New CEO offers scathing Nokia assessment | Deep Tech. Stephen Elop, Nokia's new chief executive , has seemingly begun bracing the company for radical change with a no-holds-barred memo saying the once dominant mobile phone company is now "years behind" its competitors. The memo, published at The Wall Street Journal and Endgadget, arrives on the eve of a public strategy briefing at the end of this week and the massive Mobile World Congress trade show next week.
Nokia, which reported a 21 percent decline in profits for the fourth quarter of 2010, declined to comment on the memo. In it, Elop says Nokia is like a man on an oil platform in the North Sea who wakes to explosions and fire, but who survives after choosing to leap into the icy sea. "Nokia, our platform is burning," Elop said, and Nokia itself, not just competitors, has poured gasoline on it.
He said Nokia has failed to respond to three competitive challenges: Apple's iPhone, Google's Android operating system, and low-cost phones from China. Microsoft set to detail second Windows Phone update at Mobile World Congress in February. Windows Phone 7 developer device Microsoft is planning to unveil and detail a second Windows Phone 7 update in February. The software giant has chosen the Mobile World Congress venue according to sources familiar with the plans.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is due to hold a keynote at the event and Microsoft’s press event will mark a year from when the company first unveiled Windows Phone 7 to the world. According to a source who spoke to WinRumors, Microsoft’s second update will be a significant one. The company is currently planning to unveil a first update, to introduce copy and paste functionality, in January at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Microsoft recently began distributing the copy and paste update to developer devices (see video here). Microsoft’s second update will introduce enhanced developer controls for applications. Microsoft is also set to unveil its plans for a Silverlight update to Windows Phone 7 at Mobile World Congress. Microsoft said to be planning second Windows Phone 7 update for MWC in February. Nvidia Prepping for 3D Mobile Revolution - PCWorld. Get ready for a deluge of 3D-capable mobile devices in 2011 including smartphones, tablets and netbooks, if the latest rumors are correct. Nvidia is reportedly planning an upgraded version of its Tegra 2 processor specifically targeted for mobile devices with 3D displays.
Nvidia plans to announce its upgraded system-on-chip in February during a company presentation at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, according to TechEye. A leaked slide purportedly from Nvidia's MWC presentation shows the 3D-focused chip will be based on a dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor with speeds up to 1.2GHz. The rumored Tegra 2.5 would go into production before the end of March and be released by the spring. Nvidia's current version of the Tegra 2, announced in January 2010, features a dual core ARM Cortex A9 with speeds up to 1 GHz. 3D Mobile Deluge? Just like every other part of the tech industry, 3D is the hot trend for mobile devices. Chrome OS? Nvidia to Reveal Tegra 2 3D Chip at Mobile World Congress? | GADG.
Things are starting to heat up as Nvidia might catapult the mobile and tablet device market into the third dimension. Reports have leaked a snapshot from Nvidia’s presentation for the Mobile World Congress or MWC. And if the rumors and the picture is for real, then it seems Nvidia will be launching Tegra 2 3D processor later this year for future mobile gadgets that will be having, you guessed it, a 3D screen.
Based on a Dual Cortex A9 that’s generously clocked to 1.2 GHz, the Tegra 2 3D processor seems to be up to the challenge of setting the trend for future mobile and tablet devices, which may spell trouble to the Nintendo 3DS, Intel and perhaps even the juggernaut we call Apple. Unless Apple comes up with the same wave of 3D capable iPhone and iPad, and Intel to compete with such a groundbreaking technology with their Atom chip, the two behemoths of the technology arena could shrivel under the potentially superior Tegra 2 3D processor.
View Article Source » TI's OMAP 5 Chips Target Windows. Texas Instruments today announced its new OMAP 5 mobile platform, a super-advanced mobile chipset that will enable Kinect-like gesture-based interfaces and potentially support Microsoft's new, ARM-based version of Windows. OMAP 5 is the first chipset based on the brand-new ARM Cortex-A15 processor, which offers support for more than 4GB of memory and multiple operating systems virtualized in hardware, said TI OMAP product line manager Brian Carlson. The dual-core A15 (at up to 2-GHz per core) will be accompanied by a multi-core Imagination PowerVR SGX544 GPU, which supports Microsoft's DirectX 9 and delivers five times the graphics performance of the current SGX540, he said. "Cortex-A15 is to Cortex-A9 what Cortex-A8 was to the good old ARM11 platform," said Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president of TI's OMAP platform business unit.
