Motorola

Motorola launches fightback with first Android phone

Ian Channing — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:44:34 -0400

Motorola has launched its first phone using Google's Android operating system in an effort to revive its becalmed smartphone business.

Along with the phone comes a new Motorola-developed custom interface called Motoblur which is designed to provide access to popular messaging web services such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Gmail-all from a single screen. Although initially only available in the US through T-Mobile under the name of Cliq, the phone will be rebranded the Moto Dext and sold in other markets around the world in the near future. In the UK it will be available through Orange-and presumably ultimately through the new Orange JV with T-Mobile UK, in France from Orange and in Spain from Telefonica.

The company says it will be revealing a second Android Motoblur phone in the next few weeks and many more globally during 2010. Motorola is the second manufacturer to bring an Android phone to market after HTC, beating rivals such as Samsung. The new phone was broadly welcomed by industry analysts who saw it as a way for Motorola to regain its momentum in the mobile phone market it once dominated

For more on this story go to The Register and Cellular News

Motorola demos LTE in Ericsson's backyard

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 12:46:33 -0400

Having almost disappeared from the infrastructure market, Motorola is taking the LTE fight directly to the largest player, Ericsson, by setting up an LTE demonstration network in the Kista district of Stockholm--home to Ericsson's HQ and numerous R&D and corporate offices.

The US company is inviting Nordic operators to better understand the possibilities of LTE to provide the next generation of broadband services by demoing call hand-over between sectors and a number of video applications.

The LTE network, which Motorola claims was deployed and optimised in 10 days, includes two LTE eNodeBs running on commercial hardware in the 2.6GHz band, together with Motorola's backhaul and evolved packet core products.

The demos take place using the ‘familiar' van stuffed full of technology where those invited will be able to see SD and HD streaming video from a Motorola VOD server, and will also be able to use VoIP calls, web browsing, etc. Within the van, touch-screen tablet PCs connected to a Wi-Fi network (which is backhauled by the LTE network) are also on hand.

While the company claims it is actively involved in LTE trials with operators in North America, Europe and Asia, little of its activities have been made public apart from its efforts in China with TD-LTE trials.

The perception is that the battle for LTE is between Ericsson and Huawei (and perhaps NSN) as these two firms win the majority of deals for trialling LTE in European and China. How Motorola can gain market share in the LTE infrastructure arena will be watched with interest given its present lowly position in the GSM/3G segment.

For more on this story:
Trading Markets

Don't be a midrange handset vendor, warns analyst

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 12:36:28 -0400

The strongest demand segments for handsets over the next five years will be for high-end and entry-level phones, says a new report from Juniper Research. The firm claims that these two bookends of the market are expected to account for nearly 80 per cent of all new mobile phones by 2014, or just over 1 billion units in total.

To this end, Juniper analyst Andrew Kitson believes that Apple, Nokia and BlackBerry maker RIM are well positioned to meet the strongest demands over this period, with the mid-range sector being dominated by LG and Samsung as they continue to see demand for these products in Latin America, Asia and parts of Europe.

However, Kitson claims the iPhone has changed the game for everyone, and that Motorola and Sony Ericsson might not be able to adapt sufficiently to survive.

"If a phone has wireless broadband, MP3/MP4 media players, touch-screen interfaces, etc., it's likely to do well. Hence, there have been so many iPhone emulators in recent months," said Kitson. However, he maintains that the growing acceptance of the iPhone and Blackberry among consumers have dealt blows to Motorola, which failed to innovate after its success with the ROKR and RAZR mid-tier lines.

The report states that low-cost handset shipments will number more than 700 million in 2014, up by 31 per cent from levels seen in 2008, albeit slightly down from a peak of 716 million in 2012, as some users begin to upgrade to costlier devices. "At the same time, smartphone shipment volumes will grow continuously across the forecast period, reaching almost 360 million by the end of the period. We therefore expect that midrange device sales volumes will fall by more than 41 per cent over the period," concluded Kitson.

For more on this story:
Eweek

Worst is over in handset space, claim analysts

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 12:55:00 -0400

The global handset market is on road to recovery, according to new figures from Strategy Analytics; Moto, Sony Ericsson may turn a corner in 2H/09.

