What can we expect for the fast-moving telecommunications market this year?
There are many predictions. I started looking for information from Twelve 2012 Predictions For The Telecom Industry and Top 12 Hot Design Technologies for 2012 articles. Then I did some more research on what is happening on the field and decided to make my own list of what is expected this year. You can go to the original information sources by clicking the links to see where all this information comes from.
The global telecommunications services market will grow at a 4% rate in 2012 (was 7% in 2011).
Mobile growth does not stop. The number of global mobile subscriptions will pass the 6 billion mark in February. India will pass China to become the world’s largest mobile market in terms of subscriptions.
The mobile handset market will surpass the $200 billion mark. Smartphones are most heavily used by people under 45, and that age group increasingly sees the smartphone or tablet as a portal to Facebook and Twitter, among other social networks. The demand for the chips that generate and process that data in smartphones is increasing (sales of smartphone applications processors surged to $2.2 billion in the third quarter of 2011). Six Companies Want Supremacy On The Smartphones Chip Market! Qualcomm Look Out!
There is lots of competition on mobile OS marker, but I expect that thing continue pretty much as 2011 ended: Android continues to boom, RIM and Microsoft decline. Symbian’s future is uncertain although Symbian started and finished 2011 as the undisputed king of mobile OSs (33.59%). Windows Phone will try to get to market and Leaked Windows Phone Roadmap gives us a peek into the future. Java Micro Edition making a comeback according to the NetApplications report because large number of low-cost feature phones. The real mobile application battle lines of 2012 will be drawn across the landscape of HTML5.Tizen open source project tries to push to mobile Linux market (first version Q1 2012) with ideas from Meego, LiMo and WebOS. Cars and smartphones start to communicate using MirrorLink technology to allow new features.
Mobile campaigns to be hot in 2012 presidential race article tells that though mobile advertising not seen much on the campaign trail, mobile strategy is expected to be important for attracting younger voters. Social networks played an important role in the last U.S. presidential election, but the explosive growth in smartphone usage and the introduction of tablets could make or break the candidates for president in 2012. Expect to see specialized apps to help campaign groupies follow the candidates.
Text messaging has been very profitable business for mobile phone operators and making them lots of money. Text Messaging Is in Decline in Some Countries tell that all signs point to text messaging’s continuing its decline. There has been already decline in Finland, Hong Kong and Australia. The number of text messages sent by cellphone customers in USA is still growing, but that growth is gradually slowing, “SMS erosion” is expected to hit AT&T and Verizon in this year or next years. The fading allure of text messaging is most likely tied to the rise of alternative services, which allow customers to send messages free using a cellphone’s Internet connection.
EU politicians want to ban roaming charges according to Computer Sweden magazine article. If the proposal becomes law in the EU, it takes away slippery roaming charges for mobile data (could happen earliest at summer 2012, but I expect that it will take much more time). Roaming robbery to end – 2015 article tells that the goal is that the mobile roaming fees should be completely abolished the 2015th.
Near Field Communication (NFC) is becoming available in many mobile phones and new flexibility via organic materials can help in implementing NFC. NFC-enabled SIM cards are expected to become a worldwide standard. Electronic wallet in smartphones probably takes a step forward with this. Google, opened the game with Google Wallet service. According to research firm ABI Research estimates that in 2012 NFC phones is growing 24 million to 80 million units. There is still years to wait until mass market on NFC wallets starts. ABI Research estimates that there is 552 million NFC enabled devices at year 2016.
The 4G technology WiMax will see the beginning of its end in Asia. Like operators in other regions, Asian operators will opt for the rival 4G technology LTE instead.
The number of active (installed) PCs worldwide will pass the 2 billion mark. Broadband penetration continues to increase. Broadband penetration of the world’s population will pass the 10% mark globally. IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) penetration of the world’s population will pass the 1% mark. Broadband technologies are fundamentally transforming the way we live. UN wants two-thirds of the world online by 2015.
Today’s Cable Guy, Upgraded and Better-Dressed article tells that the cable guy is becoming sleeker and more sophisticated, just like the televisions and computers he installs. The nearly saturated marketplace means growth for cable companies must come from all the extras like high-speed Internet service, home security, digital recording devices and other high-tech upgrades.
Ethernet displaces proprietary field buses. As Ethernet displaces proprietary field buses to facilitate the operation of the digital factory. Ethernet switches are the ubiquitous building block of any intelligent network. Ethernet has also become the de facto networking technology in industrial automation even in mission-critical local networks. Modern Ethernet switches have added significant new functionality to Ethernet while decreasing port prices. Ethernet for Vehicles also becomes reality largely to serve the expected boom of camera-based applications in cars.
Operators’ growth will increasingly depend on their having a cloud computing strategy, an approach for the high-growth IT service market and a clear value proposition for the enterprise market. Data center technologies will be hot topic. 10GBase-T Technology will become technically and economically feasible interface option on data center servers. 10GBase-T Technology allows you to use RJ45 connectors and unshielded twisted pair cabling to provide 10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1Gbps, and 10Gbps data transmission, while being backward-compatible with prior generations.
40/100 Gbit/s Ethernet will be a hot topic. Carriers and datacenters have been clamoring for the technology to expand their core backbone networks. 2012–A Return to Normalcy and Pragmatic, Power Conscious 100G article mentions that in 2010 and 2011, the industry saw the first real roll-outs of 100G transport solutions based on Coherent Detection and FPGA-based Framers. In 2012 we’ll start to see 100G taking a bigger place in the build out of new and existing networks around the world. The initial deployments of 100G are clearly too costly and too power hungry to be widely deployed as the primary transport technology, so optical transport marketplace will move to much lower power and lower cost Direct Detection optical transport solutions. The average WDM link for 10G is dissipating about 3.5W per optical module, the average WDM link per 100G is dissipating about about 100W.
