The platform wars is over: Apple and Google both won. Microsoft wanted to be the third mobile ecosystem, and it has got clear solid third position, but quite small market share of overall smart phone market. Apple now sells around 10% of all the 1.8bn (and growing) phones sold on Earth each year and Android the next 50%, split roughly between say 2/3 Google Android outside China and 1/3 non-Google Android inside China. So Apple and Google have both won, and both got what they wanted, more or less, and that’s not going to change imminently.
Wearables and phablets will be the big device stories of 2015. I think that the wearables will be the more interesting story of them, because I expect more innovation to happen there. The smart phone side seemed to already be a little bit boring during 2014 – lack of innovation from big players – and I can’t see how somewhat bigger screen size and higher resolution would change that considerably during 2015. CES 2015 debuts the future of smartphones coming from all places – maybe not very much new and exciting.
Say good-buy to to astronomical growth in smart phone sales in developed countries, as smartphone market is nearly saturated in certain regions. There will be still growth in east (China, India etc..), but most of this growth will be taken by the cheap Android phones made by companies that you might have not heard before because many of them don’t sell their products in western countries. The sales of “dumb phones” will decrease as cheap smart phone will take over. Over time this will expand such that smartphones take almost all phone sales (perhaps 400m or 500m units a quarter), with Apple taking the high-end and Android the rest.
The current biggest smart phone players (Samsung and Apple) will face challenges. Samsung’s steep Q3 profit decline shows ongoing struggles in mobile – Customers sought out lower priced older models and bought a higher percentage of mid-range smartphones, or bought from some other company making decent quality cheap phones. Samsung has long counted on its marketing and hardware prowess to attract customers seeking an alternative to Apple’s iPhone. But the company is now facing new competition from low-cost phone vendors such as China’s Xiaomi and India’s Micromax, which offer cheap devices with high-end specs in their local markets.
Apple has a very strong end of 2014 sales in USA: 51% of new devices activated during Christmas week were Apple, 18% were Samsung, 6% Nokia — Apple and Apps Dominated Christmas 2014 — Millions of people woke up and unwrapped a shiny new device under the Christmas tree. It is expected that Apple also will see slowing sales in 2015: Tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted Apple will face a grim start to 2015 with iPhone sales plummeting by up to a third.
In few years there’ll be close to 4bn smartphones on earth. Ericsson’s annual mobility report forecasts increasing mobile subscriptions and connections through 2020.(9.5B Smartphone Subs by 2020 and eight-fold traffic increase). Ericsson’s annual mobility report expects that by 2020 90% of the world’s population over six years old will have a phone. It really talks about the connected world where everyone will have a connection one way or another.
What about the phone systems in use. Now majority of the world operates on GSM and HPSA (3G). Some countries are starting to have good 4G (LTE) coverage, but on average only 20% is covered by LTE. Ericsson expects that 85% of mobile subscriptions in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa will be 3G or 4G by 2020. 75%-80% of North America and Western Europe are expected to be using LTE by 2020. China is by far the biggest smartphone market by current users in the world, and it is rapidly moving into high-speed 4G technology.
It seems that we change our behavior when networks become better: In South Korea, one third of all people are doing this ‘place shifting’ over 4G networks. When faster networks are taken into use, the people will start to use applications that need more bandwidth, for example watch more streamed video on their smart phones.
We’re all spending more time with smartphones and tablets. So much so that the “second screen” may now be the “first screen,” depending on the data you read. Many of us use both TV and mobile simultaneously: quickly responding to email, texting with friends, or browsing Twitter and the news if I lose interest with the bigger screen. Whatever it is I’m watching, my smartphone is always close at hand. There is rapid increase of mobile device usage—especially when it comes to apps.
The use of digital ads on mobile devices is increasing. Digital ad spend is forecast to increase 15% in 2015, with research saying it will equal ad spending on television by 2019. Mobile and social media will drive 2015 spending on digital to $163 billion, with mobile ad spending expected to jump 45%. “Almost all the growth is from mobile”
Mobile virtual reality will be talked about. 3D goggles like Sony Morpheus and Facebook’s Optimus Rift will get some attention. We’ll see them refined for augmented reality apps. hopefully we see DIY virtual reality kits that use current handsets and don’t cost thousands.
Google glass consumer market interest was fading in the end of 2014, and I expect that fading to continue in 2015. It seems that developers already may be losing interest in the smart eyewear platform. Google glass is expected to be consumer sales sometime in 2015, some fear consumer demand for Glass isn’t there right now and may never materialize. “All of the consumer glass startups are either completely dead or have pivoted” Although Google continues to say it’s 100% committed to Glass and the development of the product, the market may not be.
The other big headliner of the wearables segment was Apple’s basic $350 Watch. Apple invest its time when it released the Apple Watch last quarter, going up against the likes of Google’s Android Wear and others in the burgeoning wearables area of design. Once Apple’s bitten into a market, it’s somewhat a given that there’s good growth ahead and that the market is, indeed, stable enough.
As we turn to 2015 and beyond wearables becomes an explosive hardware design opportunity — one that is closely tied to both consumer and healthcare markets. It could pick up steam in the way software did during the smartphone app explosion. It seems that the hardware becomes hot again as Wearables make hardware the new software. It’s an opportunity that is still anyone’s game. Wearables will be important end-points both for cloud and for messaging. The wearable computing market is one of the biggest growth areas in tech. BI Intelligence estimates that 148 million wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers will ship in 2019.
I see that wearables will be big in 2015 mainly in the form of smart watch. According to a survey by UBS, 10% of consumers said they were very likely to buy a smartwatch in 2015, even though so far, no smartwatches have resonated with consumers. I expect the Sales of fitness wearables to plunge in 2015 owing to smartwatch takeover. In the future you need to look at exercise and fashion products as being in the same space. Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Apple debuted or announced smartwatches in 2014, so it’s no surprise that smartwatches are expected to be huge in Las Vegas at CES January’s show.
The third mobile ecosystem Windows phone has some new thing coming as Microsoft ready to show off Windows 10 mobile SKU on January 21. But it does not well motivating to me. After all, the vision of a unified Microsoft world extending across all screens is great, and it’s what Microsoft has needed all along to make Windows Phone a winner. The problem that hits me: if you fail enough times at the same thing, people stop believing you. It’s not just that Microsoft keeps failing to integrate its mobile, desktop, and console products. But Microsoft keeps claiming it will, which starts to loose credibility.
