Android

Vodafone pushes for iPhone to carry 360 service

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:44:35 -0500

In an effort to enhance the appeal of its 360 service, Vodafone has confirmed that it will be submitting its application portal for use on the iPhone and Android platforms.

According to Bobby Rao, marketing director for Vodafone internet services, the company plans to submit elements to the iPhone App Store, such as Maps, People "and whatever else they choose to accept." However, this move would seemingly conflict with the strictly Apple-only software environment of the handset, with its carefully policed App Store and vendor-defined look and feel.

Rao said that Vodafone would submit elements of 360 to the Apple store and planned to run the platform on branded smartphones such as Android handsets, not just on its own-brand, midrange phones. The first 360 cell phones run the LiMo operating system.

Rao also pointed out that other manufacturers already working with the company were keen to take 360 and Vodafone Shop on board. "We already have agreements in place with several handset manufacturers [to offer 360 services], which are data compatible but not all on an open OS. Plus being able to access the Shop on things like S60 devices extends the reach of the portal."

Whether to accept applications like 360 Maps and People will be a key challenge for Apple. Rejecting them would offend a major channel to market, at a time when it is seeking greater volume for the iPhone, and could even attract antitrust attention as with its Google Voice dispute. Accepting them would be a significant step along the way to dual-branding and a greater influence for the operator over the user's mobile web experience.

For more on this story:
Rethink Wireless and Techradar

Ericsson enters app store debate; calls for 'horizontal' platform

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:21:39 -0500

Having announced an app store framework this summer, Ericsson has now got itself further involved by calling for the cellular industry to build its own ‘horizontal' mobile app stores that span operating systems (OS) and devices.

While recognising that Google's increasingly successful Android OS was a leap forward, Ericsson senior VP, Jan Uddenfeldt, has urged operators to move beyond Android's handset-spanning app marketplace. "[Android] is a step in the right direction, but we think that we have to go even further to get applications across different devices," he said.

"We think it's very important when it comes to the app store, operators need to launch their own - and this is happening all over the world. We need to scale it beyond vertical stores...If the operators are involved, we can really scale it."

Ericsson said its app store framework, which it claims is already in use with unnamed operators, can be customised to suit numerous devices and OSs, and is also available as a hosted service.

For more on this story:
The Register

Smartphone market driven by OS wars and feature migration

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:06:20 -0400

While iPhone shipments are growing quickly, smartphones based on the Symbian operating system (OS) remain dominant and will continue to grow over the next several years, reports In-Stat. However, Symbian will wane, resulting in a drop in net Symbian-based smartphone shipments in 2014.

Meanwhile, the basis of competition will change from the OS to the functionality and "user experiences" that the phone can provide. The advanced feature sets of smartphones continue to evolve as users demand capabilities such as touch screens, increased camera resolution and Wi-Fi connectivity options. "In-Stat believes new OSs such as Android and Maemo will cut away at Symbian market share," says Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. "Although there are relatively few open source OS-based smartphones in the market today, the open source OS momentum is difficult to ignore. After years of hype, it is easy to see that 2010 will be the year of Android." Article

Smartphone revolution tests established players – page 2

Keith Mallinson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:15:32 -0400

Major operators such as Vodafone are no less challenged by the rise of Apple and others. Vodafone's moves--I'm loathe to describe most of these as strategic--aim to hedge its position against competition for customer control and margin right across the value chain. Whereas the old enterprise-focused BlackBerry provided significant added-value for operators and did not pose a competitive challenge, in its expanded guise to consumers the BlackBerry ecosystem competes for the customer relationship and bottom line profits. Vodafone and Orange picking up iPhone distribution in the UK counters O2 on expiration of its iPhone exclusivity. Whereas this eliminates a competitive advantage for O2, it also puts Apple in an even stronger competitive position versus the operator market. Apple anticipates a fall in street prices with carrier competition in iPhones, but it does not expect its wholesale prices to fall. So far, Google's Android is predominantly with the T-Mobile with the HTC G1, but this OS is also set to diversify. For example, Vodafone's Verizon Wireless joint venture with Verizon is imminently expected to announce a Motorola "Droid" phone.

Vodafone and other carriers have numerous possibilities in smartphones. Focus is required. Vodafone has had a mixed relationship with Nokia for a decade or more. Club Nokia's mobile portal threatened to circumvent Vodafone and was crushed in order to preserve the regular handset trade. Club Nokia's reincarnation with Ovi was backed by Vodafone since 2007.