5 Major Changes Facing the Internet in 2012 article tells that 2012 is poised to go down in Internet history as one of the most significant 12-month periods from both a technical and policy perspective since the late 1990s. This year the Internet will face or can face several milestones: root servers may have a new operator, new company could operate the .com registry, up to 1000 new top-level domains will start being introduced, additional 10,000 Web sites will support IPv6 and Europe will run out of IPv4 addresses.
No IPv6 Doomsday In 2012. Yes, IPv4 addresses are running out, but a Y2K-style disaster/frenzy won’t be coming in 2012. Of course there’s a chance that panic will ensue when Europe’s RIPE hands out its last IPv4 addresses this summer, but ‘most understand that they can live without having to make any major investments immediately. Despite running out of IPv4 addresses we will be able to continue to use IPv4 techniques (Asia depleted all of its IPv4 address space already April 2011). ISP’s and hosting companies will not run out of IPs. This only means that the price per IP will start to slowly grow. Forward thinking enterprises can spend the year preparing for the new IPv6 protocol (USA is expected run out of addresses next year). Comcast has said it will offer production-quality IPv6 services across its nationwide network in 2012.
Operators start to pay more attention to the business opportunity of “M2M” (machine-to-machine connections). Investment and innovation in M2M (think smart energy meters and fleet trackers for logistics) will follow.
Smart Grid technologies include smart power management and architecture system components are already hot. Smart meter deployment on the rise globally. The global power utilities are the next mega-market moving from analog, standalone systems to digital networked technology. The opportunities are huge in everything from wireless components in smart meters to giant power electronics. First cut of some very basic framework standards have been drafted and lots of works needs to be done (ensure safety!). Forward-looking utilities and such vendors have now put business units and plans in place. IPv6 is seen as a needed technology in implementing Smart Grid communications. IPV6 has become a buzz word for smart grid firms.
You Will See A Ton Of Hype Around “The Internet Of Things” article tells that “The Internet Of Things” is a catchy term revolving around the idea that most everyday objects around us will be equipped with internet-collected electronics, and this will open up new applications. You Will See A Ton Of Hype Around “The Internet Of Things”, and it is hard to say if The Internet Of Things will be a huge business or a passing fad. NXP Semiconductor’s vision of Internet of Things starts with lightbulbs. Wireless sensor networks will get attention. EE Times article Top ten Embedded Internet articles for 2011 gives you links to articles that help you to catch on those topics.
Security issues were talked about lot on 2011 and I expect the discussion will continue actively during year 2012. There are still many existing security issues to fix and new issues will come up all the time.
802 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Free Market Failure: Telcos Charge More For Sending A Text Next Door Than Cost Of Sending Data From Mars
http://falkvinge.net/2012/11/28/free-market-failure-telcos-charge-more-for-sending-a-text-next-door-than-cost-of-sending-data-from-mars/
The telco industry charges more, kilobyte by kilobyte, for sending a text message from your phone to next door than what it costs to send the same message from Mars to Earth. This is the apex in this series of the dysfunctional telecom market, giving a background to why the telecom industry wants control of the Internet so badly, and is using every conceivable resource to stall, prevent, and delay its resulting economic development.
For there are already next-generation companies who will have the side effect of killing the entire telco industry by providing the same services free of charge. From the Estonian Skype (voice services), via the American Google Fiber (wireline net connectivity), to the Spanish Fon (wireless connectivity), these companies are proven sustainable and can provide the entire telco offering free of charge as a baseline service in a completely viable next-generation business model.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Verizon Communications Inc. To Acquire Hughes Telematics, Inc.
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/VZ/key-developments/article/2551514
Verizon Communications Inc. announced a definitive merger agreement under which Verizon will acquire Hughes Telematics, Inc. (HTI) for $12.00 per share in cash, or a total of $612 million.
The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2012
Tomi Engdahl says:
The End Of The Smartphone Era Is Coming
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-end-of-the-smartphone-era-is-coming-2012-11
You’ve heard that Google is working on computerized glasses. They’re called Google Glass, and developers can already buy them.
It turns out Microsoft is working on something similar. It filed some patents on the project and Unwired View dug them up.
There’s a big difference between what Microsoft is working on and Google Glass, though.
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Syria Turned Off the Internet
http://blog.cloudflare.com/how-syria-turned-off-the-internet
Today, 29 November 2012, between 1026 and 1029 (UTC), all traffic from Syria to the rest of the Internet stopped.
That is a more complete blackout than we’ve seen when other countries have been cut from the Internet (see, for example, Egypt where while most traffic was cut off some requests still trickled out).
The Syrian Minister of Information is being reported as saying that the government did not disable the Internet, but instead the outage was caused by a cable being cut. Specifically: “It is not true that the state cut the Internet. The terrorists targeted the Internet lines, resulting in some regions being cut off.” From our investigation, that appears unlikely to be the case.
To begin, all connectivity to Syria, not just some regions, has been cut. The exclusive provider of Internet access in Syria is the state-run Syrian Telecommunications Establishment.
While we cannot know for sure, our network team estimates that Syria likely has a small number of edge routers. All the edge routers are controlled by Syrian Telecommunications. The systematic way in which routes were withdrawn suggests that this was done through updates in router configurations, not through a physical failure or cable cut.
Tomi Engdahl says:
In annual ritual, AT&T declared worst wireless service
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/11/in-annual-ritual-att-declared-worst-wireless-service/
Verizon leads big four but Consumer Reports finds small carriers to be the best.
