and ignore the good he did.

      P.S. Love/Hate relationship with Sinofsky and bloggers can be traced way back to 2007 starting with Long Zheng http://www.istartedsomething.com/20071207/director-windows-disclosure/

      He explained that creating Windows 8 and its new tablet-friendly Windows Runtime has absorbed much of the C++ team’s energy.
      “We’ve been really busy for two years with our biggest release ever. There’s an industry tsunami to the tablet revolution, the GPU compute revolution. Because C++ matters is why we’re at the centre of it. Now we can emphasise conformance again,” he said.

      “We have a really mature compiler and optimiser. It’s been around for a decade or two, on x86 and x64. Then we have a version 1 release of ARM. You can expect that to get better.”

      Note that people present on that BUILD 2012 session and even having an opportunity to speak to Herb Sutter the day before were not only confirming the importance of the above but even adding to that: “the Visual C++ team had the biggest pressure inside Microsoft in the last 2 years as everybody was relying on them

      Hal. Hey there, I find myself feeling to offer some insight — relative to what you say above, I never initiated any discussions to bring together the organizations/products you describe and no one ever approached me to manage them as part of Windows 7 or 8. Basic organization theory as described by @teyc would support the current state as a practical working model.

      If we had worked together you would know that historically, very few things moved into teams I managed as (you’ve no doubt seen in internal blogs) and when they did I usually pushed back hard looking for a cross-group way to achieve the goal (in other words, decide open issues rather than force an org change to subsequently decide something). It is far better to collaborate with the org in place and avoid the disruption unless it is on a product cycle boundary and far better to plan and execute together than just organize together.

      in response to Hal Berenson’s earlies assumption in his post that:

      Steven had apparently lost recent battles to bring both Windows Phone and the Developer Division under his control. I suspect that he saw those loses both as a roadblock to where he wanted to take Windows over the next few years, and a clear indication that his political power within Microsoft had peaked. At the very point where he should have been able to ask for, and receive, almost anything as reward for his proven success he got slapped down. And so he chose to leave.

      then Berenson acknowledged in response:

      Steven, thanks for the first hand insight. I am obviously going on what others in Microsoft have told me. And seriously, good luck with whatever you do next!

      Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of the month, and the time when Microsoft pushes out software updates for their products.

      On this occasion this includes includes Microsoft’s first ARM computer, the Surface, and the update  is  a “Cumulative Update for performance/compatibility” and another is a firmware update which hopefully addresses the same issue.

      …

      We noticed definite performance improvements, including in multi-tasking, text input, quicker loading times and improvements in IE, including in tab switching and closing.

      …

      Techtony • a day ago
      Not only the Surface was updated, The Asus Vivo Tab RT was also Updated. New Firmware Message and a total of 8 Updates

      RJD • 2 days ago Absolutely notice performance improvements across the board…loading apps, screen accuracy, word accuracy, IE improved to boot.

      surur Mod Eric Hon • 2 days ago Apparently apps open faster.

      GG002 surur • 2 days ago And less sound stuttering while Surface sleeps. At least buggy music playback while Sleep isn’t a problem for me anymore (knock on wood).

      It is indeed faster. In some cases much faster. A Hungarian developer was measuring the improvement via the CPU usage with the Mandelbrot program as a benchmark: C#: +25%, C++: +110%!, C++ AMP (software emultaion): +72% improvements were found by him (see in this Facebook message in Hungarian).

      White-box tablets are expected to see a surge in shipment growth in 2012 with volumes surpassing 50 million units, according to Digitimes Research senior analyst James Wang.

      There are three major drivers that will help white-box tablets achieve strong growth in the year: a large number of potential consumers brought in by Android handsets, mature development of China-based processors, and decreasing costs of white-box tablets. With the addition of white-box tablet shipments, Android is expected to surpass iOS and become the largest mobile operating system in 2012, while 7-inch displays will also become the mainstream specification for tablets.

      As the branded tablet PC market is seeing fierce competition in terms of technology, capacity, yield rates, patents and prices, the rise of white-box tablets has already made these players a new force in the tablet market, with some white-box players even seeing higher shipment volumes than first-tier vendors.

      Digitimes Research believes that brand vendors should be aware of white-box tablet players’ developments in the future, since even platform designers such as Google and Microsoft have used their resources to increase price competition in the tablet market, and the situation may gradually turn to favor China-based players with expertise in lowering costs.


      Source: Digitimes Research, November 2012
      or from the Chinese version of the same [Nov 9, 2012]:

      I’m not a microsoftie but I can see parallels with two other companies, where I used to work.

      1. Lucent. Coasting along on their previous life as the original AT&T and Bell Labs and living on their monopoly profits, I found their upper echelon to be as political and non technical as I see MSFT’s descriptions today. Pat Russo was a BA in political science for crying out loud. And she ended up running and selling Bell Labs (!) to Alcatel. Before that she ran Kodak. See the pattern?

      2. Carly Fiorina at HP. Before that she was at Lucent. BA in Political Science. Political Science. Well, okay then, let’s just have her run HP. What does HP mostly sell now? Ink?

      The pattern is simple. You get a large corp running off a semi monopoly, then in due course the people who rise are the politicians and sales guys. The engineers get used and thrown aside.

      Now apparently this Julia person isn’t an engineer and she’s going to run the OS group. Good luck with that.

      Lots of noise in the comments. Been out of Microsoft for 3 years and haven’t been in Steve Si’s org since he left the Office group.

      I worked in the same group as Julie Larson before her meteoric rise. I wasn’t so impressed, but remember that Steve Si was very impressed. If he likes someone’s work, they rise to the top very, very quickly. I don’t think he was making those choices for political reasons. I think he was making those decisions for engineering and product quality. That said, does heading program management translate into running a large engineering organization. I don’t know as it’s been many, many years since I worked near Julie.

      Steve Si never struck me as someone who cared about rising to be the CEO. He cared about designing products that could be built and then building it. I’m not sure as an engineering guy, he was the right guy for Balmer’s job.

      I’ve had a number of people question if  Julie Larson-Green is up to the task of running Windows Engineering.  No one has questioned Tami Reller’s expanded responsibilities because, well, Tami is pretty much doing the same job she had before except that the buck now stops with her instead of falling on the shoulders of a division President.  So I’ll focus this post on Julie and her new role.  And moreover on the experiment it represents.

      …

      So is Julie a good choice?  On a strategic level I think there was no one better positioned to finish the job of re-imagining Windows that started with Windows 8.  I have some evidence that Julie is indeed easier to collaborate with than Steven was.  And she’s inheriting from Steven a well-functioning engineering organization that, of course, she helped create.  She doesn’t have to fix anything (major) that I know of on the organizational or engineering process fronts.  That means she has time for her multi-discipline general management skills to mature while focusing most of her energy on completing the Windows re-invention.  Plus, by splitting the business and engineering responsibilities across two executives (and taking on the President responsibilities himself) Steve has kept Julie’s new role from being too much of a stretch.  So yes, I think Julie is a good choice.  Hopefully we’ll be able to look back in a few years and say that she was a great choice.

      http://www.euronews.com/ Microsoft executive, Steven Sinofsky has left the world’s largest software company barely two weeks after launching the flagship Window 8. The 23-year veteran of the company has refused to comment on his departure with insiders saying his exit was, “mutual”. The 47-year-old was widely tipped to become the next chief executive of Microsoft which has been struggling to keep pace with Apple and Google in mobile computing. “Shocking news;” was one analysts reaction. Find us on: Youtube http://bit.ly/zr3upY Facebook http://www.facebook.com/euronews.fans Twitter http://twitter.com/euronews
      • Then WSJLive was next to put this report, around one and a half hour later to the YouTube: Microsoft’s Windows Chief to Depart [WSJDigitalNetwork YouTube channel, Nov 13, 2012., 11:01 a.m. ET [UTC 4:01 p.m.]], this with a detailed assesment, so far also the closest one to mine (although still far from that):
      Windows unit president Steven Sinofsky is leaving the company, effective immediately, AllThingsD has confirmed. The move comes less than a month after Sinofsky presided over the launch of Windows 8 and Microsoft’s Surface tablet. Photo: Getty Images. Subscribe to the WSJ Live YouTube Channel -http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=wsjdigitalnetworkork More WSJLive YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/wsj Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wsjlive Twitter: https://twitter.com/WSJVideo WSJ: http://www.wsj.com

      Arik Hesseldahl, AllThingsD reporter was the expert journalist interviewed by WSJLive. See also the similarly titled Microsoft’s Windows Chief to Depart [The Wall Street Journal, November 13, 2012, 11:01 a.m. ET [UTC 4:01 p.m.]] article which this video was embedded into.