Mobile will change on-line sales in 2015: Phones have already radically altered both the way Americans shop and how retail goods move about the economy, but the transformation is just beginning — and it is far from guaranteed that Amazon will emerge victorious from the transition (this will also apply to other “traditional” players in that space).
Mobile payment technology reaching maybe finally reaching critical mass this year. Long predicted but always seeming to be “just around the corner,” mobile payments may finally have arrived. While Apple’s recent Apple Pay announcement may in retrospect be seen as launching the coming mobile payment revolution, the underlying technologies – and alternative solutions – have been emerging for some time. Maybe it isn’t going to replace the credit card but it’s going to replace the wallet — the actual physical thing crammed with cards, cash, photos and receipts. When you are out shopping, it’s the wallet, not the credit card, that is the annoyance.
Mobile money is hot also in developing countries: ordinary people in Africa using an SMS text-based currency called M-Pesa. M-Pesa was invented as a virtual currency by mobile network provider Vodafone after it was discovered that its airtime minutes were being used and traded in by people in Africa in lieu of actual money. In Kenya, a critical mass was quickly reached, and today, over 70% of the 40 million Kenyans use M-Pesa.
Mobile security will be talked about. Asian mobiles the DDOS threat of 2015, security mob says article tells that Vietnam, India and Indonesia will be the distributed denial of service volcanoes of next year due to the profieration of pwned mobiles.
Intel is heavily pushing to mobile and wearable markets. Intel is expected to expand its smartphone partnership with Lenovo: Intel will provide both its 64-bit Atom processor and LTE-Advanced modem chips for the Lenovo phones. The 4G phones follow Intel’s announcement in October of its first 4G smartphone in the US, the Asus PadFone X Mini. Now Intel remains well behind Qualcomm — which controls two-thirds of the global mobile modem market — and MediaTek as a supplier of chips for smartphones and tablets. Intel faces tough competition trying to fight its way into mobile — a market it ignored for years. Intel in early 2015 will introduce its first 4G system-on-a-chip under the new SoFIA name. Such chips include both a processor and modem together and are sought after by handset makers because they’re smaller in size than separate processor and radio chips, and use less power (matching Qualcomm’s Snapdragon).
Mobile chip leader Qualcomm will be going strong in 2015. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 is not only a killer part, it has raised the bar on what a mobile SoC has to be in 2015. It can power devices that drive 4K (3840 x 2160) TV, take 4K videos, run AAA games and connect to 5-inch HD display. There are finished, branded products just waiting to be released. I am convinced Qualcomm is on track to deliver commercial devices with Snapdragon 810 in mid-2015. I expect Qualcomm to be strong leader throughout 2015.
More material worth to check out:
New questions in mobile
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/11/20/time-for-new-questions-in-mobile
What’s Next in Wireless: My 2015 Predictions
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/issues-insights-blog/2015-predictions.htm
1,230 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Apple targets Watch battery life of 2.5 hours heavy use and 3.5 hours standard use; pure standby battery life likely to be 2-3 days; CPU said to be A5-caliber
Apple targets for Apple Watch battery life revealed, A5-caliber CPU inside
http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/22/apple-targets-for-apple-watch-battery-life-revealed-a5-caliber-cpu-inside/
Although Apple has said that the Apple Watch will need to be charged nightly, the company has not disclosed any details on how long the wearable’s battery will last. For the first time, people with knowledge of the Apple Watch’s development have provided us with the specific performance targets Apple wants to achieve for the Apple Watch battery, but the actual numbers may fall short of those targets.
According to our sources, Apple opted to use a relatively powerful processor and high-quality screen for the Apple Watch, both of which contribute to significant power drain. Running a stripped-down version of iOS codenamed SkiHill, the Apple S1 chip inside the Apple Watch is surprisingly close in performance to the version of Apple’s A5 processor found inside the current-generation iPod touch, while the Retina-class color display is capable of updating at a fluid 60 frames per second.
Apple initially wanted the Apple Watch battery to provide roughly one full day of usage
Apple will only likely achieve approximately 2-3 days in either the standby or low-power modes…
Our sources say that Apple is targeting 2.5 hours of “heavy” application use, such as processor-intensive gameplay, or 3.5 hours of standard app use.
Sources tell us that battery life has remained a source of concern for Apple over the past year, and was a contributing factor for Apple pushing back the retail launch from an originally planned late 2014 to early 2015.
Apple has also been working to perfect the MagSafe-based inductive charging mechanism for the Watch
Tomi Engdahl says:
WhatsApp cracks down on people using unofficial clients
https://gigaom.com/2015/01/20/whatsapp-cracks-down-on-people-using-unofficial-clients/
WhatsApp is banning users from its service for 24 hours because they were caught sending and receiving messages on an unofficial client that wasn’t made by WhatsApp.
Many users afflicted an were using Whatsapp+, one of the most popular third-party WhatsApp clients for Android phones. Android Police noted that people using another WhatsApp alternative, WhatsappMD, are also reporting being banned.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft VP Details Windows 10 Update for Windows Phone Users
by Brett Howse on January 22, 2015 5:05 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8924/microsoft-vp-details-windows-10-update-for-windows-phone-users
Microsoft used its Lumia Conversations blog today to give some of the details for the upcoming software update for Windows Phone, which will be moved to Windows 10.
Though Chris Weber did not address all devices, he did specifically mention the new low end Lumia 435, and that their goal is “for the majority of the Lumia phones running Windows Phone 8 and 8.1 to join the Windows ecosystem” so there should be no issues with any Lumia device getting upgraded.
Phone OEMs, they should be safe too but of course that may depend on each OEM and wireless carriers updating the devices, which is not always the case.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Watch release date, price and specs
Updated Everything you need to know about Apple’s debut wearable device
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2351287/iwatch-price-release-date-rumours-and-features
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft patents theater mode for your phone
http://money.cnn.com/2015/01/19/technology/mobile/microsoft-theater-mode/
Your next phone might automatically go into “theater mode” when you’re at the movies. Your smartphone will stay silent and the screen will go dim.
Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) just patented a way to make your phone less noticeable and disruptive when you’re in certain environments (Microsoft calls it “inconspicuous mode”). You can use it at a movie theater, a dinner date or at home about to go to bed.
It’s all based on the notion that your phone can annoy the person next to you — especially if you’re in a dark, quiet place.
In “inconspicuous mode,” sounds are gone, and the screen is a faint glow. Notifications don’t show up on the home screen. The time is displayed in large numbers that are easier to glace at.