Each year, Consumer Reports surveys some 60,000 cell phone subscribers to find out which service providers are the best and worst. AT&T is on a real hot streak in these rankings—a hot streak of finishing dead last in customer satisfaction.
AT&T did score one real win in the latest rankings, released today, with its 4G service being rated better than all of its competitors.
Consumer Reports calls Verizon the best bet for customers looking for the most advanced technology and strong nationwide data service. AT&T isn’t a bad choice for people looking for marquee phones, either, despite its low satisfaction scores.
If you want smartphone features but not necessarily the best and most expensive devices, the advice is to “buy a smart phone that performs well, maybe an older model. Use it with an inexpensive unlimited voice, texting, and data plan from a no-contract carrier with standout scores for data service. Two-year cost for phone and service: about $1,500 and up.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
E-Ink Case Turns the Back of Your Phone Into a Second Screen
http://www.wired.com/design/2012/11/popslate-e-ink-phone-case/
Do you own a smartphone? Flip it over. What do you see?
But for Greg Moon and Yasha Behzadi, it was an opportunity to do some clever design.
“We both like strong imagery, and we were running with the idea of electronic, persistent visual personalization in a physical object,” says Moon, and the pair had been throwing around ideas for what that could be. “We were walking back from lunch, musing, ‘Where is there a big, flat piece of real estate that we could visually configure?’”
Behzadi first realized the answer: the back of a phone. From there, they created popSLATE, a case for the iPhone 5 with an e-ink screen. The innovative device is being launched on IndieGoGo today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flexible Phones ‘Out By 2013′
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/12/11/30/1346234/flexible-phones-out-by-2013
“Imagine treating your phone like a piece of paper. Roll it up. Drop it. Squish it in your backpack.”
“There have already been prototypes, attracting crowds at gadget shows.”
“Numerous companies are working on the technology — LG, Philips, Sharp, Sony and Nokia among them — although reports suggest that South Korean phone manufacturer Samsung will be the first to deliver. Samsung flavors smartphones with so-called flexible OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology, and is confident that they will be ‘very popular among consumers worldwide.’”
Bend me, shape me: Flexible phones ‘out by 2013′
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20526577
Tomi Engdahl says:
Net-Connected Televisions Will Let Users Stream Both Legal, Illegal Video Content
http://www.multichannel.com/ott/bittorrent-inks-deals-20-tv-set-makers/140281
Consumers using Internet-connected TV sets from some 20 manufacturers will soon be able to stream video content — including both legal and illegal material — downloaded via embedded BitTorrent software, with the click of a remote.
BitTorrent has reached deals with 20 consumer-electronics manufacturers, according to CEO Eric Klinker. He declined to identify them.
BitTorrent clients once consumed as much as 40% of global Internet traffic, but the company has seen its share of overall usage decline as video-streaming services like Netflix have taken off. In addition, the company claims, its introduction of a new protocol into the BitTorrent client — designed to give priority to other applications — has reduced the amount of bandwidth the application’s estimated 150 million-plus users consume in aggregate.
BitTorrent’s share of usage declined from 19.2% of peak-period aggregate traffic in 2010 to 12.0% in 2012, according to bandwidth-management equipment vendor Sandvine. At the same time, BitTorrent traffic increased 40% from 2011 to 2012, the vendor found. By 2015, BitTorrent will shrink to less than 10% of total traffic, Sandvine predicts.
Klinker said that in response to the network-neutrality issues, BitTorrent implemented a new best-effort protocol in clients starting in February 2010, which senses congestion on the network. “It essentially lets BitTorrent gets out of the way of every other application,” he said.
BitTorrent, along with Microsoft, formed a working group within the Internet Engineering Task Force to document the “uTP” protocol, and the IETF has now approved the protocol as a draft, Klinker said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Happy (Early) Bday!
SMS Txt Msgs Turn 20
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/12/01/0212233/happy-early-bday–sms-txt-msgs-turn-20
“In the fast moving world of technology, there are perhaps few things that have proved as resistant to change as the simple SMS text message.”
“Dec. 3 is the 20th anniversary of the sending of the first SMS text message.”
SMS test message turns 20 years old in Dec. 3 « Tomi Engdahl’s ePanorama blog says:
[...] operators hadn’t figured out how to charge for them. When they figured out the pricing text messaging has been very profitable business for mobile phone operators and making them lots of …. And this very profitable business that has been growing and growing for long time, but now the [...]
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) sells Optical Networks business to an investment company, Marlin Equity Partners. NSN did not disclose the purchase price.
1 900 employees moves to new owner, mainly in Germany, Portugal and China.
Nokia Siemens will to focus on mobile broadband.
Source: http://www.taloussanomat.fi/porssi/2012/12/03/nokia-siemens-myy-optiset-verkkonsa/201243157/170?rss=4
Tomi Engdahl says:
Julian Assange: “Online Totalitarianism Is Near, Entire Nations Are Intercepted”
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/12/02/205245/julian-assange-online-totalitarianism-is-near-entire-nations-are-intercepted
“Assange has many interesting things to say about privacy, and government data interception in particular.”
“So whoever physically controls this controls the realm of our ideas and communications.”
“The people who control the interception of the Internet and, to some degree also, physically control the big data warehouses and the international fiber-optic lines.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Keep the Internet free and open
http://googleblog.blogspot.fi/2012/12/keep-internet-free-and-open.html
Starting in 1973, when my colleagues and I proposed the technology behind the Internet, we advocated for an open standard to connect computer networks together. This wasn’t merely philosophical; it was also practical.