      Steven Sinofsky, the brains behind Microsoft’s latest operating system is leaving the company.

      although a written article by the same people behind the video was published 10 hours earlier: Windows head Steven Sinofsky to leave Microsoft [November 13, 2012 02:10 AM ET [UTC 7:10 a.m.]] albeit with a different, initial content.

      • The same WSJLive realized only 10 hours after its first video report seen above the fact that there are TWO heirs to the Sinofsky’s empire: The Women Behind Microsoft Windows [WSJDigitalNetwork YouTube channel, Nov 13, 2012., 9:13 p.m. ET [Nov 14, UTC 2:13 a.m.]]
      For the first time in its history, Microsoft’s Windows unit won’t be headed by a man. Shira Ovide discusses the appointment of Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller to head Windows following the departure of Steve Sinofsky. Photo: AP Images.

      yet WSJLive missed the most important point that both report to Steve Ballmer (see the press release). The written article which contains the same video embedded into it does not contain that fact either: Windows’ Future in Hands of Two Veterans [The Wall Street Journal, Nov 13, 2012., 9:13 p.m. ET [Nov 14, UTC 2:13 a.m.]]

      Chuck Coppola dissects what the departure of Windows President Steven Sinofsky means for Microsoft. Rob Enderle is brought into via Skype as a “High-Tech Industry Analyst” for the assesment.

      From Wikipedia on First Business:

      First Business is a nationally syndicated financial news and analysis television program, produced by First Business Network LLC, a subsidiary of Weigel Broadcasting, in Chicago. Anchor Angela Miles, Reporters Chuck Coppola, Bill Moller, and Executive Producer Harvey Moshman bring viewers commentary from the floors of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange, as well as from their studios in the West Loop. The program covers the financial and economic markets including equities, futures, options,commodities, foreign exchange and geo-political news. …

      Here’s the complete letter from Steven Sinofsky to employees [WinSuperSite, Nov 12, 2012]

      From: Steven Sinofsky
      Sent: Monday, November 12, 2012 6:42 PM
      To: Microsoft – All Employees (QBDG)
      Subject: RE: Windows Leadership Changes

      With the general availability of Windows 8/RT and Surface, I have decided it is time for me to take a step back from my responsibilities at Microsoft. I’ve always advocated using the break between product cycles as an opportunity to reflect and to look ahead, and that applies to me too.

      After more than 23 years working on a wide range of Microsoft products, I have decided to leave the company to seek new opportunities that build on these experiences. My passion for building products is as strong as ever and I look forward focusing my energy and creativity along similar lines. 

      The Windows team, in partnerships across all of Microsoft and our industry, just completed products and services introducing a new era of Windows computing. It is an incredible experience to be part of a generational change in a unique product like Windows, one accomplished with an undeniable elegance. Building on Windows, Surface excels in design and utility for a new era of PCs.   With the Store, Internet Explorer, Outlook.com, SkyDrive and more, each of which lead the way, this experience is connected to amazing cloud services.

      It is inspiring to think of these efforts making their way into the hands of Microsoft’s next billion customers. We can reflect on this project as a remarkable achievement for each of us and for the team.  Our work is not done, such is the world of technology, and so much more is in store for customers.

      It is impossible to count the blessings I have received over my years at Microsoft. I am humbled by the professionalism and generosity of everyone I have had the good fortune to work with at this awesome company. I am beyond grateful.

      I have always promised myself when the right time came for me to change course, I would be brief, unlike one of my infamous short blog posts, and strive to be less memorable than the products and teams with which I have been proudly and humbly associated.   The brevity of this announcement is simply a feature.

      Some might notice a bit of chatter speculating about this decision or timing.  I can assure you that none could be true as this was a personal and private choice that in no way reflects any speculation or theories one might read—about me, opportunity, the company or its leadership. 

      As I’ve always believed in making space for new leaders as quickly as possible, this announcement is effective immediately and I will assist however needed with the transition. 

      I am super excited for what the future holds for the team and Microsoft.

      With my deepest appreciation,

      Steven Sinofsky

      Sent from Surface RT

      $48 Mogu M0 “peoplephone”, i.e. an Android smartphone for everybody to hit the Chinese market on November 15

      November 9, 2012 10:51 pm / 10 Comments on $48 Mogu M0 “peoplephone”, i.e. an Android smartphone for everybody to hit the Chinese market on November 15

      This is a great historic moment as thanks to a highly optimized Android 2.3 (CyanogenMod 7 distribution which seems to support HW acceleration in the latest versions, see here and here, and besides about 400 people is working on Android for Spreadtrum so it definitely could have been done) version, able to run in 256MB RAM only, and the amazing ultra low-cost, but still quite well performing (Cortex-A5 @1GHz), SC6820 SoC from Spreadtrum some Chinese manufacturers behind the Mogu brand were able to bring out a sub $50 smartphone “for everybody of us”. This means not only a significant lowering of the price for the truly performing entry level smartphones, but also is marking the beginning of the demise of the classic feature phone segment. So it is a disruptive innovation of enormous significance.

      Re: Lowest H2’12 device cost SoCs from Spreadtrum will redefine the entry level smartphone and feature phone markets [this same “Experiencing the Cloud” blog, July 26 – Aug 16, 2012]

      Just here to notify you that SC6820-based “smartphone” will hit the Chinese market with a price as low as ￥299 [$48] next week. Link:http://www.moguphone.com/indexM0.html, note that M2 phone based on MTK6577 is also very cheap.

      hyno111 on Nov 8, 2012
      hyno111@gmail.com
      74.125.19.23

      On the top of the indicated website one can find to following illustrative content:

      where:
      – 蘑菇 人民机 means “Mushroom [the] people [machine]” as translated by Bing
      -more precisely 蘑菇 mogu, the people (ordinary people) 人民, and …机 …machine but in fact …机 …phone (such as 手机cellphone) i.e. 蘑菇 人民机 means Mushroom peoplephone with Mushroom (Mogu) as the overall brand and peoplephone is a constructed noun expressing the “phone for everybody of us” idea in the most concise way as a kind of new market category name

      Note that such kind of idea is deeply rooted in the history of the modern industrial world. The most vivid examples you could find in the history of cars and radios:
      – The Ford Model T was the very first instance of the concept itself, then the proper naming appeared when the Volkswagen (literally meaning Peoplecar) company was founded in 1937 by the Nazi trade union, the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront) for the People’s Car project. And the basic design for the Volkswagen Beetle was conceived back in 1925 by Béla Barényi during his mechanical engineering studies, the model vision finished in 1931, and appearing on the front page of the Motor-Kritik in 1934 (see this detailed Mercedes-Benz article about him). And after World War II  France had the Citroën 2CV, Great Britain the Mini, Italy the Fiat 500, and East Germany the Trabant, just to indicate the most prominent examples of very successful “people’s cars” next to the overall leader, the Volkswagen Beetle.
      – The Volksempfänger (German for “people’s receiver”) was a range of radio receivers developed by engineer Otto Griessing at the request of Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Great Britain had the Utility Radio from the last year of the World War II as a similar concept as well. And later we had the Transistor radio which indeed became essential part of people’s everyday life.

      After searching on the wen I found that the first information about the Mogu M0 peoplephone became available last Saturday:
      199 Yuan! Mogu M0 peoplephone upcoming release: 3.5 inch bright screen [IT之家(IThome.com), Nov 3, 2012]

      … Mogu Cellphone, as rumored around the continent, is about to release a “Mogu M0″ model for ultra low-cost smartphones (Mogu peoplephone). The phone has a 3.5-inch high-definition highlighted display; 1GHz CPU; 256M RAM, 512M ROM; it is running the Android 2.3 operating system; supports Bluetooth/WiFi/FM/expansion card; has a dual SIM dual standby capability; priced at 229 yuan. The first 1000 pilot machines [as told in the later announcement of Nov 8 the “the first batch of 1,000 units”]will have a price of 199 yuan.

      199 yuan for a smartphone, would you have expected it?

      No wonder that “the first batch has been sold out” is currently on the shopping site http://moguphone.taobao.com/ with “the second batch ready to go” whatever does it mean from pricing point of view. The latest message of Mogu Cellphone microblogging site of Sina Wibo clarified it on Nov 8 as:

      [The first thousand units of Mogu M0 pilot machine, November 15, at 10 o’clock in the morning sale] at 10 o’clock on November 15th, sold 1000 limited pilot, for pilot price of 199 dollars, instead of price of 299 Yuan. Buying Platform: Taobao Marketplace address is http://t.cn/zlmnjuU (please note collection), the Taobao platform limits to buy 800 units. Open supply after November 20, the public price is 299 yuan, details, please pay attention to official Mogu website: www.moguphone.com.

      The company behind the Mogu brand is the 深圳市盛谷科技有限公司, Valley Technology Co., Ltd. Shenzhen Sheng (or Shenzhen Sheng Valley Technology Limited as translated by Bing) which has a too broad About page not worth to include here. More relevant information I’ve found in the following job advertisement published on August 8:

      Shenzhen Sheng Valley Technology Co., Ltd.