But the key feature is that it would be automatic. It would go into this mode if your phone’s GPS detects you’re at the location of a movie theater. Or if a restaurant’s or stage theater’s Wi-Fi or Bluetooth beacons tell it to. Or if your phone’s light sensor detects darkness while the microphone also detects silence (like just before a movie starts playing).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft: We bought Skype. We make mobiles… Oh, HANG ON!
EUREKA! We should put the two together
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/23/microsoft_windows_10_nokia_skype_lumia/
The good news for stalwarts is that after a glacial and at times uncomfortable rollout of Windows Phone 8.1, the pace of development appears to have picked up.
The most interesting aspect was that there’s a coherent plan for VoIP and OTT messaging. Over the years Microsoft has had a chaotic and incoherent approach.
Then came the blockbuster $8.5bn purchase of Skype. Microsoft continued to run Lync and Skype separately – and Lync became a surprise hit with businesses. It appeared to be a cheap and cheerful path to UC – some customers actually thought it was free.
Finally, last November, we saw some coherence. Lync would be replaced by “Skype for Business”, at last forcing the shotgun marriage of two not exactly complementary architectures: Lync’s server-based UC and Skype’s P2P model.
For the best mobile Skype experience you really needed to get an iPhone or an Android. Some theories suggested that Microsoft didn’t want to antagonise its carrier customers by bundling Skype so closely with the handset.
But that doesn’t hold much water: operators had given up trying to hold the dyke against OTT messaging and VoIP years ago. The GSMA had been working on its own response to iMessage and WhatsApp for some time. A new platform with no market share did not pose an existential threat to their core business.
What Microsoft showed this week, at long last, was VoIP integrated into the platform.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority:
Cyanogen’s CEO says they’ll be independent from Google in 3-5 years, offering its own app store in 18 months and alternatives to Google apps
CEO: “Today, Cyanogen has some dependence on Google. Tomorrow, it will not.”
http://www.androidauthority.com/cyanogen-google-kirt-mcmaster-582373/
Kirt McMaster, the outspoken CEO of Cyanogen Inc., has been in the news lately for expressing some controversial opinions on things like Google’s “tyrannical” control over Android or Samsung’s complete inability to build a decent mobile operating system.
But the opinions expressed on Thursday at The Information’s “Next Phase of Android” event in San Francisco are his most contentious yet. Not only has McMaster clarified his views on Google’s control over Android, but he laid out Cyanogen’s vision for a future devoid of any Google reliance
“We’re making a version of Android that is more open so we can integrate with more partners so their servicers can be tier one services, so startups working on [artificial intelligence] or other problems don’t get stuck having you have to launch a stupid little application that inevitably gets acquired by Google or Apple. These companies can thrive on non-Google Android.”
“We’ve barely scratched the surface in regards to what mobile can be. Today, Cyanogen has some dependence on Google. Tomorrow, it will not. We will not be based on some derivative of Google in three to five years. There will be services that are doing the same old bulls— with Android, and then there will be something different. That is where we’re going here.”
It remains to be seen if Cyanogen’s grand ambitions will ever materialize. There are huge obstacles to overcome, not the least being Google’s attitude towards Cyanogen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Aloysius Low / CNET:
Xiaomi Mi Note review: refined hardware, distinct design, limited LTE support outside of Asia — Xiaomi’s latest flagship dazzles with quality design — The Good The Xiaomi Mi Note’s refined steel and glass design is as good as any. Impressively, Xiaomi crams a 13-megapixel camera …
http://www.cnet.com/products/xiaomi-mi-note/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:
Report: Qualcomm working on updated Snapdragon 810 chip for Samsung’s Galaxy S6 — Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) is expected to provide Samsung Electronics with a new version of its Snapdragon 810 chipset in March for the next version of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S smartphone, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/report-qualcomm-working-updated-snapdragon-810-chip-samsungs-galaxy-s6/2015-01-23
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is the Samsung Galaxy S6 Unpacked
http://bgr.com/2015/01/21/this-is-the-samsung-galaxy-s6-unpacked/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Parents in Taiwan are now legally obliged to limit their kids’ computer time
http://www.neowin.net/news/parents-in-taiwan-are-now-legally-obliged-to-limit-their-kids-computer-time
It is quite a given fact that many children these days spend a lot of time playing on the computer, their phones, or on a tablet. It seems that Taiwan is apparently very aware of this, and has recently expanded an existing law that puts a limit on the usage time for children whenever using gadgets, Quartz reports.
The law states that children under 18 “may not constantly use electronic products for a period of time that is not reasonable.” The regulation also puts excessive computer or similar gadgets usage on par with common vices like smoking, drinking, chewing betel nuts and doing drugs.
Parents in this country are now legally obliged to stop their kids spending time on computers
http://qz.com/332675/parents-in-this-country-are-now-legally-obliged-to-stop-their-kids-spending-time-on-computers/
A lot of parents are worried about their children spending too much in front of the phone or tablet. Parents in Taiwan now have to do something about it.
Lawmakers have expanded existing legislation to say that children under 18 on the island “may not constantly use electronic products for a period of time that is not reasonable.”
Parents who expose their kids to electronic products to the point where become “physically or mentally” ill are liable for a $1,600 fine. Of course, the law doesn’t say exactly how much time is unreasonable, which will no doubt complicate enforcement.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, which recommends a maximum of two hours a day of screen time for kids, found in a recent study that US eight-year-olds spend an average of eight hours with some form of media—and many child-development psychologists urge more unstructured play time. In addition, there is another factor not covered in this law, which is the damage done to children from the fact that their parents are themselves always connected.
Taiwan is not the only country to take steps to regulate the use of electronic media, and particularly gaming among teenagers. China has been trying to deter people from playing online games for more than three hours at a stretch since 2005 and adopted further regulation in 2010, while South Korea last year regulating online games and e-sports as if they were addictive substances.
If the Taiwanese law is successful and copied by others, it may help to prevent nomophobia—”no mobile phobia”—the fear of being without one’s electronic device, which a study recently suggested can actually impair mental performance.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google explains why it’s not fixing web security in old Android phones
http://www.engadget.com/2015/01/24/google-responds-to-webview-flaw/?ncid=rss_truncated
You might not be happy that Google isn’t fixing a web security flaw in your older Android phone, but the search giant now says that it has some good reasons for holding off. As the company’s Adrian Ludwig explains, it’s no longer viable to “safely” patch vulnerable, pre-Android 4.4 versions of WebView (a framework that lets apps show websites without a separate browser) to prevent remote attacks. The sheer amount of necessary code changes would create legions of problems, he claims, especially since developers are introducing “thousands” of tweaks to the open source software every month.