Our protocols were designed to make the networks of the Internet non-proprietary and interoperable. They avoided “lock-in,” and allowed for contributions from many sources. This openness is why the Internet creates so much value today. Because it is borderless and belongs to everyone, it has brought unprecedented freedoms to billions of people worldwide: the freedom to create and innovate, to organize and influence, to speak and be heard.
Posted by Vint Cerf, VP and Chief Internet Evangelist
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple vetting operators on LTE network performance
http://www.telecoms.com/54319/apple-vetting-operators-on-lte-network-performance/
Apple is not allowing mobile operators to offer the iPhone 5 as an LTE device unless they pass the Californian vendor’s own, independent tests for LTE network performance, Swisscom has confirmed.
It proved, he said, “who is running the industry”, adding: “Apple have put themselves in the driving seat; it’s really changing the game.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cops to Congress: We need logs of Americans’ text messages
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57556704-38/cops-to-congress-we-need-logs-of-americans-text-messages/
State and local law enforcement groups want wireless providers to store detailed information about your SMS messages for at least two years — in case they’re needed for future criminal investigations.
AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, and other wireless providers would be required to record and store information about Americans’ private text messages for at least two years, according to a proposal that police have submitted to the U.S. Congress.
As the popularity of text messages has exploded in recent years, so has their use in criminal investigations and civil lawsuits. They have been introduced as evidence in armed robbery, cocaine distribution, and wire fraud prosecutions.
Along with the police association, other law enforcement groups making the request to the Senate include the National District Attorneys’ Association, the National Sheriffs’ Association, and the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies, DeWitt said.
“This issue is not addressed in the current proposal before the committee and yet it will become even more important in the future,” the groups warn.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the law enforcement proposal is to store the contents of SMS messages, or only the metadata such as the sender and receiver phone numbers associated with the messages. Either way, it’s a heap of data: Forrester Research reports that more than 2 trillion SMS messages were sent in the U.S. last year, over 6 billion SMS messages a day.
“We would oppose any mandatory data retention mandate as part of ECPA reform,” says Christopher Calabrese, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Gadget that Makes You the Doctor
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/507886/a-gadget-that-makes-you-the-doctor/
Scanadu hopes its tricorder-like device and a smartphone will help people track their health and diagnose problems.
De Brouwer is the founder and CEO of Scanadu, a company that plans to sell a consumer-geared gadget that, along with a smartphone, tracks vital signs like blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate. If the device sounds a bit like the fictional tricorder from Star Trek, it should: Scanadu’s team is among those competing in the Qualcomm Tricorder X Prize, a multiyear, $10 million challenge to build such a device for the health-care field.
The smartphone app—currently just for iPhone, though an Android version is in development—will keep a record of your vital signs and data from any Scanadu test you take.
Why It Matters
A device that can accurately track vital signs would make it easier to detect and treat illnesses and make doctor visits less necessary.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Do you belong to the group of persons who send text message after taking some wine?
Drunk Text Savior App can be downloaded to your phone and can be installed also on Facebook.
The application concludes typed in message length and the number of typing errors, is really appropriate to send a message. If the application finds intention dangerous, report it to the intermediate position by flashing on the screen, do not send a text.
Source: http://www.iltalehti.fi/digi/2012120316408060_du.shtml
Tomi Engdahl says:
CERN data centers’ superfast particles get superfast 100G transmission
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2012/11/cern-100g-deutsche-telekom.html
As reported by Cabling Installation & Maintenance’s sister site, Lightwave, Germany’s Deutsche Telekom says it has linked research and education sites in Geneva and Budapest with a high-speed, 100G data connection. The new Ethernet link connects the CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) data center in Geneva and a newly established, remote data center operated by Wigner Research Centre for Physics in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
Deutsche Telekom began testing its 100-Gbps transmission services in 2010. T-Systems deployed a 100-Gbps link in Germany using gear from Alcatel-Lucent that same year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ITU Approves Deep Packet Inspection
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/12/05/0115214/itu-approves-deep-packet-inspection
“One of the concerns is that decisions taken there may make the Internet less a medium that can be used to enhance personal freedom than a tool for state surveillance and oppression. The new Y.2770 standard is entitled ‘Requirements for deep packet inspection in Next Generation Networks’, and seeks to define an international standard for deep packet inspection (DPI). As the Center for Democracy & Technology points out, it is thoroughgoing in its desire to specify technologies that can be used to spy on people.”
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Startup Company GreenThrottle Turns Your Android Smartphone Into a Game Console
http://hothardware.com/News/Startup-Company-Green-Throttle-Turns-Your-Android-Smartphone-Into-a-Game-Console/
Let’s be honest, the time we spend making calls on our smartphones pales in comparison to all the other activities we use it for, like surfing the web, logging into Facebook, streaming music and video, and of course playing games.
Green Throttle’s tagline is “Games Reimagined,” which simply means thinking about mobile games in a whole new way. Put simply, the company envisions harnessing the power of today’s well-equipped Android smartphones and tablets in order to play console-like games on your HDTV.
You load Green Throttle’s Arena app on your compatible device and start gaming using the company’s Bluetooth-enabled Atlas controller
“Adding [the Atlas] controllers to the mobile version of ChronoBlade allows users to experience the game the way it was meant to be played; bringing a true console-like proposition,”
Right now the concept is limited to select devices — Google Nexus, Samsung Galaxy S II and S III, HTC One X, Kindle Fire HD, and Asus Transformer
Tomi Engdahl says:
Congress to U.N.: Don’t even think about Internet regulations
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57557331-38/congress-to-u.n.-dont-even-think-about-internet-regulations/
In rare example of election year bipartisanship, U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution today reaffirming commitment to a “global Internet free from government control.”