Cortex-A8 is the chip that enabled the first real generation of super-phones, including the Motorola Droid and Apple iPhone 3GS. Samsung Catches Up in Smartphone Race. Sony reveals PlayStation Suite framework, store for Android gaming. Facebook denies to launch branded phones with HTC. Facebook denies branded smartphone partnership with HTC. HTC Facebook Phones tipped for MWC 2011.
Aava Mobile Medfield MeeGo/Android phone confirmed. Intel has been showing off Medfield-based MeeGo prototypes in the past weeks, and soon Aava Mobile will be getting into the act with its second-generation Aava Core design which the company has confirmed to SlashGear is ready to be rolled out at MWC 2011 this month. According to Aava, the 8.9mm-thick touchscreen smartphone in fact runs either Android or MeeGo.
While the company has working units, they won't be selling the Aava Core direct to consumers. Instead, like the first model - which we played with all the way back at MWC 2010, when Aava had both Android and Moblin versions on show - it will be used as a developer device, as well as to promote the company's integrated ACPU and modem platform to OEM/ODMs. The Intel Atom Medfield based chipset they've put together is also suited to tablets, so Aava tells us we shouldn't get too caught up in just the smartphone shell it's currently inside.
Full specs are yet to be confirmed. Nokia commits to “embrace change” as WP7 rumors bump shares. Speculation over Nokia's potential adoption of an OS other than Symbian and MeeGo continues, with the company's share price buoyed amid rumors of a surprise announcement at the Finnish company's pre-MWC investors event and after a European analyst publicly called for the adoption of Windows Phone 7. Triggered by CEO Stephen Elop's recent comments that Nokia "must build, catalyse or join a competitive ecosystem," interpreted by many as a sign that the company might be reconsidering its dedication to current platform strategy, rumors of a WP7 or Android announcement have been little quelled by Nokia's tight-lipped secrecy ahead of the event next Friday. Usually, the NYTimes suggests, analysts are briefed well in advance of announcements, but Nokia has reportedly been unusually reluctant to give out any details of the February 11 meeting. Rumor has Nokia N9 using 1.2GHz Atom chip.
Nokia N9 to get 1.2GHz Atom CPU, says rumor The Nokia N9 will sport a 1.2GHz Intel Atom processor when it launches, according to Finnish tech magazine Prosessori. The flagship will thus represent a number of firsts for the handset maker, including being the first with the MeeGo OS and the first mainstream, shipping handset anywhere to use an Atom chip. It's also claimed that the device will sport the same 12-megapixel camera from the N8, and may support next-generation LTE networks.
No hard proof is offered for any of these claims, and where the source got the information is also not being revealed. Previously, the N9 was believed to sport an eight-megapixel camera, a four-inch multi-touch display and HDMI output, the latter of which are not being disputed in this latest update. By Electronista Staff. Nokia N9 dropped because of a larger tablet? Nokia Announces 30,000 Ovi Apps, Talks Strategy. Nokia revealed during its Q4 earnings call last week that its mobile application market, the Ovi Store, now offers 30,000 apps available for download.
In previous announcements regarding Ovi Store numbers, Nokia talked in terms of downloads, not actual apps. For example, in October 2010, Nokia announced its Ovi Store was seeing 2.3 million daily, 70% of which were app downloads (Nokia's Ovi Store offers non-app purchases, too). Now Nokia has hit an app milestone it feels is worth sharing: 30,000 apps, along with 4 million downloads daily and operator billing partnerships with 100 mobile service providers worldwide.
Some Good News, Some Bad News While 30,000 apps is a drop in the bucket compared with the hundreds of thousands of apps on the Apple iOS platform and Google Android (estimated at 350,000+ and 200,000, respectively), it's competitive with the smaller app stores from RIM (BlackBerry) and Windows Phone 7. RIM has 17,000 apps and Microsoft's WP7 has 6,500. Where's MeeGo? The Death of Wintel, Rebirth of Cross-Platform Computing. I was on a panel at Intel's sales conference this week where Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas was named director of creative innovation, with analysts from Forrester and IDC. We all agreed about a number of things having to do with the world in 2015. But one of the things we agree about today is that Wintel, the near-mythical partnership between Intel and Microsoft, died some time ago and we still haven't seen the changes that will result. One of the big changes that will result is something we once called "cross-platform computing" or the concept of users who shift between PCs, smartphones, tablets, smart TVs and other "smart" devices and expect to pick up right where they left off.