      Emerging Internet companies, own multiple Taobao Malls, a brand for multiple manufacturers brand operation. The company mainly had an operation for high-end domestic mobile phones. Now the companies are in the high-speed development stage and require a lot of talent, we are looking for customer service, (art) designer, and administrative/executive staff. Learn more on Baidu     more on google

      • Company size :20-99
      • Company Type: Private
      • Company Industry: Computer

      Contact:

      • Company Web site:
      • Address: Futian District, Shenzhen Huaqiang North the SED 雅苑 5P
      • Tel: 18664986715
      • Contact: Duan Sheng (段生)
      • E-mail:

      Phone quality inspector … Media Manager / microblogging operators / forum operators … Taobao manager … Mobile phone after-sales maintenance division … Taobao accounting … After-sale customer service … The financial … Head of mobile phone sales … Taobao customer service / the Taobao Commissioner … Taobao customer service (Beijing)

      Fast staff recruitment could have started back in July as evidenced with this Art Editor / Design job placement ad which had the same company description.

      Another useful company profile given for a designer and a web programmer job as of Aug 6, 2012 is stating a 1-49 company size, private ownership and Internet/e-commerce set of activities with a different description:

      Shenzhen Sheng Valley Technology Co. Ltd. is focused on independent R&D and brand management for mobile intelligent terminals. “Integration, innovation, open” is Sheng Valley Technology’s business philosophy. “MOGU Magic Valley” is the [essence of] company’s efforts to build an Internet phone brand, [with which it] is committed to providing users with customizable, cost-effective, high playability smartphone products.

      Sheng Valley Technology’s mobile team: 乐蛙

      Company has team of empowering entrepreneurial passion and innovation, comprising of senior members of the mobile industry, mobile Internet industry, and e-commerce industry. Our team is advocating a simple, fast, innovative, open Internet culture. The vision of the team is to use the Internet to achieve a business model of disruptive innovation, enjoy the happiness of common entrepreneurial growth.

      Strategic partners:

      Currently has been the telecommunications industry, China Unicom, Tapas Mobile (点心), LeWa (Le frog 乐蛙), cyanogen (CyanogenMod), Mobile uncle (www.mobileuncle.com 移动叔叔),  Seven Casket (www.7xz.com七匣子), All music (乐众), N multi-network (www.nduoa.com N多网), Mushroom Cloud Hack Machine (蘑菇云 刷机), Hack Wizard (刷机精灵等) [Shenzhen Bottle Technology Ltd 深圳瓶子科技有限公司] with which a strategic partnership is established, providing the safest, most convenient user-oriented Android OS hack machine service.

      As seen from all the above Mogu as a local brand marketing company has all the critical technological and marketing ties in the Chinese Android ecosystem. With cyanogen they are even tied to the crucial Android Open Source Project via described in What is CyanogenMod [Oct 13, 2009 – Oct 17, 2012] as:

      CyanogenMod(/sɪˈænoʊdʒəŋmäd/) is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for select Android devices.

      Intended as a replacement for the software (also known as the “firmware” or “ROM”) that comes factory installed on your smartphone, CyanogenMod is based on the Android Open Source Project – the same base software used in all Android devices. However, CyanogenMod offers several benefits over the pre-installed firmware, including vastly flexible interface and customization, a wider set of new features, and sometimes significant improvements in performance.

      CyanogenMod’s features may allow you to bypass software limitations imposed by carriers, which may prevent you from using the handset in a manner that they do not support. Such features include, but not limited to, the ability to overclock the device’s CPU, tether the device to your computer, or fully back up the device to your SD Card.

      What CyanogenMod isn’t

      CyanogenMod, however, does not “unlock” the device. Most carriers “lock” their handsets to prevent customers from buying a handset and moving to a different carrier. Carriers depend on these “exclusivity” agreements to bolster revenue. For example: if you buy an iPhone in the US, you are stuck with AT&T or Verizon, whichever you bought from. To use the handset on another carrier’s network it would be necessary to “unlock” the handset. This is done with a code based on the IMEI of the handset that can be provided by your carrier or firms on the internet that are slightly more reliable than a Nigerian Prince.

      Unlocking cannot be done by installing CyanogenMod, or any other firmwarefor that matter.

      …

      The CyanogenMod firmware is currently based on code released by the Android Open Source Project’s “Gingerbread” (Android 2.3) development branch. CyanogenMod is primarily developed by Cyanogenbut includes contributions from the xda-developers community and other sources.

      Licensing Controversy

      Until version 4.1.11.1, CyanogenMod included several proprietary apps such as Gmail, Maps & the Android Market, which are included with stock versions of Android, but are not licensed for distribution with ‘custom’firmwares, such as CyanogenMod. Legally, Cyanogenwas not allowed to include these apps in CyanogenMod.

      Google sent Cyanogen a Cease and Desist letter demanding he stop distribution of these apps and Cyanogenceased all development until a solution could be found.

      The reactions of many CyanogenMod users was predictably hostile, with some claiming that Google’s legal threats hurt their own interests and violated their informal corporate motto to “Do No Evil”. After extensive media coverage (PC World, The Register, The Inquirer, Ars Technica, The H, ZDNet, Gigaom, and eWeek) and a statement from Google clarifying its position Google and Cyanogen negotiated an agreement in which Cyanogen could continue development on his firmware as long as he did not include Google’s proprietary “Google Experience” components.

      To work around the licensing issues, it was further agreed that the proprietary Google apps may be backed-up from the stock firmware on the device and then re-installed onto CyanogenMod releases without infringing copyrights.

      Cyanogen has warned that while issues no longer remain with Google, there are still potential licensing issues regarding proprietary, closed-source device drivers. However, he believes the licensing issues with the drivers can be worked out, and he is receiving assistance from Google employees to avoid any further licensing issues.

      Furthermore the About the project | CyanogenMod [Nov 1, 2012] is giving the further up to date information:

      CyanogenMod (pronounced sigh-AN-oh-jen-mod), is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices (See above for supported devices & how to install CyanogenMod on said devices). Based on the Android Open Source Project, CyanogenMod is designed to increase performance and reliability over Android-based ROMs released by vendors and carriers such as Google, T-Mobile, HTC, etc. CyanogenMod also offers a variety of features & enhancements that are not currently found in these versions of Android.

      More Info & Community Members

      While this build is heavily optimized, it is also capable of pushing your phone much harder. CyanogenMod and it’s team hold no responsibility to any damage caused to your phone, loss of earnings as a result of damaging your phone or anything else that is connected to the development of this rom.

      For a list of devices officially supported by CyanogenMod, check out the official devices page. Such is the craze for CyanogenMod, that devices that aren’t officially supported, still manage to receive ports of the ROM courtesy of enthusiasts and developers. CyanogenMod offers the most barebone Android experience coupled with some very powerful tweaks. This whole package by now is not wholly developed by CyanogenMod developers alone, but is a collaborative effort between them and independent developers on sites like XDA-Developers.

      Right now, CyanogenMod consists of two parallel and active major versions: CyanogenMod 7 is based on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and CyanogenMod 10 is based on Android 4.1 (JB); CM10-capable devices are being phased out of CM7, but since there’s a large amount of devices still on the market that aren’t capable of fully running Android 4.x, CyanogenMod 7 exists to support them.

      The variants of the firmware are split into categories, such as: Stable, Release Candidate, M-series and Nightlies. The Stable version, as suggested by the title, is the tried and tested variant of the firmware proven to be mostly bug free and suitable for daily use. The latest stable version is available for an assortment of the officially supported devices. A Release Candidate (RC) build may not be the final version, but a variant that has no fatal flaws or bugs, on the stabilization stages to become the final product that is the Stable variant. M-series releases behave similar to the RCs, but are considered ‘stable’ for our users.  Lastly we have the Nightlies, which are as volatile as a firmware can get. These releases keep coming at an interval of a day or two and if you do end up trying one of these, do not be alarmed if the your device goes cuckoo on you. These ROMs are largely untested, and as advised by CyanogenMod, not meant for use for an average user. These releases, are meant to test untested waters that may or may not break your phone.

      This CyanogenMod capabilities explain the following specification parameters of Mogu M0:
      – Android 2.3
      – 256MB RAM+512MB ROM

      From the same specification list it is also important to note here:
      – resolution: 320×480
      – battery: 1280mAh

      Furthermore: You can find all the information about the SC6820 story in the referred Lowest H2’12 device cost SoCs from Spreadtrum will redefine the entry level smartphone and feature phone marketspost. In order to have an immediate impact and convenience I will reproduce here the Spreadtrum product page as well:

      SC6820 EDGE/GPRS/GSM 1GHz Low-Cost Smartphone Platform [Feb 29, 2012]

      Designed with 40nm CMOS silicon, the SC6820 is a highly integrated, low-power platform for EDGE/WiFi mainstream smartphones.  The single-chip solution supports multimode EDGE/GPRS/GSM and integrates a Cortex A5 1GHz processor, a dedicated GPU for graphics acceleration, and power management.  Bringing the web and graphics performance of high-end handsets to the low-cost market segment, the SC6820 is delivered with turnkey Android and systems software that reduces the design time and resources required to deliver new handsets to market.