Ludwig suggests a few things you can do to avoid or mitigate problems, though. For a start, he recommends surfing with browsers that don’t use WebView but still get updates, like Chrome (which works on devices using Android 4.0) and Firefox (which runs on ancient Android 2.3 hardware). Hackers can’t abuse the vulnerable software if you’re not using it, after all. The Googler also tells app creators to either use their own web rendering tech or limit WebView to pages they can trust, like encrypted sites.
https://plus.google.com/+AdrianLudwig/posts/1md7ruEwBLF
Following public discussion of vulnerabilities in versions of Webkit last week, I’ve had a number of people ask questions about security of browsers and WebView on Android 4.3 (Jellybean) and earlier. I want to provide an update on what we’re doing and guidance on steps that users and developers can take to be safe, even if your device is not yet running Lollipop.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘People ACTUALLY CONFUSE Facebook and the internet in some places’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/25/quotw_ending_23_january/
Ex-Googler, Facebook COO and mouthpiece Sheryl Sandberg claimed this week that some users (sorry, people) actually think that Mark Zuckerberg’s free-content ad network is the internet.
Sandberg told the Wall Street Journal:
We know Facebook is one of the main drivers of why people buy phones, particularly in the developing world.
People will walk into phone stores and say ‘I want Facebook’. People actually confuse Facebook and the internet in some places.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphones and the Cloud Computing
http://www.buildyourbestcloud.com/1123/smartphones-and-cloud-computing
For the last few years, smartphones and cloud computing have been major trends in the tech industry. As venture capitalists are still heavily investing in companies which focus on these sectors, it’s worth looking at how the two technologies relate.
Today many mobile applications depend on having an Internet connection to access and process data. In many respects, smartphones act as a portable tether to the Internet and the Cloud — allowing people to access their data anywhere and allowing messages, notifications, and updates to access people wherever they might be. – See more at: http://www.buildyourbestcloud.com/1123/smartphones-and-cloud-computing#sthash.EYsW1BjD.dpuf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flexible OLED mobile phones are becoming more common
Samsung Display indicates that the organic LED technology-based displays of traditional LCD screen when the price drops to a level already this year. Since then, OLED panels will become common in cell phones pace. OLED enables ruudultaan flexible equipment manufacturing.
Samsung according to the traditional screen and the OLED panel, the price difference was in 2013 up to 10-15 dollars.
Last year, the price differential was reduced to five dollars for the screen
All the manufacturers are now adding a mobile phone-sized OLED panels in production.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2332:taipuisat-oled-kannykat-yleistyvat&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why large tech companies are hopping on the app ‘unbundling’ trend
http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2014/05/06/large-tech-companies-hopping-app-unbundling-trend/
Recently, Google split up its Drive apps into three separate standalone apps: Sheets, Slides, and Docs. Facebook separated its chat offering, Messenger, into its own standalone app, and Foursquare broke its app in two to launch Swarm, an app focused on social mapping. A strategy that all of these large tech companies share: the conscious uncoupling of products colloquially called unbundling.
The unbundling of technology is the act of breaking something into smaller parts – whether that’s a product, service, piece of content or app. In the case of Foursquare, Facebook, and Google, however, this unbundling was all about streamlining the app experience to focus on one thing that people want to do and doing it really well.
“That’s the main driver for our decision to unbundle these two experiences into two separate apps: to make the experience better for both use cases.”
At its core, unbundling makes perfect sense – watch how users are experiencing an app and separate the experiences to make them more useful or meaningful. But for many smaller app companies, this strategy is unrealistic.
“Unbundling is completely untenable for smaller companies. The only reason that companies like Facebook, Google, and Foursquare able to do it is because they’re giants in the space,”
“You don’t want your app to be like the diner menu with a million things on it – you want to be the boutique restaurant that does a few things really well, and slowly adds new menu items as they draw in a crowd,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
VIDEO: Future Dr. Visits May Include Telemedicine, Sensors & Mobile Clinics — Kaiser Permanente and other companies are applying everything from telehealth to monitoring sensors to mobile clinics to reimagine the conventional doctor’s appointment.
VIDEO: Seeing the Doctor of the Future
https://ssl.www8.hp.com/hpmatter/issue-no-3-winter-2015/video-seeing-doctor-future
Kaiser Permanente and other companies are applying everything from telehealth to monitoring sensors to mobile clinics to reimagine the conventional doctor’s appointment.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ben Fox Rubin / CNET:
Taiwan-based mobile phone chipmaker MediaTek plans US expansion to challenge Qualcomm
http://www.cnet.com/news/meet-mediatek-the-brains-powering-your-next-budget-smartphone/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft sees Surface revenue jump to $1.1B in Q2 2015, sells record 10.5M Lumia smartphones — As part of the company’s latest quarterly earnings announcement, Microsoft today revealed Surface revenue increased to $1.1 billion in Q2 2015, driven mainly by Surface Pro 3 and its accessories.
http://venturebeat.com/2015/01/26/microsoft-sees-surface-revenue-jump-to-1-1b-in-q2-2015-sells-record-10-5m-lumia-smartphones/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Facebook Is Testing A Simple App For Low-End Android Phones — Not content with spinning out apps for stickers inside Messenger, Groups and new addition Rooms, Facebook has launched another standalone app. Facebook Lite, which some may recall as a simplified version of its mobile website from 2009-2010 …
http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/25/facebook-lite-rides-again/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Matt Warman / Telegraph:
Former Motorola CEO: Nexus 6 doesn’t have fingerprint reader because Apple bought AuthenTec, the best supplier
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/11366118/Dennis-Woodside-on-Motorola-Google-and-the-future-of-Dropbox.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Se Young Lee / Reuters:
Samsung Electronics to be main chip supplier for next iPhone: South Korea paper
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/26/us-samsung-elec-apple-iphone-chips-idUSKBN0KZ01W20150126
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linux chaps want to recycle your mobe as a supercomputer
Slot your old smartphone into this chassis and let penguins pick its brains
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/27/recycling_smartphone_motherboards_as_desktop_clusters/
A Finnish group of phone developers, hoping to get the world interested in modular smartphones, has proposed a nifty idea for re-using their phone motherboards: turn them into clusters.