The House resolution specifically reaffirms the U.S. commitment to a “global Internet free from government control.”
The International Telecommunication Union, a U.N. organization, is meeting in Dubai to update telecommunications regulations, and some have warned that this could lead to a U.N. takeover of the Internet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hollywood’s Total Piracy Awareness Program Set for January Launch
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/12/online-pirates-beware/
Beginning in a few weeks, the nation’s major internet service providers will roll out an initiative — backed by Obama and pushed by Hollywood and the record labels – to disrupt and possibly terminate internet access for online copyright scofflaws without the involvement of cops or courts. But that doesn’t mean Hollywood is done filing lawsuits or lobbying Congress.
“It doesn’t mean you give up on litigation,”
Chief among the topics was the so-called “Copyright Alert System,” an ISP search-and-disrupt operation that was originally set to begin by year’s end, but was delayed by Hurricane Sandy. The rollout is now set for next month, confirmed Marianne Grant, an MPAA vice president.
“We will be up and running in January,” Grant said. “This is going to make a difference. It won’t solve everything.”
Software makers sided with the film industry on the scope of the piracy problem, and, befitting their geekier nature, had actual hard data to back their gloomy conclusions.
Anaman said internet service providers, and Google, remove about 2 million links to copies of pirated Microsoft products every month.
Tomi says:
Nationwide Google Fiber Deployment Would Cost $140 Billion
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/12/08/1810244/nationwide-google-fiber-deployment-would-cost-140-billion
“For a lot of U.S. internet users, Google Fiber sounds too good to be true — 1Gbps speeds for prices similar to much slower plans from current providers. Google is testing the service now in Kansas City, but what would it take for them to roll it out to the rest of the country? Well, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs, the price tag would be over $140 billion.”
In a country of 300M people, $140B is around $500 per person.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s mini Apple takes slice of smartphone pie
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/07/us-china-xiaomi-apple-idUSBRE8B60A420121207
China’s Xiaomi Technology is a fairy tale for nerdy entrepreneurs.
Less than three years after its founding, the smartphone maker is valued at $4 billion and evokes Apple-like adoration from its fans, some of whom are desperate enough to skip work for a shot at buying the latest product the day it goes on sale.
Founder Lei Jun dresses like the late Steve Jobs, in jeans and a black top. He has created a fervent fan base for Xiaomi’s moderately priced high-end smartphones by mimicking Apple Inc’s marketing tactic of attaching an aura of exclusivity around its products.
“China’s media say I am China’s Steve Jobs,” Lei told Reuters in an interview.
“China is ripe for its own Apple, HTC or Samsung,” said Hans Tung, managing partner at Qiming Venture Partners, a venture firm backing Xiaomi. “The country is big enough, there are enough mobile Internet users and mobile phone consumers. Therefore having its own mobile ecosystem built up by a domestic brand makes sense.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York invites designers to invent Future of Phone Booths
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/10/ny_payphones/
Twenty years back there were 35,000 payphones on the streets of New York, but in common with payphones everywhere their use has been steadily declining and these days there are only 11,000 of them left.
The Mayor of New York has kicked off a competition for those with ideas on the future of the city’s 11,000 phone boxes, with a view to deploying something new when the existing contract runs out in 2014.
The Mayor is looking for something interesting, and something which will help New Yorkers communicate, especially in an emergency when the cellular infrastructure might not be up to scratch
Tomi Engdahl says:
Will Samsung’s next Galaxy phone have an unbreakable, flexible screen? Analysts claim ‘Project J’ handset could be on sale in April
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2244718/Samsung-Galaxy-S-IV-rumours-release-date-Phone-unbreakable-flexible-screen.html
Samsung is believed to be secretly preparing a new version of its Galaxy handset that uses a radical ‘bendable’ screen that is virtually unbreakable.
Codenamed ‘Project J’ after mobile division chief JK Shin, development of the new Galaxy S IV could be released as early as April, according to analysts and tech blogs.
Experts believe that as smartphones increasingly look alike, an unbreakable screen could be a big selling point for the Galaxy, which is battling Apple iPhone to lead the $200 billion plus smartphone market.
Samsung, a major backer of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, is a frontrunner in developing unbreakable screens, as OLED panels can replace glass substrate with plastic material. Down the road, mobile gadgets could be flexible as well as unbreakable.
“Eventually, they’ll have unbreakable and flexible displays”
Tomi Engdahl says:
A shortage of components bully cell phone manufacturers
Shortage of the most important components difficult for new generation of smartphones. This slows down the new Nokia Lumia 920′s asset sales, 3T estimate of analysts interviewed. Equipment manufacturers are fighting foe the same components.
The most critical factor is to get the ARM-architecture processors and graphics processors, as well as display panels and 4G-LTE chips.
There is biggest lack of a camera and display component.
Research firm Gartner research director Carolina Milanesi believes that many semiconductor manufacturer Qualcomm’s chips are in short supply.
“Component shortages have plagued Apple and Samsung also throughout the year,” says Strategy Analytics director Neil Mawston.
Apple has already reduced its dependence on rival Samsung by increasing the number of component suppliers.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/uutiset/komponenttipula_kiusaa_kannyvalmistajia
Tomi Engdahl says:
Battle-test the EPC for accurate LTE/4G billing structures
http://www.eetimes.com/design/communications-design/4402842/Battle-test-the-EPC-for-accurate-LTE-4G-billing-structures?Ecosystem=communications-design
LTE is rapidly changing the way mobile services are used. It is spurring development of rich new broadband services, and triggering the deployment of new handset features such as higher screen resolution and better battery technologies through increased capacity. Traditional services like SMS and MMS are morphing into rich communication services to include features such as real-time video calling.
