Google

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

Alca-Lu calls time on Austrian WiMAX operator

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:29:34 -0500

Failure to reach agreement over unpaid bills has seen the Austrian-based WiMAX Telecom file for bankruptcy after Alcatel-Lucent demanded payment the wireless operator could not come up with.

WiMAX Telecom, which started to deploy its network in 2005 using equipment supplied by Alca-Lu, has been struggling to find new investors having only attracted 2,600 subscribers. The company initially offered WiMAX coverage in Burgenland and Steiermark, but more recently expanded this by regional deployments in Lower Austria, Higher Austria and Vorarlberg. The company claims it has sufficient funds to continue operating for between three and four months, during which time it will continue to search for new investors.

Meanwhile, WiMAX's biggest supporter, Intel, has indicated an interest in participating in the auction for India's broadband wireless spectrum. However, it has denied any intention of becoming a WiMAX service provider, but could partner with other companies for a spectrum partnership. Google has also registered an interest in bidding for spectrum.

For more on this story:
Telegeography

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.

Smartphone revolution tests established players

Keith Mallinson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:13:43 -0400

With smartphones set to account for most handset sales by 2013--in terms of value if not also in terms of volumes worldwide--these devices, their operating systems and mobile Internet service delivery environments are crucial competitive elements for manufacturers and mobile operators alike. Several new entrants, rapid market growth and the precipitous share decline for leader Nokia underline that this is still an emerging marketplace. The pecking order is being reestablished with major upsets for various leading names.

Nothing could be more disruptive than Apple's iPhone and its App Store offering 85,000 applications and 2 billion downloads to date. This is an enormous success for Apple, a mixed blessing for its mobile operator partners with the business model Apple imposes and it is a major threat for many others. As Apple takes the lion's share of ecosystem value and dis-intermediates operators from applications sales with its own user experience and billing platform, partner and competing operators alike are looking for alternatives.

And Apple is just getting into its stride. It has plenty of scope to expand distribution with competing operators when exclusive deals expire. It supplies to just 80 nations so far. Corporate purchasing is only beginning to introduce iPhone, as is higher education. Apple claims more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies are evaluating iPhone for widespread deployment.

The smartphone market segment has been splintered. Nokia smartphones and its Symbian operating system have taken double digit market share losses over the last year or two, albeit with significant market growth. Once ruling supreme with shares of 50 percent in smartphones and 60 percent in smartphone OS, market entry of iPhone and Google's Android, together with stellar growth for BlackBerry and modest progress for Microsoft have harmed Nokia irrevocably. Further declines are inevitable as emerging competitors strengthen.

What's particularly scary for Nokia is that Apple's relatively small iPhone volumes are generating sales in the third quarter of 2009 of $4.5 billion compared to Euro 6.9 billion ($9.7 billion) for all Nokia's handset sales. Gross profits for iPhone are getting close to Nokia's Euro 2.1 billion ($3 billion). Although Nokia shipped 110 million devices in the quarter, the average price of these was just Euro 62 ($87). In comparison, iPhones yield an average of $610 apiece at the wholesale prices paid by operators...Continued

Telecom Italia to offer m-payment service in 2010

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:17:14 -0400

A plan to support mobile payments (m-payments) has been unveiled by Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM) in association with the Italian Movincom Consortium. The operator said that it would launch the scheme next year to enable its subscribers to make a range of purchases from the 650 services of the Movincom Consortium - soon to be increased to over 1,500 in seven different market sectors.

According to TIM, the service will use a SIM-based application that would display specific menus to guide customers through the payment process. Orders placed for goods or services would be triggered by a text message generated automatically by the application. The text message includes the purchaser's cellphone number but no sensitive data about the selected method of payment.

"We know that security and a user-friendly purchase experience are vital to the development of mobile commerce via mobile phones. This agreement with Telecom Italia is a major step in that direction," said Enrico Sponza, deputy chairman of the Movincom Consortium. "Banks will have access to an integrated set of operational processes and be able to fast track their entry into the mobile payment business."