The Linux-based Puzzlephone project wants to extend the life of smartphones by making more of the phone replaceable, on the premise that most of the hardware can last a decade, but consumers are locked into a much shorter upgrade cycle.
The group, Circular Devices, is also giving thought to what do do with motherboards after they’ve been upgraded, and that’s where the cluster idea comes from.
So the designers are getting to work on a chassis that can house multiple of the Puzzlephone’s motherboards, so that boards returned by upgrading users can be recycled as clusters they reckon could scale from home and small business users up to public institutions.
PUZZLECLUSTER: The First Reuse Application of the PUZZLEPHONE
http://www.puzzlephone.com/puzzlecluster-the-first-reuse-application-of-the-puzzlephone/753#more-753
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Finns developed the Microsoft smart glasses – “HoloLens is a wonderful”
Microsoft introduced last week a new Windows 10 operating system. At the same time in the limelight in the company’s new HoloLens technology, which received an exceptionally enthusiastic response from the press.
“HoloLens is marvelous,” enthused, for example, the New York Times reporter.
The Finnish perspective, the most interesting thing is that these glasses found behind the domestic skills. The glass optical design lead at Microsoft Pasi Saarikko . Linkedin profiles according to Saarikko is leading the designer, whose responsibility is just HoloLens project.
According to Microsoft, many of the company’s engineers all over the world cooperate HoloLens-development.
“This moment is very inspiring tiimeillemme globally as guaranteed here in Finland. Microsoft will tell you more about the details of HoloLens project in the coming months,” the company communicated.
Source: http://www.talouselama.fi/uutiset/suomalaiset+kehittivat+microsoftille+alylasit++hololens+on+ihmeellinen/a2289077?b=u_tivi
Tomi Engdahl says:
Signs of progress: One month with Android Wear 5.0
LG’s G Watch R and better software make it easier to see Wear’s pros and cons.
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/signs-of-progress-one-month-with-android-wear-5-0/
Android Wear 5.0 came out last month—it was the third noteworthy update to the wearable OS, following versions 4.4W.1 and 4.4W.2. It’s not a significant enough update to merit its own standalone review, but it’s been a while since our last check-in with the platform. Plus, the launch of the Apple Watch is just a few months away at most.
Google also recently sent us another Android Wear watch we hadn’t seen before—LG’s G Watch R, the round version of the regular square G Watch we looked at back when Android Wear launched. It looks more like a finished product today, where as the first G Watch looked like no-frills development hardware. The G Watch R also doesn’t use the old power-hungry internals that give the Moto 360 so many problems.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The UK’s Drug Dealers Are Swapping Crack for Nokia 8210s
http://www.vice.com/read/the-uks-drug-dealers-love-the-nokia-8210-988
Smartphones have their perks; without them, it would be impossible to take a photo of your junk and instantly share it with someone in Brazil. But they also have their downsides. Like constantly having your office in your pocket, or people ruining debates by googling the answer, or the fact that they’re effectively just GPS ankle monitors that double up us pizza-ordering devices.
That last point is a salient one for people who spend a lot of their time doing stuff they don’t want anyone to know about. People like drug dealers and other criminals, who—thanks to the nature of their jobs—are understandably paranoid that they’re having their every movement monitored.
The best remedy for this problem is to switch from an Android or iPhone to a shitty old handset. And the shitty old handset of choice, according to every source I’ve spoken to, is the Nokia 8210.
“The feds can now use wifi and Bluetooth to get information from the phone, and seem to be able to listen to phones a lot easier now than ever before. Every dealer I know uses old phones, and the Nokia 8210 is the one everyone wants because of how small it is and how long the battery lasts.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Exclusive: Apple supplier Foxconn to shrink workforce as sales growth stalls
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/01/27/us-hon-hai-labor-idUSKBN0L00Z520150127
Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, will cut its massive workforce, the company told Reuters, as the Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier faces declining revenue growth and rising wages in China.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Snapchat launches ad-supported Discover feature to show off videos and stories
http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7919809/snapchat-launches-discover-feature-ad-support
Snapchat has launched “Discover,” a new feature that highlights stories and videos provided both by outside publishers, and by Snapchat’s in-house team of journalists and videographers. The new service is ad-supported, with Snapchat selling ads against media provided by networks such as ESPN, Vice, and CNN, as well as its own content.
Discover features videos, articles, and photos cherry-picked from these networks to appeal to Snapchat’s young-skewing userbase.
The app made its name with self-deleting selfies, but Snapchat has been experimenting with the kind of media it provides for a while now. The company piloted its “Stories” feature last year
Although Snapchat has had huge success with its brand — the company is valued at up to $10 billion and has the third-most popular social media app behind Facebook and Instagram for 18 to 34-year olds — it has struggled to make the kind of money it’s said to be worth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Capacitive sensing improves wearable devices
http://www.edn.com/design/sensors/4438469/Capacitive-sensing-improves-wearable-devices?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150127&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150127&elq=330b070af4fc43ddb78a63ef29f6f250&elqCampaignId=21359
Smart, connected wearable devices are definitely trend.
These wearable smart devices make life easier for the user. Wearable devices are usually light and small. Typical characteristics include:
Small Displays (LED or LCD)
Limited Space for User Interface
Need to be Easy to Access
Have Low Power Requirements
Need to be Low in Cost
Many wearable devices, however, still have clunky click buttons for a user interface
In comparison, a touch interface provides a more intuitive user interface. Wearables with small displays can incorporate a touchscreen for gestures or a swipe interface. Power consumption is lowered by incorporating a capacitive sensor to only turn the device on when it’s worn.
Capacitive Proximity Sensing can be used to wake the microcontroller from sleep to light up the user interface. There are sensors in the market that can run below 2.5 µA.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Misfit turns $50 Flash fitness band into smart home remote, too
http://www.cnet.com/news/misfit-turns-50-flash-fitness-band-into-smart-home-remote-too/
The Flash’s click-button will integrate across several services as Misfit aims to turn its wearable fitness gadgets into connected lifestyle remotes.
Misfit announced it’ll soon work as a sort of smart-home-operating remote, too, via a set of partnerships detailed in a press release today.
That one button on the Flash will now be connected to things like IFTTT, a connect-the-apps app service that already allows lots of devices and apps to trigger each other in pre-programmed sequences. Lots of wearables and fitness apps already work with IFTTT, including Jawbone Up, Fitbit, Android Wear and Withings.