While these advances are great for the end-user, service providers require their network to support a variety of applications not traditionally seen on mobile phones — like advanced web surfing, streaming video, peer-to-peer networking, and machine-to-machine communications that consume large amounts of bandwidth for longer durations. Smartphones and increased backhaul traffic have already created nightmare scenarios for carriers, including the need to regulate the traffic flows and the need to monetize new services.
With this surge, mobile services providers are not only faced with finding ways to optimize the performance of their networks, but simultaneously creating billing structures that drives revenue for these enhanced services. Should the person who is streaming HD movies from Netflix be billed at a different rate than someone simply sending out text messages? Most service providers believe so, since downloading a YouTube video uses 100x more bandwidth than voice, and not to mention that the average iPhone uses 400MB of data per month.
Solutions must not only recognize the applications and services each individual is using, but also decipher their different billing plans based on a variety of criteria. This can be a huge challenge when you consider the millions of concurrent mobile users any one network has at any given time.
The Role of the Evolved Packet Core
As such, providers’ best option is to validate and optimize the performance and accuracy of the charging system components of the evolved packet core (EPC). The EPC is the all-IP mobile core network for LTE, allowing the convergence of packet-based real-time and non-real-time services. It not only provides a simpler, flatter, and cheaper network infrastructure, but also adheres to new, stringent LTE requirements for high bandwidth, reduced latency, and 2G/3G interoperability.
Measurements are essential to assessing the quality and performance of the EPC.
By creating a high number of subscribers and their behavior, and stepping through a sequence of events that trigger charging data records (CDR), operators can successfully validate the EPC billing system.
Mozella Joto says:
This video post is truly great, the echo quality and the picture feature of this tape post is genuinely awesome.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia Siemens dumps optical network hardware business
http://www.cablinginstall.com/articles/2012/12/nokia-siemens-dumps-optical.html
“Nokia Siemens Networks is getting out of the optical network hardware business,” reports Cablinginstall.com’s sister website, Lightwave. The company has agreed to sell the unit to Marlin Equity Partners and focus on mobile broadband, writes Lightwave’s editorial director, Stephen Hardy.
Marlin, a private investment firm with more than $1 billion in assets, intends to operate the newly acquired optical hardware business as an independent company. This is Marlin’s second recent purchase in the fiber-optic network hardware space. The company announced in October plans to purchase the intelligent bandwidth management business of Sycamore Networks.
The new business will be led by its existing management team
As many as 1,900 employees – mainly in Germany, Portugal, and China – from the optical business unit and related functions are expected to transfer to the new company.
“During 2012 Nokia Siemens Networks has made tremendous progress in the transformation of our company to being the world’s mobile broadband specialist,” asserts Rajeev Suri, Nokia Siemens Networks’ CEO.
Suri adds, “Our strategic focus on our core markets has enabled us to concentrate our energy and investment in areas such as LTE where we have strengthened our global leadership position.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC creates tech transition task force
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/272057-fcc-creates-tech-transition-task-force
The Federal Communications Commission on Monday announced the creation of a task force that will work to encourage the adoption of latest-generation wireline and wireless broadband Internet networks.
The group will review the FCC’s policies to ensure that they encourage technological transition, protect consumers, promote competition and ensure network reliability, according to the FCC.
“The analog, circuit-switched copper-wire networks that dominated the 20th century communications marketplace are being replaced by competitive fiber networks that digitally distribute voice, video, and data services. Yet our rules continue to presume static domination by monopoly providers,” Pai said in a statement on Monday.
He commended the chairman for establishing the task force and urged the group to “resist the urge to simply import the rules of the old world into the new.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hacker Group Touts 1.6 Million Password Dump To Protest UN Internet Regulation
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2012/12/10/hacker-group-touts-1-6-million-password-dump-to-protest-un-internet-regulation/
The controversy around a United Nations body’s efforts to regulate the Internet have already been opposed in a U.S. Congressional resolution, a million-signature petition from Google, and by one of the Internet’s most famous creators. Now a group of hackers has registered their protest in the form they know best: Stealing and dumping millions of seemingly random usernames and passwords onto the Web.
The data dump, according to its accompanying statement, is aimed at “promoting hacktivism worldwide and drawing attention to the freedom of information on the net.
Anonymous published a lengthy statement of its own Monday, speaking out against the ITU’s regulations and specifically the “deep-packet inspection” standard it created last week for control and censorship of Internet traffic. “Don’t mess with the net. We like what we have. Our internet is working perfectly as an free and open model,” the statement reads. “It is your old systems that don’t work correctly. We cannot allow idiots to destroy our internet.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Russia and China withdrew their proposal – internet does not drift into the hands of ITU
A group of countries led by China, Russia, and has pulled out of the presentation, which resulted in control of the Internet, it was feared running of the International Telecommunication Union ITU’s hands.
ITU’s spokeswoman said that the proposal had been withdrawn from the official handling of the countries requirement. Information about the exact content of the proposal has not been released.
WCITLeaks talks on preparing for presentation outlining the ITU-country responsibility for the supervision of the network.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/venaja+ja+kiina+vetivat+pois+esityksen++internet+ei+ajaudu+yksiin+kasiin/a863346?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-11122012&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Netflix’s ISP rankings confirm the expected: Google Fiber is ‘the most consistently fast ISP in America’
http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/11/netflix-isp-ranking-google-fiber-streaming/
Like there was ever any doubt, right? Netflix — which serves up over one billion hours of video streaming to some 30 million members per month — owes it to itself to keep track of which ISPs are killing it, and which simply need to be killed. Now, the outfit’s finally ready to begin publishing its findings, ranking America’s major Internet Service Providers based upon “actual performance across all Netflix streams.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Was equipment installing planned to be a planned increasing revenue stream for telecom and cable TV operators?