      SC6820 Baseband Diagram

      SC6820 Key Features

      Core Description
      • ARM Cortex-A5 core, clock speeds up to 1GHz
      • Integrated DBB, ABB and PMU
      Communication Features
      • GSM/GPRS/EDGE standards, GSM850/EGSM900/DCS1800/PCS1900
      • EGPRS Class 12
      • HR, FR, EFR, AMR-NB
      Multimedia Support For
      • Mali 400 GPU: 30MTri/s, 256Mpix/s, OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0
      • Decoder: MPEG4/H.263 720p@30fps; H.264 WVGA@30fps; VP8 WVGA@30fps
      • Encoder: H.263/H.264/MPEG4 WVGA@30fps
      • Video Streaming: MPEG4/H.263/H.264 WVGA@30fps
      • 3G-324M Video Telephony
      • 5 MP Camera Sub-system JPEG decoder/encoder (32MP/s)
      • MP3/AAC/AAC+/MIDI/AMR-NB/WAV format
      • Audio codec included
      LCD Display Features
      • Supports up to WVGA [800×480] resolution
      • Built-in LCD Controller, touch panel controller
      • Support for dual color LCD display modules
      • Supports OSD / Rotation / Scaling
      Memory I/F Support For
      • 4Gbyte NAND flash (8 bit and 16 bit devices)
      • HW ECC, multi-bit ECC
      • 1Gbyte SDR/DDR SDRAM (16 bit and 32 bit devices)
      Peripheral I/F Support For
      • HS USB 2.0
      • 3 x UART with built-in IrDA controller
      • 2 x SPI interface, 3-wire SPI, 4-wire SPI, synchronous SPI
      • 4 x I²C interfaces
      • 2 x I²S and PCM interface
      • 2 x SDIO interfaces
      • 2 x SIM/USIM interfaces
      • 4 x PWM outputs
      • ETM port
      • More than 100 GPIO pins
      • 8 * 8 keyboard interfaces
      Other Features
      • Operating ambient temperature range: -45℃ to +95℃
      • Low-power design, chip core voltage: 1.8V
      • 13mm × 13mm 454-ball LFBGA package, 0.5mm ball pitch

      Lowest H2’12 device cost SoCs from Spreadtrum will redefine the entry level smartphone and feature phone markets

      July 26, 2012 4:29 pm / 12 Comments on Lowest H2’12 device cost SoCs from Spreadtrum will redefine the entry level smartphone and feature phone markets

      And this is not a speculation but already a reality as the new Lenovo A288t came to market this month for ¥ 569 in retail [US$ 89] and as low as ¥ 479 in wholesale [US$ 75]. Such a breakthrough was enabled by Spreadtrum’s SC8810 SoC and Lenovo Mobile’s ability to exploit such an opportunity in only 5 months. Lenovo Mobile BTW became #2 behind Samsung on China’s smartphone market in June (just thanks to an earlier Mediatek based opportunity), aiming to become #1 in one or two years. So it is safe to say that with a number of other 1st tier vendors and even a kind of revitalised whitebox ecosystem soon joining the Spreadtrum (展讯处在) SoC opportunity, the H2’12 market in China will radically be redefined, with “earthquake-like” consequences for the global smartphone market as a whole. In this way the process indicated earlier in China becoming the lead market for mobile Internet in 2012/13 [this Experiencing the Cloud blog, Dec 1, 2011] will become even more dramatic.

      SIGNIFICANT NEW UPDATE: Yes, indeed the revitalised whitebox ecosystem is doing the job, and in the most wonderful way, see $48 Mogu M0 “peoplephone”, i.e. an Android smartphone for everybody to hit the Chinese market on November 15 [Nov 9, 2012], which is the first “lead post” on my trend tracking blog because of such enormous significance.

      Updates: Haier Adopts Spreadtrum’s Smartphone Platform [Spreadtrum press release, Aug 16, 2012]

      Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced that Haier, one of the global leaders in home appliances, has adopted Spreadtrum’s 1GHz TD-SCDMA Android platform, the SC8810. The Haier HT-I617, a smartphone designed to address the needs of the mass-market consumer, has completed China Mobile’s certification testing, paving the way for commercial launch through China Mobile channels.

      …

      Spreadtrum’s SC8810 integrates a 1GHz Cortex A5 processor, 3D/2D Mali graphics accelerator, a 5 megapixel camera sub-system and supports resolution up to WVGA and wireless connectivity including Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The SC8810 delivers low power multimode TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM operations with dual-mode automatic switching and supports TD-HSDPA at 2.8Mbps and TD-HSUPA at 2.2 Mbps. The SC8810 is delivered with turnkey Android and systems software.

      Counterfeiters rebrand themselves in China’s smartphone market [Want China Times, Aug 5, 2012]

      THL, the new face of a man who once sold counterfeit Samsung phones and decided to starting producing his own brand of smart phone.

      After experiencing a major drop-off in sales, the makers of counterfeit cell phones in China, known commonly as “shanzhai” phones, are now breaking back into the market under their own brand names.

      Previously reliant on co-opting the names of top leading to sell their bootleg products, the new generation of cell phone manufacturers are focusing on producing budget smartphones under their own brand names.

      Stores for these new brands are proliferating in Huaqiangbei, a well-known consumer electronics market in Shenzhen. These new “shanzhai” smartphone producers mostly rely on supplies of chips from MediaTek in Taiwan.

      After some initial mishaps, MediaTek belatedly rolled out its first-generation smartphone chip 6513T in the second half of 2011. The move has prompted many shanzhai phone manufacturers to switch to the production of smartphones, some with their own brands.

      Shanzhai smartphone makers target mainly the lower and middle end of the market for products priced at around 1,000 yuan (US$156). Huang Jixian, a shanzhai cell phone producer in Shenzhen, opened 210 stores for his new “THL” smartphones throughout China in the first four months of this year. Huang plans to increase the number of his stores to over 300 to bolster the brand image of his products.

      In addition to directly owned and franchise stores, Huang has also opened online franchise stores on the platforms Taobao and 360buy. Wang Xuekai, sales manager for THL, says that the different stores play a critical role in the company’s operations, since the shopping and user experience is essential in attracting business. Online sales channels play a supplementary role, Wang said.

      Spreadtrum Communications’ CEO Discusses Q2 2012 Results – Earnings Call Transcript [Seeking Alpha, Aug 10, 2012]

      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO

      In the second quarter of 2012, we achieved revenue of $173.1 million, which is in line with the guidance we gave previously and 7.5% increase over the first quarter. I am very pleased to update you on the progress we have made with our smartphone products.

      This quarter we achieved a strong volume ramp-up of our 1 Ghz TD-SCDMA Edge smartphone chipset, shipping more than 1 million units as expected. Customers such as Huawei, Lenovo, [Pryor], Hisense and others have completed China Mobile’s certification test, launched low-cost smartphones based on our products. Many are targeting a new [ratio] price in the range of RMB500 to RMB700 [US$ 79 – US$ 110], which is making TD-SCDMA smartphone even more affordable and attractive for mass market consumers.

      We are seeing very strong demand for our smartphone products and are raising our shipment focus. We now expect to ship more than 10 million smartphone chipsets in the third quarter alone. In the high end of TD-SCDMA market, we expanded our business with the first-tier OEMs, growing shipment of our best-in-class TD-SCDMA-based modems. In our customers, our customers use these modems in very high-end smartphone designs.

      Our baseband and RF transceivers are shipping in flagship handsets, that is recently launched, including Samsung’s Galaxy S3, HTC One XT and the other devices from first-tier China OEMs.

      With the continuing growth in our smartphone chipsets and modem business, we have firmly established our leadership position in TD-SCDMA smartphone market. Our best-in-class modems are designed into top-of-line handsets and our smartphone chipsets are in neighboring 1 Ghz devices at a price of as we low as RMB500 [US$ 79].

      …

      Recently, China Mobile has taken steps to speed up TD-SCDMA handset sales in the second half of this year. At a recent conference, China Mobile discussed a plan or plans to increase their investment in TD-SCDMA. In addition, they also encouraged handset makers to sell their TD-SCDMA product through open market with China Mobile providing support with the quality monitoring.

      With the China Mobile’s handset replacement market now approaching 100 million units per year, this shift in distribution model will make the TD-SCDMA devices even more broadly available and help speed up the 3G adoption in China.