Misfit also has more in store, targeted for a spring timeframe. The Flash will work with the Logitech Harmony API for home media and light controls. It will work with the August Smart Lock to unlock your door, if you so wish. or work with Nest thermostats to begin adjusting your home’s temperature as you wake up (coming in March, according to Misfit).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kyle Russell / TechCrunch:
Prynt, a case that turns your phone into a Polaroid camera, is now available for pre-order on Kickstarter for $49
The Case That Turns Your Phone Into A Polaroid Camera Is Now On Kickstarter
http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/27/the-case-that-turns-your-phone-into-a-polaroid-camera-is-now-on-kickstarter/
The Prynt case, which lets you print photos directly from your phone, is now available for pre-order on Kickstarter. While the startup still plans for its case to retail for $99, early backers can get it for $49.
When it arrives this summer, the Prynt will support the iPhone 5/s/c/6 and the Samsung Galaxy S4/S5. Along with printing photos as you take them or from your camera roll, it’ll also come with an app that brings a nifty augmented reality feature
“When you take a photo with Prynt’s app, it actually records a video of the moments around when you clicked the button and sends it to the cloud. When you hold up the physical photo to your phone’s camera with the app open, it is overlaid with a Play button that shows that video in place of the picture itself.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Reports Record First Quarter Results
Highest-ever revenue & earnings drive 48% increase in EPS
Growth led by record revenue from iPhone, Mac & App Store
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2015/01/27Apple-Reports-Record-First-Quarter-Results.html
CUPERTINO, California—January 27, 2015—Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2015 first quarter ended December 27, 2014. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $74.6 billion and record quarterly net profit of $18 billion, or $3.06 per diluted share.
The results were fueled by all-time record revenue from iPhone® and Mac® sales as well as record performance of the App Store℠. iPhone unit sales of 74.5 million also set a new record.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Soon, one in five smartphone is phablet
Phablet may have been a fool designation of a large display for smartphones, but the popularity of the name of clumsiness is not affected. Juniper Research predicts namely, that they are sold in 2019 for more than 400 million copies.
This year phablet sales volume reaches 138 million, so the next four years, the volume will increase fivefold.
Juniper estimates that in the next 2-3 years every smartphone manufacturer’s flagship model is a large-screen phablet. This research explains the fact that the majority of users playing on their device or to use it for watching movies.
Phablet will also limit the different groups of devices is blurring. When the same hardware runs the smartphone and tablets, boundary setting, for example, a 7-inch screen starts to seem artificial.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2348:pian-joka-viides-alypuhelin-on-phabletti&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Huawei? Apple and Samsung’s worst nightmare, pal
3 of the top 5 smartphone vendors now Chinese
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/02/huawei/
Huawei claims to have banked over $11bn in smartphone revenue in 2014 despite falling short of its volume prediction.
Consumer chief Richard Yu says the Chinese giant shifted 75 million units in the year, a little short of the 80 million it had predicted – but still up 40 per cent from 2013, the WSJ reports.
Three of the top five smartphone vendors are now Chinese: Xiaomi, which overtook Samsung in sales in China last year, and Lenovo lead the also-rans behind Apple and Samsung.
Huawei is a relative newcomer to consumer electronics, with its first models launching in 2011. Unlike oddball outfit Xiaomi, Huawei has conspicuously avoided the “Landfill” end of the market, and the razor-thin margins that go with doing business by the dumpster. The impecunious firm says it won’t break the bank on marketing, either, to win share. Yet Huawei managed to show something Apple couldn’t in 2014: a sapphire phone
Tomi Engdahl says:
LEAKED: Samsung’s iPHONE 6 KILLER… the Samsung Galaxy S6
If leaks are real, Apple is in trouble
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/22/galaxy_alpha_points_the_way_to_samsung_s6/
Newly leaked specifications for the Samsung Galaxy S6 show the South Korean company taking the fight back to Apple. The expected flagship is expected to debut a year after we saw the S5 at Mobile World Congress.
The “64-bit eight-core 14nm CPU which is 50% faster” could be the rumoured Snapdragon 820, but that’s likely to be further off than this year and would be more than 50 per cent faster than the 801 in the S5.
It could be the 810 as seen in the Galaxy Note 4, but that’s on a 20nm process, not 14nm.
Bloomberg has reported that it won’t be a Qualcomm chip at all. This would be a major blow for Qualcomm. The most likely candidate is an Exynos.
Samsung hasn’t given up on mobile payments. NFC might have spent more than a decade “coming soon”, so the S6 is rumoured to support quaint magnetic stripes.
Wireless charging is great (wake up Apple) so it’s no surprise to find it here, but it is slow.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Just Shared Insane Q4 Mobile Numbers and Ad Sales
Its smartphone promos alone did $2.5 billion By Garett Sloane
http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/facebook-just-shared-some-insane-q4-mobile-numbers-and-ad-sales-162608
Facebook’s mobile sales continue to skyrocket, now accounting for 69 percent of its advertising business, according to results it shared today.
During the 2014 fourth quarter, Facebook did $3.6 billion in total ad sales, which was a 53 percent year over year increase. The Menlo Park, Calif.-based tech giant obviously cashed in with holiday marketers, who were looking to rack up retail revenues with social News Feed ads.
The booming sales were accompanied by a rising global user base that now sits at nearly 1.4 billion monthly active users, up 13 percent year over year. In all, Facebook took in about $12.5 billion in revenue in 2014, a 58 percent increase.
Facebook also confirmed that video views hit 3 billion daily, tripling since September. “Video is a format that marketers have used for a long time to build an emotional connection to brands,” Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s COO, said during a call with analysts today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Your gran and her cronies are ‘embracing online banking’ – study
Really? Even 100-year-olds, claim clipboard wielders
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/01/29/your_gran_and_her_cronies_are_embracing_online_banking_study/
Online banking has seen a boom among the older generation, with nearly 2.3 million aged between 70 and over 100 years old now using internet banking, according to figures compiled by the British Bankers’ Association (BBA).
The BBA said more than 450,000 customers over the age of 60 are using banking apps on smart phones, iPads and other tablets.
“The oldest HSBC customer to have downloaded its banking app is aged 108,” the BBA said.
Figures published on 26 January, part of the BBA’s “Way We Bank Now” research, show that 2,267,597 bank customers aged over 70 are now registered to use internet banking. “More than 600,000 of these people are 80-plus,” the BBA said.
In addition, “more than 306,000 customers aged 60-plus have signed up to receive text alerts from their bank, which can help customers avoid fees when breeching borrowing limits”.