Amazon’s latest experiment: Installing your TV and other household items
http://www.geekwire.com/2012/amazon-inhome-tv-mounting-installation/
In another example of Amazon expanding its footprint in new ways, the online retail giant is now contracting with a Seattle area company to install TV mounts right in your home.
Currently in beta mode and available only in the Seattle area, Amazon’s new TV mount service is priced at $275. It includes the mount itself and the labor costs for installation. All a customer needs is a flatscreen TV, and Amazon’s partner does the rest.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Text Message Spammer Wants FCC To Declare Spam Filters Illegal
http://it.slashdot.org/story/12/12/12/0315246/text-message-spammer-wants-fcc-to-declare-spam-filters-illegal
“ccAdvertising, a company purported to have ‘a long, long, long history of pumping spam out of every telecommunications orifice, and even boasting of voter suppression’ has asked the FCC to declare spam filters illegal. Citing Free Speech rights, the company claims wireless carriers should be prohibited from employing spam filters that might block ccAdvertising’s political spam. Without stating it explicitly,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia’s Asha a huge hit: Rivals say wrong in positioning touch phone series as a smartphone
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/nokias-asha-a-huge-hit-rivals-say-wrong-in-positioning-touch-phone-series-as-a-smartphone/articleshow/17578056.cms
NEW DELHI: Nokia is making some noise in India’s booming smartphone market with its Asha series, but most of its rivals and some experts say the Finnish major is wrong in positioning the touch phone series as smartphones.
“Somebody trying to pass on smart feature phones as smartphones to consumers is incorrect,” Deepak Mehrotra, CEO of the country’s leading domestic handset maker Micromax, says. “We too have many handsets that have smartphone-like qualities, but we still call them feature phone and not low-end smartphone,” he says.
A Nokia spokesperson, however, says marketer researchers GfK and IDC classified Asha touch devices as full smartphones in their third quarter reports.
SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
Smartphones work on a full-blown operating system such as Windows or Android, while in feature phones such as Asha series the development technology is limited to Java software and web apps, says Jessica Kwee, research analyst at Canalys, a global market research firm that tracks only smartphones. “We still count Asha series as feature phones,” she says.
What does that mean to a user? Well, the apps you can download only Java apps on your Asha, and can’t access, say, Android or iPhone apps. That’s more or less about it.
Deepak Kumar, a former analyst at IDC, says, “In fact, it won’t be functionally incorrect to call the Asha touch phones as smartphones, even if they may not be termed so technically.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Worldwide Smart Connected Device Market, Led by Samsung and Apple, Grew 27.1% in the Third Quarter, According to IDC
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23849612#.UMigzHemoil
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., December 10, 2012 – The worldwide smart connected device market – a collective view of PCs, tablets, and smartphones – grew 27.1% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12) reaching a record 303.6 million shipments valued at $140.4 billion dollars. Expectations for the holiday season quarter are that shipments will continue to reach record levels rising 19.2% over 3Q12 and 26.5% over the same quarter a year ago. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker, 4Q12 shipments are expected to reach 362.0 million units with a market value of $169.2 billion dollars.
“The battle between Samsung and Apple at the top of the smart connected device space is stronger than ever,”
Looking forward, IDC expects the worldwide smart connected device space will continue to surge well past the strong holiday quarter and predicts shipments to surpass 2.1 billion units in 2016 with a market value of $796.7 billion worldwide. IDC’s research clearly shows this to be a multi-device era
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC Moving To Launch Dynamic Spectrum Sharing
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/12/12/12/2344222/fcc-moving-to-launch-dynamic-spectrum-sharing
“The FCC is considering one of the biggest regulatory changes in decades: allowing a newly available chunk of wireless spectrum to be leased by different users at different times and places, rather than being auctioned off to one high bidder.”
“users could reserve pieces of that spectrum in different regions and at different time managed by a central database. Spectrum sharing is a dramatic change”
“The plan has met with mixed reviews from the cellular carriers.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dell Quits Smartphone Business Globally, Drops Android
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeanbaptiste/2012/12/12/dell-quits-smartphone-business-globally-android/
Dell is definitely pulling the plug on the smartphone business, globally. A tough decision, leaving a market that is expected to reach $150.3 billion in 2014, according to MarketsandMarkets
Earlier this year, the Round Rock, Texas-based computer company stopped selling its mobile devices in the U.S. Although some could still be found in China where Dell hoped to continue. But that’s all over now as well.
Now in the 5th year of its “transformation,” Dell’s mobile strategy looks very much like it was before its push in the consumer business and the adoption of Google‘s Android system for most of its mobile devices (Streak, Aero, Thunder).
“It’s a content play with Android. Amazon is selling books and Google is making it up with search. So far we couldn’t find a way to build a business on Android,” added Clarke. But I’m sure Samsung would disagree.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Goodbye unlimited mobile broadband
Sonera’s new CEO Robert Andersson says for the newspaper that surfing the Web on mobile mobile phone gets more expensive in next few years.
Traditional operator money maker text messages are falling, when users communicate more and more in social media, Andersson says.
“Data is moving a lot more”
The use of the Internet will be charged based on use and call will become fixed price service.