      …

      Looking ahead to the remainder of 2012, we have some exciting product introduction on that. We will be introducing our 1.2 Ghz single-core and dual-core smartphone platforms, our new WCDMA and connectivity products. These products will increase our total addressable market in China and overseas regions and position us for continuing business expansion in 2013.

      …

      Randy Abrams – Credit Suisse
      Okay. My second question is on your outlook for TD-SCDMA. I think, one, from just a market perspective, volume, maybe what you expect smartphone and feature phones, and how you expect your market share. And I think you did well on recent tenders, maybe how you expect your product positioning. [Marvel] has been talking about a new platform for early next year and with MediaTek and MStar, how you see your market churn positioning and then overall market.
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      I feel very confident that the TD overall volume for this year, I think what I said before in the last earnings call, is around 80 million to 90 million total units, both including the so-called central procurement, which you mentioned, and open market, which is the non-mentioned. I think the open market in particular next year, I can see a stronger and stronger demand for TD-SCDMA market in China.
      So I certainly know for sure or I think next will be well above 100 million units for the total TD demand. So we at the moment, I think we’re about more than 55% market share in TD-SCDMA business. We hope with the technology leadership and also with the business model and then the quality of the products and everything else, we hope that we’ll maintain the leadership position in the future.
      …
      Mike Walkley – Canaccord Genuity
      Okay, thanks. One question for Leo. Leo, with the MobilePeak hitting the milestone, can you just update us on your WCDMA progress and how you see the competitive landscape as you’re coming to market with that product later in the year?
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      Sure. Yeah, they’re making nice progress there. I think it’s mostly [inaudible] type of the milestones for their WCDMA. I think also combine the 40nm technology and some other 2.5G product rolls, EDGE, GPRS and GSM, I think we’re making the progress for both modem and smartphone products towards the end of the year. So I think at this moment all the development are on track, so I’m pretty happy.
      …
      Jack Lu – RBS
      Yeah, hi, Leo. One question for you. Can you talk about your 2012 smartphone full-year target? Because I think last call you mentioned a figure of 15 million to 20 million. Now, given that you are shipping more than 10 million alone in Q3, what’s your thought on that number for this year?
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      This is a kind of — yeah, we usually only predict for the next quarter, which I did, right, around more than 10 million unit smartphones. If you really put me in a corner, so if I have to say anything to that question, I would like to say at least 25 million units for the whole year. So, yeah, it’s up number from 10 million to 15 million, what I said in early Q2.
      …
      Jack Lu – RBS
      Okay. One last question if I may, can you talk about expectations for ASPs going to Q3 for both TD feature phones and smartphone products?
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      Yeah, feature phones, unfortunately the volume dropped sharply. I mean this is unexpected a little bit. The switching from feature phone to smartphone is so quick. It’s quicker than most people expected. But as the pricing there stabilizes, the volume drops very sharply. And at this moment actually for the ASP for smartphones, it’s there quite nicely. We — actually it’s not the pricing pressure issue, rather it’s a whole [inaudible]. There’s a huge demand there. It’s just so strong that it really surprised many of us.
      …
      Andrew Lu – BarCap Research
      Thank you. Earlier you also mentioned WCDMA smartphone solution will be introduced next year. Did you say Q1 next year?
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      Actually we will try to introduce production small customers first. You know that, right? With big customers, takes longer time. So, Q1, maybe it could be the right time, and then Q2, something, yes.
      …
      Donald Lu – Goldman Sachs
      Good morning. Leo, can you give us more color on how can China Mobile help the open market? By open market, I mean mobile probably is not going to subsidize, but can mobile help with distribution or marketing or anything like that?
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      Sure. Recently there are high-level executives went to Shenzhen, the headquarter [inaudible] right, several times. And then recent one is a very high level China executive went there, had meetings with — we don’t call them free market or [inaudible] anymore, we call them a small brand, right? And actually the meeting, the result is very encouraging, because down the road, you know that year over year subsidies will be reduced and reduced, not increased and increased. So the China Mobile very much encouraging the vendors and the makers of the handsets to engage with open market. Like I said, someone asked me the question, and then, some of my customers already shipping their products in open market without any subsidies. So this is encouraging.
      But I think the reason it has been now, not only encouraged by China Mobile, also because the quality of the products and the price of the smartphones, more importantly, we are facing the major trend that the smartphone is replacing the features phones in big way, in such a big way in China that we very much encourage open market people to engage.
      Donald Lu – Goldman Sachs
      I mean, how — I man, can China Mobile really help? Because China Mobile really is the biggest carrier in China, but can — I mean, let’s say, China Unicom and China Mobile all are encouraging open market. I mean —
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      Remember, China Mobile was not very encouraging, remember. I mean, like last year, it was totally you had to go through, any product go through the central procurement program, passing quality acceptance test and with the subsidies and this and that, and then whatever type of handset has been determined selected by China Mobile. And now actually I think with the leadership change and then with the new kind of a thinking, I think it’s really helpful that China Mobile has this open market engagement. So they are encouraging this to — okay. And also they say that TD-SCDMA over WCDMA, very much over 2.75G for that matter actually is making a lot of sense because, one, it’s cheaper than WCDMA; two, you don’t need to pay the royalties to the WCDMA. I like that, obviously many folks, right? So they are cheaper price, high quality, and the networks are much improved, and the products much more varieties and more attractive, and the pricing obviously much more affordable.
      …
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      … EDGE type of smartphone is important for emerging markets. What you said is true. However, for their shipments of other company, I think the majority unfortunately is still in China, not in emerging markets. For the emerging markets, take India and Africa for example, I think at this moment the huge majority is still the low-end feature phone, not even middle-end feature phones.
      So that I agree with the statement that EDGE smartphones are very much needed for emerging market, and even Qualcomm come up with the so-called platform, that means the rest of the [inaudible]. However, the volume ramp-up may not be as high as people expected. Only in China that the smartphone demand is so strong. There are other countries, I’m talking about emerging countries, there’s a demand but not as strong as this. Still majority — even the economic situation in some of the emerging countries, they’re actually deteriorating, it’s not improving. In that regard, actually putting pressure to reduce the high-end handsets actually going towards the low end. And then the demand for smartphones is there but not as strong. And then I think it will be — need maybe a couple of years to see the stronger demand, yeah.
      Hao Guo – CICC
      Okay, thank you. So if I may, follow up two questions. I heard from the industry that Qualcomm going to launch very low-end 3.5G solution in Q3, maybe Q4. Maybe it’s targeting for MTK and for low-end competition. So do you heard about — something about this? And can you comment on this? …
      Leo Li – Chairman and CEO
      The first one, I don’t comment on other people’s the product introduction. But the thing is I heard a similar type of thing and that means this EDGE smartphone is kind of important. And then as I said, I think most of that type of things being shipped in China, not necessarily shipped in overseas markets. So I think — but also I said in my opening statement and then in my Q&A that in China I think with the TD-SCDMA, to compete with the 2.5G, 2.75G type of smartphones, at least the TD-SCDMA offers some kind of [inaudible] still offer some kind of better connectivity than 2.75G, compared with WCDMA, yes, it’s cheaper and without paying the royalty, right?

      End of updates

      Note: MediaTek has definitely something going against Spreadtrum in this newly opening space. See: this very online (www.veryol.com)  article of July 17, 2012:
      – Cottage “big change in the situation (translation by Google)
      – 山寨”大变局 (Chinese original)
      For Cheng Rainbow Mobile general manager Wang Zhongcheng, really hard over the past 12 months. As one of the hundreds of small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturer in Shenzhen, Wang Zhongcheng these eight characters of the “dire straits, lean” to describe his current situation.
      …
      Wang Zhongcheng company an area of about seventy to eighty square meters, about 10 young people in this office, mostly for sales staff. … Sitting in the office of Wang Zhongcheng, he showed reporters the company’s newly developed intelligent machines. These new MediaTek 6513T chip, more than 800 frequency, 3.5-inch capacitive screen, Android 2.3.5 operating system, ex-factory price of 400 yuan [US$ 63]. The target consumer groups positioned second and third tier cities in the country. …

      Spreadtrum strengthening cooperation with Samsung, threatening MediaTek market position [DIGITIMES, July 23, 2012]

      China-based handset solution vendor Spreatrum Communications has stepped up its cooperation with Samsung Electronics and may double its shipments by the fourth quarter of 2012, threatening MediaTek’s leading market position in China, according to industry sources.

      Spreadtrum, through the cooperation with Samsung, won a number of TD-SCDMA solution orders from China Mobile in the first half of 2012, while MediaTek secured only one order, the sources revealed.

      Spreadtrum has expanded its cooperation with Samsung to include 2.5G/2.75G/3G solutions, and Samsung’s handset shipments to China in the fourth quarter of 2012 will nearly all adopt chipset solutions from Spreadtrum, the sources indicated.