This was the future that the Wintel alliance was preventing and with its collapse many of us now expect a much more diverse, appliance-like future. Let's explore that. Wintel the Problem That is why smart TVs, iPads and smartphones largely came up without any Intel or Microsoft content. The Revised Future. Meet the New Mobile Network: It’s a Cloud: Broadband News and Analysis « Could these towers be erased from the landscape? The crush of smartphones, tablets and laptops all vying for ever more bandwidth intense content, has forced mobile operators to beef up their backhaul, rally for more spectrum and implement new network technologies. It’s also reshaping the way they think and build out their networks.
Or it will. Last week, I had outlined the the demand for data combined with more people wanting access to the mobile web are forcing operators to add more diverse network technologies, such as Wi-Fi, picocells and femtocells and of course more base stations, which are all of their effort to build more creative pricing plans. Essentially the current networks and airwaves are unable to meet the demands of millions of consumers trying to download YouTube ( s goog) videos and Posting pictures to their Facebook profiles. My previous article focused on Intucell, a startup that’s pushing a technology to help operators reconfigure their networks in real time. The world’s top cell phone trade fair will attract 55.000 people to Barcelona. Cisco’s Vision Of The Future Of Wi-Fi - Elizabeth Woyke - Mobilized. LG Plans to Unveil LG Optimus 3D Smartphone at Mobile World Congress.
LG Optimus 3D To Have a Dual-Lens 3D Camera. LG has announced it will unveil its glasses-free 3D smartphone, the LG Optimus 3D, at the Mobile World Congress held February 14-17 in Barcelona. We've seen a lot of rumors and even an image of the device (see below), but now LG has gone on the record with some of the specifications. It will be LG's most advanced smartphone, with a glasses-free LCD panel, a dual-lens camera for 3D recording, and HDMI as well as DLNA on the connectivity front.
We'll have to wait until February 14 to find out more about the device, which, by the look of things, will definitely cause some ripples in the smartphone world. Verizon Wireless Says iPhone Sets Record. CES 2011 Preview: Phones and Tablets. CES is traditionally the beginning of a busy season for cell phone and tablet announcements, but it's not the end of the story. With Mobile World Congress coming in February and the CTIA trade show coming in March, phone manufacturers like to stagger their revelations so they have something to promote at each show.
We're not likely to see a single "big phone" at CES like we did with the Palm Pre in 2009 or the iPhone in 2007. Rather, we're going to see a big lineup: it looks like Verizon is introducing a whole bunch of big-name, 4G LTE-based smartphones. AT&T wants to show it'll have a strong lineup once it loses iPhone exclusivity, and new dual-core phones are ready for prime time. Don't worry, there will be flashy stuff to see. CES was aiming to be a big coming-out show for Android-powered tablets until Google threw water on that campfire by suggesting tablet-makers use the Honeycomb software version, which isn't ready yet. 4G Everything: This is going to be a huge show for 4G. Cisco sees 26-fold wireless data increase in 5 years | Signal Strength. Wireless carriers will see mobile data traffic increase 26 times between 2010 and 2015 according to Cisco's latest Visual Networking Index Forecast. Will wireless operators be ready for it? That's the big question.
The prediction of steep increases in traffic load are not entirely unexpected. Wireless carriers have been preparing for traffic increases by adding more capacity not only to their radio networks, but also in the back-haul networks that carry the traffic from the radio towers to the Internet. By 2015, Cisco says that mobile data traffic will grow to 6.3 exabytes of data or about 1 billion gigabytes of data per month.
"What we're seeing here is true convergence," said Doug Webster, Cisco's senior director of worldwide service provider marketing. But according to Cisco's results, mobile data traffic is actually growing faster than traditional landline-based broadband traffic. So what exactly is driving the growth? MWC 2011. Nokia / Intel / Meego Phone at MWC – Highly Unlikely | Carrypad. I’ve been seeing a lot of talk and getting a lot of questions about a possible Nokia / Intel / MeeGo phone that could be launched at MWC. Rumors center around the Nokia N9 which is a slider phone said to be running MeeGo and to be launched at MWC.
While it might be launching, I doubt very much it’s got Intel inside. I’ve already predicted 2012 for Intel/MeeGo smartphones because Moorestown’s 2-chip solution isn’t quite perfect for a high-end smartphone. Especially one with limited space for battery as in the slider design you see. Report: Timeline for MeeGo Devices With Moorestown not quite right and MeeGo not quite ready, can you imagine the risk of Nokia would have to take showing a beta product or prototype based on MeeGo? Could the N9 be a MeeGo phone on a Ti platform? Could we see it launched soon? Will Nokia pre-announced the N9 at MWC? And here’s another data point: I spoke to Intel at the end of November about Moorestown and Medfield progress.