Vodafone's 360 initiative is an attempt to get back into the driving seat where its Live! portal has failed. It is promising sophisticated personal contacts management, social networking and an applications store. Its payment mechanism enables content and applications charges to appear on the phone bill. Vodafone plans to rollout 360 to Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain by yearend and into a further nine nations during 2010.

Vodafone has signed-up phone suppliers Samsung and Nokia with LiMo and Symbian OS respectively for 360. The attraction of LiMo's Linux is the pledge that this will never be used to circumvent the mobile operator with the independent service portals and applications stores that are strategically being pursued by Apple, RIM, Google and Nokia with Ovi.

A key potential competitive strength for 360 versus Apple, BlackBerry and Google is that Vodafone can allow developers deeper access into network capabilities with applications running on a variety of OSs. Similarly, Orange has opened up applications programming interfaces under its Orange partner Program.

Easier said than done. Most carriers groups are loosely structured federations: ownership and control is not absolute. It is difficult for Vodafone's corporate centre to impose a one-size-fits-all approach across many operating companies because local history and conditions differ significantly from nation to nation.

Carriers are disadvantaged by their limited scale. Even though Vodafone is a large group with 315 million proportionate subscribers worldwide, this is still less than a tenth the worldwide market of 4 billion subscribers addressed by Nokia and increasingly other smartphone and OS vendors. Scale attracts developers, helps amortize development and operational costs and build cool brands.

The Joint Innovation Lab initiative promotes creation of mobile applications and services with a global platform for developers. Widget compliant handsets from supporters LG, RIM, Samsung and Sharp will enable developers to create applications that can be rolled out to customers across JIL member companies China Mobile, Softbank, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone with a combined user base of more than 1 billion worldwide.

Many such alliances in IT and telecoms have failed over the years in their attempts to drive cohesion and scale. Alternatively, Ericsson is helping carriers by offering mobile internet, applications and messaging services including hosting to all comers on a white label basis. Carriers worldwide brand these as their own.

Vodafone's old anxieties about Nokia should be the least of its worries with so many new strategic challenges.

Keith Mallinson is a leading industry expert, analyst and consultant. Solving business problems in wireless and mobile communications, he founded consulting firm WiseHarbor in 2007.

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

O2: Is interest in T-Mobile UK designed to trigger bids?

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:06:26 -0400

Coming somewhat late to the party, O2 Telefonica's European chief, Matthew Key, has now admitted he would be interested in bidding for T-Mobile UK. While O2 is the first to publicly confirm its ambition, Vodafone and Orange have both been strongly linked in the recent past with acquiring Deutsche Telekom's (DT) troubled UK subsidiary.

However, by hinting at a possible bid--which would likely require the go-ahead from the UK competition authority, the European CEO could be doing little more than provoking others to officially register their interest and open discussions with DT, or remove themselves from the fray.

One possible attraction for O2 UK is T-Mobile's experience with Android and the G1 and G2 Touch handsets - O2 has yet to enter the Android market, while T-Mobile UK would hugely benefit from O2's access to the latest iPhone 3G S device. T-Mobile has been reported as buying up iPhones around Europe with the idea of offering them in the UK.

However, DT's CEO, René Obermann, has two reasons for not selling T-Mobile UK--he believes that the new UK chief executive, Richard Moat, should be given the time to resuscitate it so as to avoid a fire sale, and a sale of the UK division could throw doubt on the company's ability to remain a global player--leading to an eventual break up of the company.

For more on this story:
Cellular News and Tech Radar

Rumour mill: Nokia and Dell race to launch Android netbook this year

Paul Rasmussen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:29:56 -0400

Leaked information would indicate Nokia is on the verge of announcing plans to launch an Android-based netbook late this year, or early 2010. The device would likely use an ARM-based processor from Nokia's new-found friend, Qualcomm, in the shape of its acclaimed Snapdragon chipset.

Meanwhile, Dell is said to be preparing an Android-based mobile Internet device (MID) for launch later this year based around an ARM chipset. Critically, however, those that have seen the prototype (which is iPod in size) claim the Dell device is only enabled for 3G data--not voice. The company has long-held ambitions to enter the mobile sector, although its earlier smartphones were said to have disappointed operators and were hastily withdrawn.