      Samsung is expected to ship 70 million handsets to China in 2012, the sources estimated.

      Meanwhile, Spreadtrum’s development and trial production of quad-core and 4G solutions is also ahead of MediaTek’s by over six months, indicating Spreadtrum’s improving capability, the sources added.

      Note that this Spreadtrum’s cooperation with now world #1 Samsung may have an even bigger impact on Windows Phone. According to a latest report Windows Phone shipments in June were just less than 200,000 units in China which accounting for only 1.6% share of the smartphone market there.
      See this it.sohu.com article of July 24, 2012:
      – Acclimatized! Microsoft Windows Phone Chinese Long Way (translation by Google)
      – 微软Windows Phone中国路漫漫 (Chinese original)

      Spreadtrum Smartphone Chipset Undercuts MTK by USD 1 [Marbridge Daily, July 5, 2012]

      Adopted from National Business Daily article of June 29, 2012:
      –       Cost of smart phones “counter-attack” the chip manufacturers to bring down program costs to ¥ 300 (translation by Google)
      –       智能手机成本“逆袭” 芯片厂商拉低方案成本至300元 (Chinese original)

      Chinese baseband chipset vendor Spreadtrum (Nasdaq: SPRD) has announced that its 8810 chipset is priced at USD 7-8, approximately USD 1 less than MediaTek’s 6573 solution, lowering the price of a 3.5-inch smartphone chipset solution to RMB 450-500 [US$ 70-78]. Spreadtrum currently supplies the 8810 to several major brands, including Samsung, HTC, Lenovo (0992.HK), ZTE, Huawei, and Tianyu (K-Touch). Spreadtrum estimates that its smartphone chipset shipments will exceed 20 mln in 2012.

      Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek received orders from major brands such as Huawei and ZTE (0763.HK; 000063.SZ) in early 2012. MediaTek aims to capture 50% of mainland China’s smartphone chipset market, and expects 60% of business to come from brand clients, while independent handset design firms will account for the remaining 40%.

      Qualcomm senior VP Jeff Lorbeck disclosed that many handset vendors, including Lenovo, TCL, and Longcheer, have begun offering 3.5-inch HVGA smartphones using the Qualcomm Reference Design platform priced at USD 50.

      MediaTek and Qualcomm have signed an agreement to offer chipsets at market prices, not below cost, according to an industry source. China’s three major domestic chipmakers produce solutions for entry-level smartphones costing under RMB 300 [US$ 50] to produce and sold at a retail price of RMB 600 [US$ 94].

      Indeed a week ago came official information on SC8810-based Lenovo A288t becoming available through online channels and retail stores at 599 RMB [US$ 94] list price:

      Lenovo Smartphone Based on Spreadtrum’s 1GHz TD-SCDMA Android Platform Completes China Mobile Certification Testing [Spreadtrum press release, July 19, 2012]

      Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced that the Lenovo A288t, which is a Lenovo TD-SCDMA smartphone based on Spreadtrum’s 1GHz Android smartphone platform, the SC8810, has completed China Mobile’s certification testing and is expected to achieve sales of more than one million units in the third quarter.

      China Mobile’s certification test is a required step and important milestone in the operator’s procurement process and is used to confirm the maturity and stability of TD-SCDMA mobile terminal products.  Lenovo’s completion of China Mobile’s certification process with its Lenovo A288tsmartphone validates Spreadtrum’s 1GHz low-cost smartphone platform as fully compliant with China Mobile’s commercial requirements.

      “China Mobile’s certification testing is a key milestone for manufacturers and a prerequisite for mobile phone purchasing by its provincial offices,” said Dr. Leo Li, Spreadtrum’s president and CEO. “The certification of the Lenovo A288t demonstrates its commercial readiness by China Mobile. China Mobile will kick off the purchase of TD-SCDMA phones after completing its certification testing, and this will build the confidence of handset manufacturers in the open market to design the Spreadtrum SC8810 platform into more low-cost smartphones.”

      “Lenovo is committed to promoting China’s 3G terminal development.” said Feng Xing, vice president of Lenovo. “We recently completed China Mobile’s certification testing with the Lenovo A288t, which is based on Spreadtrum’s SC8810, and expect to achieve sales of more than one million units of this model in the third quarter, underscoring the popularity of low-cost smartphone devices. This is a milestone in our strategy of vigorously promoting 3G uptake in China by bringing Chinese consumers cost-effective mobiles that are comparable to the world’s top smartphones. The Lenovo A288t is commercially available to consumers now through online channels and retail stores at 599 RMB [US$ 94].”

      Spreadtrum’s SC8810 integrates a 1GHz Cortex A5 processor, 3D/2D Mali graphics accelerator, 5 megapixel camera sub-system and supports resolution up to WVGA and wireless connectivity including Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The SC8810 delivers low power multimode TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM operations with dual-mode automatic switching and supports TD-HSDPA at 2.8Mbps and TD-HSUPA at 2.2 Mbps. The SC8810 is delivered with turnkey Android and systems software that reduces the design time and resources required to deliver new handsets to market.

      imageCurrently Lenovo A288t is sold for ¥ 569 in retail [US$ 89/94] and as low as  ¥ 479 in wholesale [US$ 75]. It has quite impressive parameters:

      • Network type: Mobile TD-SCDMA, GSM
      • Designs: straight
      • Screen Size: 3.5 inches
      • Resolution: (HVGA) 320 x 480 pixels
      • Touch ways: capacitive screen (multi-touch)
      • Pixels: 3.2 million pixels
      • Operating System: Android the OS 2.3
      • Memory: 256MB RAM
      • Body[?ROM?] size: 512MB
      • Type: Lithium battery, 1500mAh
      • Weight: 105.0g
      • GPS Module: Built-in GPS support A-GPS

      Such aggressive exploitation of the SC8810 opportunity is no surprise as today came the report that China market: Lenovo takes up No. 2 in smartphone ranking, says Sino [DIGITIMES, July 26, 2012]:

      Lenovo outperformed Huawei, ZTE, and Coolpad to capture the second-rank title in China’s smartphone phone market in June with a 13% share, trailing after only Samsung Electronics which took up a 15-16%share, according data compiled by Sino Market Research.

      The launch of low-priced Android-based smartphones and cooperation with the top-three China-based telecom carriers contributed to Lenovo’s success in the smartphone segment, according to industry sources.

      Lenovo’s capability to roll out a wide range of smartphone models targeting different price segments is also credited for its prevailing smartphone business, said the sources, adding that Lenovo plans to launch as many as 40 models of its Lephone lineup in 2012.

      Following the steps of Lenovo, Acer has recently teamed up with China Mobile and China Unicom to promote its smartphones in China.

      Note that Lenovo was probably the most successful vendor to adopt Mediatek’s MT6575 SoC that was leading the H1’12 smartphone market, see the Lenovo A60 related information in Boosting the MediaTek MT6575 success story with the MT6577 announcement [this Experiencing the Cloud blog, June 27, 2012] such as “China Unicom’s top selling handset in the sub-RMB 1000 [sub-US$ 157] smartphone category”. Today’s it.sohu.com article (of July 26, 2012) is providing further interesting details on that:
      – Lenovo mobile phone whether a flash in the pan? Liu [Jun] said that sustainable success (translation by Google)
      – 联想手机第二是否昙花一现？刘军称可持续成功 (Chinese original)

      In 2010, the company launched the “Music Fund”, support for native application development business growth. “Music Fund” first phase of investment of 100 million yuan, managed by Legend Holdings, the company’s professional investment team operations. “Music Fund”, as the angel investors will focus on the development of start-up and early business support in the mobile Internet applications and services.
      Liu [Jun, senior vice president of Lenovo Group, MIDH (Lenovo Mobile Internet and Digital Home Business Group) president] said in the dialogue with the Sohu IT, app store has more than 70,000 applications, nearly ten million monthly downloads, the latest data is Lenovo music application store has been downloaded more than 100 million times. Referring to the strategy to build a music store, Liu stressed, Lenovo insisted Android+ strategy on top of the native system in Android, plus Lenovo’s own software.
      …
      Liu predicted that Lenovo Mobile [climb up to the market] will be completed within a year or two beyond, to become the leader of the domestic market share. “Speed ​​has become the core competitiveness of Lenovo Mobile, one of R & D speed. First, the speed of the supply chain.” Said Liu Jun, “smart phones than traditional mobile phones more like PCs, therefore, the product delivery time became particularly important, who first to enter the market who will have a head start. “
      … Introduced, according to Liu Jun, Lenovo’s first best-selling models A60 color using MTK solution, from design to development to market in just five months, in accordance with the normal process, the same configuration of intelligent models often require 9-12 months of preparation time, Lenovo ahead of competitors in three or four months, in order to grab the opportunity, and accounted for the thousand Yuan machine market.
      … Liu said Lenovo Mobile is already considering international expansion, and has taken a number of footsteps, such as Lenovo launched a smart phone in the Russian market. Accordance with the planning of the Lenovo Group, Lenovo will take the first emerging markets, after mature market strategy, the focus of this year, Russia, India, Indonesia and Vietnam.
      At the end of the interview, Liu stressed that our primary task is to do the domestic market into the international market, Lenovo does not rule out in the interview a mergers and acquisitions strategy.
      Previously, Lenovo executives repeatedly claimed that M & A has become the core competitiveness of the Lenovo Group. Look at the history of mergers and acquisitions from Lenovo, Lenovo has successfully completed and the integration of the United States IBM, NEC of Japan and Germany, Medion. Of course, the above integration is built around the PC expanded.