The number of mobile handsets shipped worldwide in the second quarter was down significantly compared with 2008, but there are early signs of a recovery in the devices space, said Strategy Analytics. The analyst firm predicts that there will be further improvements in the second half of the year, potentially buoyed by new devices from current strugglers Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

Global handset vendors shipped 273 million units in Q2, versus 297 million a year ago, but that 8 per cent drop was significantly narrower than the 14 per cent year-on-year decline in Q1. The figure was also an 11 per cent increase on the 244.5 million units shipped in Q1, compared with an average of 5 per cent growth between Q1 and Q2 over the previous three years. Article

Femtocell LTE business outlined, as Motorola rethinks strategy

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:29:20 -0400

The benefits that femtocells might bring to LTE deployments are beginning to centre around users being able to receive peak data rates more of the time, especially inside buildings. The ability of LTE femtocells to achieve this, claims the Femto Forum, is by maximising spectrum re-use and by ensuring power--and network capacity--is not wasted by trying to penetrate buildings.

Presenting the case for femtocells at the LTE World Summit in Berlin, the Femto Forum stressed there was growing evidence suggesting femtocells are essential in order to deliver further improvements in mobile network design, and in the case of LTE, to ensure more subscribers receive peak data rates.

The key points were:

Femtocells will allow operators to make better use of their LTE spectrum by using the technology to enable the assigned high frequency bands to provide in-building coverage;
Femtocells can considerably lower the delivery cost per bit through savings in cell site installation, maintenance and backhaul costs;
LTE femtocells will trigger new services that should provide the environment for downloading and streaming media from the internet or between devices in the home without loading the mobile network; and
Femtocells will also enable operators to take a new, low-risk approach to LTE deployment that will allows them to build their LTE networks incrementally in line with demand.

However, according to Unstrung, while T-Mobile plans to launch a limited commercial service using femtocells in Germany this year, its senior VP of radio networks development, Klaus-Juergen Krath, has reservation about the technology. He claims there are worries over whether femtocells can scale for a mass market deployment because of some unresolved issues with interference, and the impact on mobile device battery life.

Regardless of these concerns, Motorola announced it would stop any further development of 3G femtocells, and instead focus on LTE. The company claimed trying to integrate 3G femtos into an existing W-CDMA networks was troublesome, whereas the opportunity for LTE femtos looked increasingly attractive.

For more on this story:
Cellular News and Unstrung

Economic slowdown accelerates Linux growth in mobile handsets

Paul Rasmussen — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:11:57 -0500

As the worldwide economic situation deteriorates, handset OEMs and mobile operators are looking to Linux-based operating systems to cut costs and diversify their handset portfolios, according to a new study from IMS Research. While Linux-based operating systems have had a presence in the mobile handset market for years, growth has been slow and steady until recently. However, recent announcements from Motorola, Vodafone, HTC, and Huawei, among others, all stating that Linux-based operating systems will figure in to their upcoming handset releases, clearly demonstrate that OEMs and operators are ready to embrace Linux on a larger scale. "There are multiple factors driving the growth of the market for Linux in mobile handsets. In the current economy, the need to manage costs has pushed OEMs and operators toward the potential licensing and royalty savings available with Linux," commented IMS Research analyst Chris Schreck. Article

Motorola unveils radical European comeback strategy

Paul Rasmussen — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:04:02 -0500

For a company experiencing long-term upheaval, a dramatic reshaping of its European strategy was perhaps to be expected. Seemingly unworried by the consequences, Motorola has made the radical decision to focus its cellphone activities on a small number of countries in Western Europe together with concentrating its efforts by only working with two key partners: Carphone Warehouse and O2.

The apparent logic behind this new marketing focus is Motorola's strong relationship with Telefónica (O2's parent company), together with the retailing expertise of Carphone Warehouse across Europe--especially after this company sold around 400,000 pink Motorola RAZR devices in the run-up to Christmas 2005.

This move, which would involve a significant reduction in its European sales force, will also see no major handset announcements until this time next year.

The company made no comments on how it would manage the relationship with its other operators and retail partners, who would be expected to either be bemused or grossly affronted by Motorola's new approach to the European market.