Nokia's Android device, which might be short-lived given the company's commitment to Linux and Symbian, could be launched with many features of the Nokia internet Tablet, but adding a 3G radio and a UI based more on smartphone principles than today's netbooks.

The source of this information would appear to be the Taiwanese ODM's that Nokia has been in negotiation with over supplying a more conventional Nokia-branded netbook. However, the netbook market has worryingly shown the first signs of slowing, albeit that 21 million units are expected to ship this year and 30 million units in 2010.

Adding further complication to this ‘informed speculation', a research note from one financial analyst claimed that Nokia will want to play both in the classic netbook market as well as the burgeoning Android segment. As such, Nokia is said to be ready to place orders for Intel Atom-based netbooks and Snapdragon-based Android devices from the Taiwanese manufacturers Quanta and Compal Electronics respectively.

For more on this story:
E-Week Europe and Rethink Wireless

Femtocell proximity changes Android UI

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:09:09 -0400

Users of Android handsets could be able to take advantage in the future of an innovative application that would see the handset's UI change completely when it comes within range of a femtocell. The application would update the Android's UI with new icons to enable the users to access high-bandwidth entertainment services like video streaming, social networking and home network integration when connected to the femtocell. The UI would return to normal when the handset moves back to the cellular network.

The application, UX-Zone, is a joint development by the Canadian software house Intrinsyc and the femtocell developer Ubiquisys and has been specifically designed to switch UI themes to reflect the cell phone's location. Ubiquisys said that the UX-Zone application could be adopted by enterprises or businesses to provide a customised or themed home screen on Android gadgets when on campus or within a certain building or a retail store.

"On leaving home, the interface returns to normal, but on arrival at the office an entire new range of enterprise application icons appear on a new 'Office' interface designed specifically for business productivity," said a company spokesman. "Accordingly, one flexible Android device can be simultaneously tuned for home, mobile and work."

For more on this story:
IT Wire and Telecoms.com

Deutsche Telekom exec: Android, not Windows Mobile, is the future

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:34:22 -0500

Having been a strong supporter of Windows Mobile-based handsets, statements made by a Deutsche Telekom (DT) board member would indicate that the company might move away from Microsoft and base its future around the Android platform.

According to Reinhard Clemens, CEO of T-Systems, a major subsidiary of DT, while T-Mobile will continue to release handsets using Windows Mobile, Google's Android software will be the Windows of the future. "Android is the first OS that enables the development of cellphone software without the need to change the code to support specific handsets. This will allow operators to remain independent of hardware vendors."

Clemens did not stop there, but went on to criticise Windows Mobile as being exceptionally power hungry. "Windows Mobile devours simply too much energy, and the user needs to be close to a power socket if they intend to use a Windows Mobile handset with the OS for any length of time."

While Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, spoke long and loud about the company's plans for Windows Mobile at MWC, the division continues to remain unprofitable--the only one out of Microsoft's seven core businesses. Also, many market watchers believe that Windows Mobile 6.5 (scheduled for release around Q3/09) will fail to impress considering what the competition will offer by then, namely the Palm Pre on sale and two new iPhone models in June.

For more on this story:
Trading Markets and MS Mobile

GPS handsets to outperform the market

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:49:29 -0500

Although there might be a slight blip in mid-year sales of GPS-enabled handsets will outperform sales in the mainstream mobile phone market in 2009. Globally mobile handset sales are expected to fall by 4 to 5 per cent this year but according to ABI Research, sales of GPS-enabled phones will reach 240 million units, an increase of 6.4 per cent on 2008. This unexpected success story will be driven by the demand for smartphones, such as the Apple 3G iPhone, which will increase at an average annual shipment rate of 14 per cent through 2014. Over this period GPS chipsets will continue to penetrate the smartphone sector with nine out of ten such devices being GPS-enabled by 2014 compared to one in three in 2008.

Other factors that will continue to push the inclusion of GPS in handsets include the increased deployment of open source operating systems such as Google's Android which provide application specific interfaces (APIs) that allow developers to create location-based content for mobile devices, and the ongoing introduction of more navigation and map-based applications.

For more on this story:
- go to Mobile Europe

Related stories:
Forecast: 550M GPS handsets to ship in 2012
Forecast: 82M location-based mobile social networkers by 2013