      In the First Quarter 2012 Results Presentation[May 4, 2012] from Spreadtrum we could find the following slide:

      image

      and in the Q1 2012 Spreadtrum Communications, Inc Earnings Conference Call Transcript [May 4, 2012] (available via) the following remarks by Dr Leo Li – Spreadtrum Communications, Inc – Chairman and CEO: [in]

      I just came back from meeting yesterday from China Mobile. … Actually I was told by the Chairman of China Mobile that more than 60 million [will be] centrally procured — actually that’s a minimum number. The actual number will be much higher. So I am very confident my take from China Mobile for recent meetings, executives, yes they are expanded the activities into TD-SCDMA and then they will resume the phase five or phase six type of development, further invested into infrastructure of TD-SCDMA, they will ramp up a much, much higher volume.

      Actually next year they — I was told by both China Mobile and other experts in the industry that there will be more than 100 million units expected for TD-SCDMA. This year 80 million to 90 million. So this volume is — I think it’s real and I am very confident that the China Mobile — I was told by China Mobile people, by the way. It’s not that I just say that. It is — TD — it’s here to stay and it will grow very fast.

      …

      I think for open channel [i.e. whitebox vendors] will be 20 million-ish or 30 million-ish, will be actually more than 50% of smartphones and for centrally procured — according to China Mobile — I mean, today there is 50-50. So smartphones actually is at or more than 50% of the total TD shipment.

      …

      The reason open market [i.e. whitebox vendors] wants TD-SCDMA, you will understand why they want EDGE but TD is very interesting because remember China Mobile has more than 600 million subscribers and then the TD market actually — if you want to use the smartphones obviously you want to have some kind of connectivity, Internet communication and then you have only two choices.

      One is W, the other is TD and then the W[CDMA] is more expensive, TD is cheaper. So that’s why — and also TD has this clear advantage over W[CDMA], is that you do not need to change the SIM card. You only change your hand set. You keep your same 2.5G SIM card and then purchase a TD smartphone or TD feature phone. You can enjoy, utilize TD, the wideband or faster data service.

      …

      To some extent, even I was told that in the Shenzhen market, maybe it’s kind of like revitalized by the TD-SCDMA or EDGE smartphone type of product, maybe help them to regain so-called strength to engage with the domestic market. Remember in the second half of last year it very rapidly went down — collapsing of (inaudible) market, right. I think I we’ve been asked by many of our Shenzhen customers, asking for both TD products and EDGE smartphone products.

      …

      I think [in] the second half the ramp up will be very robust. … both through the carriers … and open channels in the second half of the year, in particular third or fourth quarter, maybe more towards fourth quarter for the open market because people are preparing for the design right now.

      …

      … the 8810 and the 6820, those are our so–called single core. I think by the end of Q3 or early Q4 we will offer the dual core 1.2 GHz type of product and then by the end of this year or early next year we will offer quad core, again 1.5 GHz products both of which will be based on 40–nanometers product.

      Also it was mentioned in the previous, Q4 2011 Spreadtrum Communications, Inc Earnings Conference Call Transcript [Feb 29, 2012] (available via) that:

      … from what we’ve seen, that the open market segment starts growing in volumes or demand is obviously there. I’ll give you examples. There was the WCDMA type of smartphones, right, in China. However, when we go into detail for the WCDMA users, smartphone users, we’ve found that 70% of them are actually China Mobile users, meaning they actually cannot even use the 3G features, WCDMA features for those smartphones.

      So obviously there is a natural demand for TD-SCDMA type of low-end smartphones, because for the same China Mobile users they can enable the 3G high-speed data type of applications. So both for feature phones and for smartphones, we’ve seen — from our customer we’ve seen a demand for TD-SCDMA type of products.

      …

      … we launched the — I think [in] Q4 of the — excuse me, 600 megahertz type of Android [see: World’s lowest cost, US$40-50 Android smartphones — sub-$100 retail — are enabled by Spreadtrum [in this Experiencing the Cloud blog, Dec 11, 2011 – Feb 27, 2012]]. One thing we didn’t anticipate was the market really don’t — they want the higher frequency one. I think we’ve seen an unusually fast market shift. I can tell you this. November, even October/November last year, even October, right, 600 megahertz type of Android smartphone was selling like hotcake. However, by November and then early December, all of a sudden the market demand for 1 gigahertz type of thing, because you want to have some kind of user experience with smartphones.

      …

      TD smartphones hasve become very attractive to general consumers and users of the TD type of — the TD market. For our TD-SCDMA 1 gigahertz Android, either Android 2.3 or later 4.0 type of things, ours are highly — maybe the highest level of integration. And like I said, maybe we are lowest cost structure in this segment.

      That is Spreadtrum was able readjust its December 2011 strategy for the quickly changed market demand as is clearly visible from the following press releases as well:

      Spreadtrum Introduces 1GHz Low-Cost Smartphone Platform For TD-SCDMA & EDGE/WiFi[Spreadtrum press release, Jan 4, 2012]

      Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G and 3G wireless communications standards, today introduced a 1GHz Android smartphone platform for TD-SCDMA (SC8810) and EDGE/WiFi (SC6820) and announced that both products are now samplingwith customers. With these two new solutions, Spreadtrum is redefining the performance standard for low-cost smartphones, enabling OEMs to deliver 1GHz performance at US$100 retail prices.

      “Our 1GHz Android platform sets a new bar for low-cost smartphone performance,” said Dr. Leo Li, Spreadtrum’s president and CEO.  “The graphics and web browsing performance of the SC8810 and SC6820 compares favorably to one of the most popular smartphone models globally, delivering a high performance applications and gaming experience for consumers. This type of experience has previously been available only in mid- to high-end handset models and can now be delivered by OEMs in US$100 smartphone models.  This will reshape the definition of and consumer expectations for a low-cost handset.”

      Spreadtrum’s 1GHz platform is the most highly integrated, lowest power smartphone platform for the TD-SCDMA market. The solution delivers the lowest chip count with a multimode single-chip RF transceiver supporting TD-SCDMA, EDGE, GPRS and GSM and integrates power management.  The platform’s Cortex A5 processor architecture delivers more than 40% lower power consumption compared to ARM11-based products and more than 70% lower power consumption than Cortex A9 products, delivering differentiated standby and talk time performance relative to other smartphone models.

      Designed with 40nm CMOS silicon technology, the SC8810 and SC6820 baseband platforms are powered by a Cortex A5 1GHz processor and incorporate an advanced multimedia subsystem which includes a Mali GPU with 3D/2D graphics acceleration and supports high definition video playback, a 5 megapixel camera, a WVGA [800×480] touch panel and connectivity features including Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS. The SC8810 supports TD-SCDMA with HSDPA at 2.8Mbps, HSUPA at 2.2Mbps as well as quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE with dual-mode auto handover, while the SC6820 supports quad-band EDGE/GPRS/GSM.  Both products combine silicon hardware with turnkey Android software that reduce both the design time and design resources required to deliver new handsets to market.

      Spreadtrum’s expansion of its smartphone platform coincides with rapidly increasing demand in China for smartphone products.  Industry analysts expect the smartphone market in China to exceed 100 million units in 2012, leading global demand for smartphone products.

      Spreadtrum Announces Commercial Availability of its 1GHz TD-SCDMA and EDGE Android 2.3/4.0 Platforms [Spreadtrum press release, April 26, 2012]

      More than 200 Smartphone Design Wins Lay Foundation for Second Quarter Volume Shipment

      SHANGHAI, April 26, 2012 — Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced the commercial availability of the SC8810, Spreadtrum’s 1GHz TD-SCDMA Android platform, and the SC6820, Spreadtrum’s 1GHz EDGE/Wifi Android platform. Both the SC8810 and the SC6820 support Android 2.3 and Android 4.0 designs.

      “We have now secured more than 200 design wins for our 1GHz TD-SCDMA and EDGE/WiFi Android platforms, and we are expecting to see volume shipments of more than one million units during the second quarter,” said Dr. Leo Li, president and CEO of Spreadtrum Communications. “With these designs, our customers are targeting a $50-100 retailsegment, unsubsidized.”