This new strategy, which will not come into effect until the second half of 2009, is thought to be part of a wider plan to build up the handset division for a €1.4 billion sale or flotation of the group.

For more on this story go to:
Mobile Today

Related articles:
Symbian OS dumped by Motorola
More bad news for Motorola

Symbian OS dumped by Motorola

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:00:52 -0400

Having yet to announce the details surrounding the Symbian Foundation, the OS developer has a fresh battle on its hands following the departure of Motorola as one of its long-term and most consistent advocates.

Motorola has stated it now intends to focus on just two OS platforms (Android and Windows Mobile) in the high-end market next year in a bid to reduce R&D costs and simplify its overly-complex cell phone portfolio. "We will no longer offer new devices on Symbian UIQ (Motorola's version of the Symbian OS) and our internally developed Linux-Java platform," said the company's new CEO, Sanjay Jha.

Whilst this decision will be a significant blow to Symbian's ambition to become a leading supplier of open operating systems, this move by Motorola is part of a radical overhaul of its cell phone business that will see many established suppliers and technology roadmaps thrown to one side. Jha admitted that dropping Symbian would be painful in the short-term, particularly as it meant no new Symbian-based devices would be launched in 2009. "There is no quick fix here," Jha said. "The first half of next year will be challenging, fewer devices will be released than expected."

For more on this story go to:
Unstrung and ITPro Portal

Related articles:
Nokia CEO sees new Symbian platform on handsets in 2010. Nokia story
Nokia acquires remaining stake in Symbian. Symbian story

Strong consumer interest in Femtocells

Paul Rasmussen — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:47:24 -0400

Despite being almost unknown outside of wireless technology circles, European consumers have expressed a strong interest in acquiring a femtocell to boost indoor 3G reception.

According to a survey of 1,800 mobile and internet users in Poland, Spain, Italy, France, UK and Germany, over 40 per cent said they would definitely or probably plan to make a purchase in the next 12 months after the benefits of improved coverage, improved call quality and lower voice call charges were explained.

The survey, sponsored by Motorola, found that Poland had the highest potential rate of early femtocell adopters with 67 per cent planning to purchase a box, followed by Spain with 62 per cent, Italy with 61 per cent, France and the UK both with 34 per cent, and Germany with 33 per cent. Germany's stance is particularly interesting, given that the country already has very good indoor coverage for 3G, perhaps weakening the potential for femtocells.

However, femtocell technology would appear to be evolving in capability, which may lay the groundwork for greater awareness and potential adoption. Motorola found that femtocells were viewed as an extension to the family media environment, with 51 per cent of respondents interested in a 'family plan' that allowed various members of a household to connect to the femtocell.

Separately, Comcast has announced its intention to pursue WiMAX femtocells as a key to its wireless strategy given that the new Clearwire deal calls for 5 MHz of spectrum across the US to be set aside solely for WiMAX femtocells.

For more on this story:
- go to telecoms.com and Light Reading

Related stories:
Qualcomm invests in femtocell maker ip.access. Qualcomm investment story
Nokia Siemens looks to slash femtocell prices. NSN femtocell story
Femtocells--big market, bigger questions. Editorial

Mobile industry pushes LTE

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 06:59:54 -0400

According to a new study from ABI Research there will be more than 32 million LTE customers by 2013. Around a third of these will be in Asia-Pacific with the remainder split about 60-40 per cent between Western Europe and North America. This growth rate would be remarkable given that the original standardisation and specification process for Long Term Evolution (LTE) aka '4G' only envisages commercial deployment in the 2011-2012 timeframe. It would appear that the mobile industry is once again doing what it does best, overhyping new technology whilst it is still in development. Announcements about LTE arrive almost daily, each more positive than the next. U.S. CDMA operator Verizon Wireless announces its intention to migrate its network to LTE, Nortel and Motorola announce plans to focus on LTE, perhaps at the expense of WiMAX and so it goes on. Only time will tell whether the hype is justified or if the mobile industry is about to get another dash of cold reality.

For more on this:
- go to 3g.co.uk

Related stories:
Sprint's CTO attacks LTE. Article
China Mobile joins Vodafone, Verizon in LTE trial. Article
Intel says WiMAX and LTE should be combined. Article