According to the BBA, the study also found that older customers who use mobile and internet banking “typically use it as frequently or only slightly less often than younger generations”. It shows that some banks “are currently experiencing faster growth rates for digital services by customers in their 70s and 80s than for younger generations”.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The American App Economy Is Now “Bigger Than Hollywood”
http://developers.slashdot.org/story/15/01/28/1745258/the-american-app-economy-is-now-bigger-than-hollywood
Technology business analyst Horace Deidu found an interesting nugget while closely examining an Apple press release from earlier this year: “The iOS App Store distributed $10 billion to developers in 2014, which, Deidu points out, is just about as much as Hollywood earned off U.S. box office revenues the same year.” That means the American app industry is poised to eclipse the American film industry.
The App Economy Is Now ‘Bigger Than Hollywood’
The web might be the most important medium in American culture.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/01/the-app-economy-is-now-bigger-than-hollywood/384842/
What is the major cultural force in America right now? It might just be apps and the web.
While reading a self-laudatory Apple press release, the technology business analyst Horace Deidu found something remarkable: The iOS App Store distributed $10 billion to developers in 2014, which, Deidu points out, is just about as much as Hollywood earned off U.S. box office revenues the same year.
Now, for “App economy” revenue worldwide to approach Hollywood revenue worldwide, those ads and services would have to bring in a lot of money.
One thing is true, though. In its release, Apple claims that its App Store has created 627,000 jobs. Deidu contrasts this to the 374,000 jobs that Hollywood creates.
To me, that the American app industry may eclipse the American film industry is more interesting for what it means culturally. There’s a growing sense that the products of the sector we usually call “tech” are attaining cultural primacy—the web is the new TV.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm Cuts Outlook, Warning Its Snapdragon 810 Dropped From a Flagship Device
http://recode.net/2015/01/28/qualcomm-cuts-outlook-warning-its-snapdragon-810-dropped-from-a-flagship-device/
Qualcomm said Wednesday cut its financial outlook for the current fiscal year, confirming its Snapdragon 810 chip was dropped by a large customer.
A Qualcomm representative declined to say which phone maker has dropped the Snapdragon 810, though reports have said the chip has heat issues and that Samsung had pulled the processor from its upcoming Galaxy S6. The 810 has been announced for use in some other products, including the LG Flex 2.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:
Cyanogen’s $70M+ round to include Microsoft as a minority investor — Microsoft to Invest in Rogue Android Startup Cyanogen — Microsoft is investing in a hot startup that’s trying to weaken Google ‘s hold over Android. — People familiar with the matter say Microsoft is putting money into Cyanogen …
Microsoft to Invest in Rogue Android Startup Cyanogen
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/29/microsoft-to-invest-in-rogue-android-startup-cyanogen/
Microsoft MSFT +1.95% is investing in a hot startup that’s trying to weaken Google GOOGL +0.16%’s hold over Android.
People familiar with the matter say Microsoft is putting money into Cyanogen, which is building a version of the Android mobile-operating system outside of Google’s auspices.
Microsoft would be a minority investor in a roughly $70 million round of equity financing that values Cyanogen in the high hundreds of millions, one of the people said. The person said the financing round could grow with other strategic investors that have expressed interest in Cyanogen because they’re also eager to diminish Google’s control over Android. The identity of the other potential investors couldn’t be learned.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Owen Williams / The Next Web:
Samsung’s Gear VR will provide in-flight entertainment for first-class Qantas passengers
http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2015/01/29/samsungs-gear-vr-will-provide-flight-entertainment-first-class-qantas-passengers/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Soon, one in five smartphone is phablet
Juniper Research predicts namely, that they are sold in 2019 for more than 400 million copies.
This year phablet sales volume reaches 138 million.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2348:pian-joka-viides-alypuhelin-on-phabletti&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chinese Walls and Back Doors
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325473&
Qualcomm and U.S. industry are the losers as China’s antitrust regulators help build a new wall around China’s semiconductor industry.
The need to build Chinese walls in the semiconductor industry is taking on a completely new significance as China’s antitrust regulators start to flex their muscles.
The implications affect global companies that aim to keep their foothold in China’s semiconductor market — which by 2012 became the world’s largest, accounting for 52 percent of total demand — that continues to lead industry growth.
The key chipmakers impacted by China’s antitrust initiatives include Qualcomm of the US and MediaTek of Taiwan as well as emerging Chinese companies such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC) and Spreadtrum Communications. The Chinese government, which has aimed to make semiconductors a pillar industry for years, is using antitrust issues to create a level playing field for domestic companies.
The Wall Street Journal on January 27 reported that China’s central government has asked Spreadtrum to custom design “safe phone” processors for officials’ smartphones that in one to two years may replace chips from U.S. suppliers which Beijing suspects may contain back doors to aid foreign spying. To be sure, China may be justified in protecting itself from national security risks, following revelations about U.S. surveillance activities by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
China’s antitrust probe of Qualcomm may already be taking a toll on the world’s largest maker of smartphone chips, which today said it has cut expectations for sales and profit this year after losing semiconductor orders and facing stronger competition in China.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Google’s 3D mapping technology, Project Tango, graduates from the Advanced Technology and Projects group — Google spins out Project Tango from its Advanced Technology and Projects group — At the moment, it’s not quite clear what’s happening to Project Tango, Google’s ambitious plan …
Google spins out Project Tango from its Advanced Technology and Projects grou
http://venturebeat.com/2015/01/30/google-spins-out-project-tango-from-its-advanced-technology-and-projects-group/
At the moment, it’s not quite clear what’s happening to Project Tango, Google’s ambitious plan to put 3D mapping technology inside your smartphone.
This move reminds us of another recent spin-out: Glass, which “graduated” from the Google[x] team but then was later acknowledged as a disappointment by execs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Strategy Analytics Blog:
Android Shipped 1 Billion Smartphones Worldwide in 2014
http://blogs.strategyanalytics.com/WSS/post/2015/01/29/Android-Shipped-1-Billion-Smartphones-Worldwide-in-2014.aspx
According to the latest research from our WSS (Smartphones) service, global smartphone shipments grew 30 percent annually to reach a record 1.3 billion units in 2014. Android accounted for 81 percent of all smartphones last year and shipped over 1 billion units worldwide for the first time ever.