      The SC8810 and SC6820 have been adopted by China and global OEMs on large scale to address the growing demand for low-cost smartphones in China and emerging markets. Both products support both Android 2.3 and Android 4.0 platforms, deliver best-in-class power consumption and demonstrate graphics/web performance on par with globally popular premium smartphone models, while supporting sub-$100 unsubsidized retail price points. The solutions are designed into handsets that are expected to launch commercially starting in May.

      The company was also quick to rearrange its 2.5 offering for the feature phone market as there were quick changes as well:

      Spreadtrum launches industry’s first 40nm 2.5G baseband [April 26, 2012]

      SHANGHAI, CHINA: Spreadtrum Communications Inc. announced commercial availability of the SC6530, the industry’s first 2.5G baseband designed in 40nm CMOS silicon.

      “The SC6530 is an industry first for the 2.5G market,” said Dr. Leo Li, president and CEO of Spreadtrum. “By leveraging the most advanced process node in the 2.5G segment, we are able to achieve higher performance at lower cost relative to competitive alternatives.”

      The SC6530, in addition to its 40nm design, is the first 2.5G product from Spreadtrum to integrate its leading-edge baseband and RF transceiver technology into a single-chip, simplifying design and reducing overall solution footprint. The chip incorporates an ARM9 processor for high performance on a low-cost platform, and supports quad-band GSM/GPRS, triple-SIM function, HVGA display, H.264 decode and integrates an audio PA. The SC6530 couples its advances in performance, cost and integration with Spreadtrum’s mature, proven turnkey software.

      The SC6530 is commercially available now. Spreadtrum expects to achieve volume shipments in May.

      Spreadtrum’s three leading SoCs for the second half of 2012 products have the following parameters:

      image

      image

      Source: the following Spreadtrum  product pages
      – SC8810 TD-HSPA/TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM 1GHz Low-Cost Smartphone Platform
      – SC6820 EDGE/GPRS/GSM 1GHz Low-Cost Smartphone Platform
      – SC6530 GSM/GPRS Single-Chip Baseband/RF Transceiver for Multimedia Feature Phones
      Notes:
      1. WiFi and location technologies for SC8810 and SC6820 are according to Spreadtrum selects CSR connectivity and Location for Smartphone reference designs [CSR press release, Feb 27, 2012]. This is particularly relevant for SC6820-based EDGE/WiFi smartphones.
      2. The ARM Cortex-A5 core has 1.57 DMIPS/MHz performance, while the ARM9EJ-S core 1.1 DMIPS/MHz performance. The former can be used in multicore SoCs as well with upto 4 Cortex-A5 cores (which Spreadtrum will exploit in its upcoming SoCs as well).
      3. Dual-SIM Dual Standby solution became available as an option on Spreadtrum’s SC88xx series of TD-SCDMA basebands as well as future products, beginning in 4Q11. See: Spreadtrum Introduces First TD-Dual-SIM Dual-Standby Solution for TD-SCDMA [Spreadtrum press release, Oct 11, 2011]

      Just this week came also the announcement of the – probably – highest end smartphone built on SC8810: Spreadtrum Powers Dual-SIM Dual-active TD-SCDMA Smartphone from Huawei [Spreadtrum press release, July 23, 2012]

      Huawei T8808D completes China Mobile certification testing

      Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced that Spreadtrum’s SC8810 1GHz TD-SCDMA smartphone platform is powering the Huawei T8808D, a dual-SIM dual-active smartphone for China Mobile consumers.

      Huawei’s dual-SIM dual-activefeature provides consumers with maximum flexibility in how they manage operator service fees. The dual-SIM function allows consumers to choose the SIM that offers the lowest rate or the best network coverage given their location to make or receive calls, send text messages, or use data. Dual-active capability allows both SIMs to be used at the same time, enabling users to switch back and forth between two calls and use voice and data functions simultaneously.

      Mr. Wang Weijun, Huawei Device’s president of its Chinese division, said, “T8808D, as Huawei’s first dual-SIM dual-active mobile phone, delivers experience innovation to China’s 3G TD-SCDMA market. In collaboration with Spreadtrum, Huawei will continue to promote popularization and development of smartphones to meet the diverse needs of Chinese consumers with a variety of high quality terminal products.”

      “Spreadtrum is driving technology innovation with 2.5G/3G single-chip dual-card dual-standby technology,” said Dr. Leo Li, Spreadtrum’s president and CEO. “In cooperation with Huawei, we have enabled the first TD-SCDMA device based on Spreadtrum’s SC8810 smartphone platform with dual-SIM dual-active capability. This feature will enable consumers to select attractive 3G services while maintaining their original operator service packages. We believe that this flexibility provided to the consumer will help further promote the rapid development of China’s TD-SCDMA market.”

      Note that Spreadtrum’s early December 2011 flagship SoCs were clearly inferior to its current flagships:

      image

      image

      Additional source: the following Spreadtrum product pages
      – SC8805G TD-HSPA/TD-SCDMA/EDGE/GPRS/GSM 600MHz Entry-Level Smartphone Platform
      – SC6810 EDGE/GPRS/GSM 600MHz Entry-Level Smartphone Platform

      Spreadtrum is also investigating alternative software platforms as shown by:

      Spreadtrum Low-Cost Smartphone with HTML5 Operating System Demonstrated at Mobile Asia Congress 2012 [Spreadtrum press release, July 16, 2012]

      Mozilla showcases Spreadtrum smartphone running Firefox OS, highlighting potential of HTML5 on low-cost smartphones

      Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD; “Spreadtrum” or the “Company”), a leading fabless semiconductor provider in China with advanced technology in 2G, 3G and 4G wireless communications standards, today announced that Spreadtrum’s SC8810 smartphone platform was selected by Mozilla to showcase its HTML5 operating system, Firefox OS, running on low-cost smartphone devices. Mozilla demonstrated the handset, based on Spreadtrum’s 1GHz SC8810 smartphone chip and running Mozilla’s Firefox OS, at its booth during Mobile Asia Congress 2012 held last month in Shanghai, China.

      Firefox OS for mobile devices is built on Mozilla’s “Boot to Gecko project” which allows HTML5 applications to access the underlying capabilities of a phone, previously only available to native applications. “Firefox OS is another major step at Mozilla to bring its core values — openness, innovation and opportunity on the web — to users and developers on smartphone platforms,” said Dr. Li Gong, CEO of Mozilla Online Ltd and Mozilla Taiwan. “Our collaboration with Spreadtrum will help enable the power of this truly-open operating system to reach the billions of consumers in emerging markets who will be coming online as first-time smartphone users as well as existing smartphone users who are looking for greater value at lower cost.”

      “We have been closely tracking the progress of the “Boot to Gecko project” since its inception and are very excited about Firefox OS as a concrete realization,” said Mr. Yi Kang, vice president of marketing at Spreadtrum Communications. “This type of solution has generated a lot of interest from operators, as the open-source HTML5 platform can provide them with complete control over the handset experience. We expect that the appeal of this platform to our customers will grow as the HTML5 application ecosystem expands.”

      This is leading to speculations like: The Feature phone rises (again?) [EE Times, July 24, 2012]

      …

      Is it plausible? You bet. I already see signs that make such plots believable.

      First is the emergence of Firefox OS. While the jury’s still out on yet another new mobile OS, this HTML5-based mobile operating system may have enough power to stir the debate.

      $40 smartphone
      Second, there is mounting market pressure (from handset vendors and operators alike) for low, low-cost smartphones.  In an interview with EE Times in early June, Spreadtrum’s CEO Leo Li was on the record by saying that “our customers are ready to roll out $40 ‘real’ smartphones this year.”Every chip company and handset vendor is in the market for a solution that makes all levels of smartphones possible at low cost.

      Third, operators are hatching a plot to retain full control of the billing relationship with subscribers.  “Currently, operator billing is available for Android for only a handful of operators, all in developed countries,” according to Daniel Gleeson, an analyst on Mobile at IHS Screen Digest. “Otherwise payments for apps, games etc. go through credit card companies. Obviously operators would prefer that this goes through them as they would get a small slice of that pie as well.”

      Fourth, as legal wrangling escalates on Apple iOS vs. Google’s Android IP front, handset vendors are surreptitiously looking for an alternative system – possibly something available for free.

      Fifth, let’s not forget about a huge global market — beyond the United States and Europe — that hasn’t embraced smartphones yet. This creates big openings for developers of new technologies and new players on the mobile market.

      Above all, I’m convinced that feature phones (OK, “entry-level smartphones”) are not going away, largely because the definition of smartphones vs. feature phones, in my opinion, is fundamentally phony. At best, it’s based on a self-serving marketing pitch by smartphone proponents.

      image

      …