Source: http://m.tietoviikko.fi/Uutiset/TS%3A+Hyv%C3%A4sti+rajattomat+mobiililaajakaistat
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.S. Rejects Telecommunications Treaty
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/technology/14iht-treaty14.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&pagewanted=all&
DUBAI — Talks on a proposed treaty governing international telecommunications collapsed in acrimony on Thursday when the United States rejected the agreement on the eve of its scheduled signing, citing an inability to resolve an impasse over the Internet.
The United States announcement was seconded by Canada and several European countries after nearly two weeks of talks that had often pitted Western governments against Russia, China and developing countries.
While the proposed agreement was not set to take effect until 2015 and was not legally binding, Mr. Kramer insisted that the United States and its supporters had headed off a significant threat to the “open Internet.”
The messy end to the proceedings highlighted intractable differences of opinion over the ever-growing importance of digital communications networks as tools for personal communications, global commerce, political proselytization and even unconventional warfare.
“The word ‘Internet’ was repeated throughout this conference and I believe this is simply a recognition of the current reality — the two worlds of telecommunications and Internet are inextricably linked,” said Hamadoun Touré, secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union.
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU countries do not intend to sign the final document of the Conference of telecommunications.
Finland and other EU countries do not sign the International Telecommunication Union ITU conference end document.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications of the countries are not able to accept the changes made at the last minute, which “was seen as a threat to Internet openness”.
Russia, China and some Arab countries would prefer that the final document should be expanded to include the Internet. Otherwise, the document discusses, among other things, international calls connecting.
The outcome document is not legally binding, but the EU and the United States believes that some of the countries would be able to bridle the network to freedom of expression under the guise of the final document.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/yhteiskunta/2012/12/14/myos-eu-antoi-telekonferenssin-lopputulokselle-pakit/201243823/66?rss=6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why Google Just Made iPhone King: Ads
http://www.wired.com/business/2012/12/why-google-loves-ios/
By releasing new versions of Google Maps and Gmail for iOS this month, Google helped make the iPhone the best mobile phone on the planet. Why is Google, the owner of Android and Motorola, helping its ostensible rival?
The answer boils down to advertising. Google’s smartphone operating system, Android, has always been incidental to Google’s ad business, the source of virtually all the company’s profits, and Google’s Motorola handset division is, for now, a similar sideshow.
Google doesn’t particularly care what operating system you use to view its ads or engage with its sites; it just wants to pull you in. Google pumps money into Android mainly to ensure that companies like Apple and Microsoft can’t push its properties off of smartphones.
“Google doesn’t make money off of Android which is open source; they make money when people use Google services,”
Understanding Google’s strategy is especially important now that a wide range of companies, including not only Apple and Google but also Facebook and Twitter, are carefully calibrating how they ship and host software.
Tomi Engdahl says:
UN telecoms talks FOUNDER as US, UK, Canada and Aussies quit
Let’s not talk about the internet – but we had to
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/14/wcir_wreckage/
WCIT2012 The ITU’s new binding treaty on regulating the internet and global communications is effectively dead in the water after Western nations including the US, UK, Canada and Australia refused to sign it.
With these world powers out of the game and free of the legally binding treaty, the ITU agreement looks rather pointless: the vast majority of the planet’s internet systems are based in the Western world, particularly the US, and they aren’t obliged to obey the new pact. They can operate on their own terms.
The American delegation has already headed home from the negotiations; later perhaps as many as a hundred countries may sign up, but they will be predominantly minor powers.
However depending on whether India signs, this could account for a majority of the world’s population: just not the world’s online population.
It remains unclear if this split is the first skirmish in an escalating war between factions fighting to seize the reins of the internet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cisco Said to Hire Barclays to Sell Linksys Division
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-16/cisco-said-to-hire-barclays-to-sell-linksys-division.html
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), the largest maker of equipment for computer networks, has hired Barclays Plc (BARC) to find a buyer for Linksys, which makes routers for home wireless access, said people with knowledge of the situation.
The unit may attract the interest of TV set makers seeking a recognized brand and technology, said the people
Linksys is likely to fetch much less than the $500 million Cisco paid for it in 2003 because it is a mature consumer business with low margins, the people said.
Cisco wants to sell Linksys as part of its strategy to exit consumer businesses while expanding in corporate software and technology services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China tightens ‘Great Firewall’ internet control with new technology
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/14/china-tightens-great-firewall-internet-control
Companies and individuals affected by new system thought to ‘learn, discover and block’ encrypted communications
A number of companies providing “virtual private network” (VPN) services to users in China say the new system is able to “learn, discover and block” the encrypted communications methods used by a number of different VPN systems.
China Unicom, one of the biggest telecoms providers in the country, is now killing connections where a VPN is detected, according to one company with a number of users in China.
Users in China suspected in May 2011 that the government there was trying to disrupt VPN use, and now VPN providers have begun to notice the effects.
Astrill, a VPN provider for users inside and outside China, has emailed its users to warn them that the “Great Firewall” system is blocking at least four of the common protocols used by VPNs, which means that they don’t function. “This GFW update makes a lot of harm to business in China,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vodafone to move IT service centre from India
http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=478404
Vodafone Group PLC is planning to move its global IT Service Center to Romania or Hungary from India, Vodafone Hungary said Friday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
50 years of satellite communications:
1st active repeater communications satellite launches, December 13, 1962
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/edn-moments/4403361/1st-active-repeater-communications-satellite-launches–December-13–1962
NASA’s Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite, launched atop a Delta B rocket from LC-17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on December 13, 1962.
In August 1964, this satellite was used as the United States-Europe link for the broadcast of the 1964 Summer Olympics from Tokyo, after the signal was relayed to the United States via the Syncom 3 satellite. This marked the first time that two satellites were used in tandem for a television broadcast.