While TIM is one of the first operators in Europe to launch m-payments in association with a merchant consortium, others, including Google, Nokia, eBay and Facebook are keen to enter the market. However, the sector remains fragmented due to a variety of technology options, and the ongoing reluctance of mobile operators and financial institutions to co-operate - or, in truth, to share customers and revenues.

For more on this story:
Cellular News

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

Femtocell rumour mill: Is leading developer about to exit manufacturing?

Paul Rasmussen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:10:10 -0400

While company executives deny speculation that the company strategy is under review, one of the leading pioneers of femtocell technology, UK-based Ubiquisys, is believed to be actively considering an exit from manufacturing miniature base stations.

According to Unstrung, a source claims the company is looking to move away from building the hardware and become a software company focused on licensing its designs and software stack. Ubiquisys currently uses the manufacturing facilities of the Sony UK Technology Centre for its ZoneGate femtocell device.

Given that femtocell uptake has not tracked market forecasts, a shift away from producing the hardware could make sense in these financially restrictive times--albeit that Ubiquisys has Google and T-Mobile International as strategic investors and supply contracts with Japan's Softbank and Orange.

The company's marketing VP, Keith Day, told Unstrung that "plans or speculation to change our strategy are premature if not completely off the mark." However, he did admit that the company would announce its next phase of expansion in the market in the next two weeks.

News that a femtocell developer is revamping its European manufacturing strategy would not be a first. Radioframe Networks announced its exit from the femtocell manufacturing business earlier this year but will continue to make chips for femtocells.

For more on this story:
Unstrung

Vodafone tests iPhone portal, and could drop Google from Android

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:58:00 -0400

In a move that has provoked much industry speculation, Vodafone has just launched a new iPhone portal in the UK--a country where O2 has exclusive distribution rights today.

The company has given no particular reason for this development, other than the portal is available to all iPhone users, including non-Vodafone customers. "This is a group website, not a UK initiative. This is a beta so just a testing phase to try and help customers get the most out of the internet. Vodafone has no plans right now to sell the iPhone in the UK." The portal is stocked with UK-specific content and can be personalised to suit the interests of iPhone users.

Other than to support SIM-free iPhones already available in the UK, some commentators believe Vodafone is preparing to become involved with the iPhone this year.

Separately, the company has confirmed it has been looking at other Android phones to complement the new HTC Magic, and also hinted Android might appear without Google in the future. Rachel Williams from Vodafone highlighted the fact that while the HTC Magic contains all the tightly integrated Google features consumers have come to expect, like Google Mail, future offerings might be more of a basic package, where operators will want to put their own clients on the handsets instead.

Vodafone has also appointed a new exec to lead its group portfolio management team with a wide-ranging brief covering consumer and business devices, as well as leading own-brand devices. The company has previously stated it is keen to see Vodafone branded handset with low cost Chinese partners such as Huawei and ZTE. Vodafone has already begun centralising more of its handset buying from Luxembourg in a bid to cut costs.

For more on this story:
TechRadar, Mobile Today and T3

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

Android phone to roll out across Europe

Paul Rasmussen — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:42:33 -0500

Mobile operator T-Mobile is to roll out its best selling G1 mobile phone, currently only available in the UK and US, to a range of other European countries over the next few weeks. Made by Taiwan-based HTC, the G1 uses the Google Android OS and features a touch-sensitive screen, QWERTY-type keyboard and built-in WiFi. The G1 will compete directly with the Apple iPhone.

T-Mobile plans to offer the G1 in the Netherlands, Czech Republic and Austria later this month, and will move into Germany and Poland in February. In Germany the phone will sell for 1 euro when linked to a two-year contract with T-Mobile. One major advantage of the G1 phone's Android operating system is that, unlike that of rival iPhone, it is open and can be adapted by third party application and content developers.

For more on this story:
- go to Silicon.com

Related stories:
Introducing the T-Mobile G1 with Google
Google, T-Mobile USA launch the G1 Android phone