Wireless Smartphone Strategies Reports
http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=saservice&a0=91&m=5#1
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wesley Yin-Poole / Eurogamer.net:
Sega to offer 300 staff voluntary retirement as it focuses on smartphone and PC online games
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-01-30-sega-to-offer-300-voluntary-retirement-as-part-of-focus-on-smartphone-and-pc-online-gaming
Sega is on a drive for increased profits, and is focusing on digital games, particularly smartphone and PC online gaming, which it has identified as a growth area.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm’s financial results and outlook captures some big trends – charting where the competition is heading:
Qualcomm Outlook Exposes 5 Trouble Spots
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325486&
As the world’s dominant mobile chip supplier, Qualcomm knows exactly how many mobile chips have been shipped to handset vendors everywhere.
1. Qualcomm continues to have trouble getting licensing agreements in place and collecting royalties in China.
2. A shift in the balance of power between Apple and Samsung has emerged at the premium tier market, with Apple gaining share at the expense of Samsung.
3. The product mix on the mobile chip market has changed, with Qualcomm selling a growing number of thin modems compared to higher valued apps processors with built-in modems.
4. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 apps processor won’t be included in Samsung’s newest smartphone.
5. Qualcomm faces more competition in China.
Most companies in the consumer electronics industry would agree that putting licensing deals in place and successfully collecting royalties from Chinese OEMs — on DVD, MPEG-2 or HDMI — is never easy.
To dramatically cut royalties for Chinese OEMs is an option China prefers.
But forgoing royalty fees isn’t something Qualcomm is willing to do. It would cut directly into a key revenue stream.
“Having the government pressuring you on license and royalty fees does not make it any easier [for Qualcomm].”
Qualcomm has reiterated its readiness to offer “a broad range of remedies” to Chinese OEMs.
In the financial call, Qualcomm touched on the shifting market share among premium smartphone vendors. Qualcomm named no names, but the company implied Apple has been expanding sales at the expense of Samsung, especially among premium smartphones — where Qualcomm plays.
Apple’s success in the last quarter — Apple sold 74.5 million handsets — and its continued growth are both good and bad news for Qualcomm. The good news is that Qualcomm’s baseband chip is inside all Apple products. The bad news is that Apple isn’t buying Qualcomm’s more profitable Snapdragon line. To complicate matters further, Samsung isn’t going to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 in its newest flagship smartphone.
Mollenkopf did acknowledge that one of the hardest things for Qualcomm is to project what the [product] mix is going to be. The company won’t know for sure “whether we’re going to sell a lot of thin modems or whether it’s going to be Snapdragon processors,” he said.
The largest impact in the company’s lowered financial outlook for 2015 is “really due to the mix of products,” he concluded.
What happens when China OEMs go global?
It’s bad enough that a growing number of China’s domestic handset vendors have been driving down the price in the Chinese market. What happens when those Chinese OEMs start going global?
Qualcomm downplayed this scenario. Aberle said two factors are at play.
First, he said, “Expect consolidation among the Chinese OEMs.” In his opinion, “there are just really too many players to sustain themselves long-term.”
Second, once consolidated, they will eventually become more successful on the markets outside China, they will invest in building their brand and spend more money in R&D.
Is he being too optimistic? Perhaps. But he claimed, “We are actually starting to see Chinese OEM average selling prices increase.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tizen Phones Selling in India Compete with Android One
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325483&
Samsung is introducing their second Tizen OS smartphone, the Z1, initially just for the Indian market.
Smartphone manufacturers and internet companies are determined that 2015 will be the year to connect the “next billion” subscribers. Everyone agrees that developing markets such as India, China, Brazil and the African continent are the ones experiencing the fastest smartphone adoption.
Now Samsung is introducing their second Tizen OS smartphone, the Z1, initially just for the Indian market. Samsung already hinted last year that the Tizen devices will be initially available in selected markets, as low cost devices, but chose to launch the first model in June, the Samsung Z as a midrange device for the Russian market. But, at the time of writing this article the Russians are still waiting to get their hands on the device.
Now Samsung has announced that Z1 is available immediately in the Indian market.The Z1 is a compact smartphone full of features one can expect in more expensive models.
Samsung has not announced the number of Apps available for the phone, but initial reports suggest that the phone will include popular apps such as Facebook, Twitter, and probably WhatsApp.
Despite its nice design and features I don’t see the new Samsung Z1 competing with the Android One devices. For starters the Android OS is well established and has all the apps customers want, most of them free. And the Android One devices run stock Android OS 4.4 (kitkat) directly from Google. They have a faster processor, more battery power and similar connectivity. The devices have been available in India from three manufacturers since the first half on November. Both the Android One and the Samsung Z1 retail for less that $100.
But here is the catch: Samsung has made agreements with two of the most important cell carriers in the country, Reliance Communications & Aircel, to offer free 500MB/month 3G data during six months.
Obviously Samsung is counting on music and movies to be the strong selling point of the Z1, especially since most of the potential Z1 customers never had a smartphone before.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Benedict Evans:
Huge smartphone supply chain producing small, cheap, low power components enables new products like drones, wearables, and other connected devices
The home and the mobile supply chain
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2015/1/11/home-and-the-mobile-supply-chain
For the last 30 years PCs and the PC supply chain dominated the technology industry, and PCs and their components were used for all sorts of things that weren’t actually personal computers – everything from ATMs to industrial control equipment. Today that’s clearly ending – it’s now the smartphone supply chain that dominates. This chart makes that point pretty well, I think.
One effect of this is that smartphones are both destroying and creating entire other product categories. On one hand, things like point & shoot cameras, voice recorders, clocks and music players and so on are very obviously being subsumed into phones. But on the other, smartphones are enabling new types of products.
The PC supply chain ultimately thought about components for $500-1000 boxes to go on your desk – the smartphone supply chain thinks about much smaller boxes that average $200 and go down to $30 or $40 and run on batteries. So you get smaller, cheaper, low power components
The challenges, I think, come from where the intelligence and the software will actually sit, and how much there needs to be. If much of the hardware tech is a commodity, then so is the hardware itself, unless you can find a way to create an addition layer of value with software and service and experience (and design, as with Ringly). It’s the intelligence and the software that makes the difference between a commodity widget and something that has some real value for an entrepreneur (from outside or inside China). Not all device types really have network effects, and not all devices can be the hub of your connected home, at least not all at once. Some categories are going to be commodity widgets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Pebble has now sold over 1 million smartwatches; new hardware and software are planned for this year — New hardware and software are planned for this year — While Google and Apple have been getting the lion’s share of attention for smartwatches lately, indie darling Pebble …
http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/2/7947799/pebble-1-million-smartwatches-sold-new-hardware-coming