AllThingsD » cellphone

Could Using Your Gadgets in Mid-Air Really Bring Down the Plane?

Ina Fried — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 11:00:54 +0000

It seems hard for many to believe, but one air travel industry study has found that there may be some merit to the idea that small electronics could interfere enough with airplane navigation to cause a safety problem.

According to a confidential study unearthed by ABC News, a study by the International Air Transport Association trade group found some 75 incidents of potential interference reported between 2003 and 2009. They involved interference with everything from flight controls to navigation to communications systems. The type of device suspected of causing interference varied, though the most commonly cited likely troublemaker was the cellphone.

Cellphone use is, of course, banned by the FAA during flights, though many people forget to turn off their devices or willingly ignore the warnings. It is increasingly common to hear a cellphone ring or an alert chirp well after take-off.

Even more irksome to some is the requirement to shut down non-transmitting devices, such as iPods and Kindles. Those devices are allowed during flight, but not during takeoff or landing, even though some airlines are starting to replace their flight manuals with iPads.

The best part about this story was the reaction I got from boss Kara Swisher when I summarized it on our story list.

“Uh-oh,” she wrote. “I call Walt all the time from a plane. Only place AT&T worked.”

The good news for her fellow travelers is she now has a Verizon iPhone and, perhaps as a result of this article, extra scrutiny from her future flight crews.

(photo credit: Flickr/Brentdpayne)

IBM Survey Says Mobile Apps Will Dominate Enterprise

Timothy Hay — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:20:35 +0000

Consumers love tablet computers and smartphones and are finding novel uses for the many applications that run on them. But the devices are catching on in a significant way in the business world as well, according to a new survey from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), the company responsible for building and running much of the country’s enterprise computing systems.

After surveying 2,000 information-technology professionals in 87 countries, IBM found that more than half believe that within the next five years, more developers will be working on mobile applications and cloud-based architecture than traditional computing platforms for enterprise.

“In all areas of software development, mobile computing is seen as the number-one hottest IT opportunity next year,” said Jim Corgel, an IBM general manager of independent software vendors and developer relations who was involved in the survey. “Not only will mobile spike to the forefront, but by 2015, respondents said it will dominate everything. The cell phone is no longer a gadget – it’s what IT is going to become.”

Read the rest of this post on the original site

IPod to IPhone on the Cheap in China

Juliet Ye — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:15:03 +0000

Apple’s (AAPL) sluggishness in China has forced impatient Apple fans to get creative.

Years before the iPhone officially hit the Chinese market, Apple fans purchased them from grey-market sellers. Some go overseas themselves to bring the devices back, and can pay just a little more than $10 to have them unlocked. Users without the necessary dual-currency credit cards have purchased iTunes gift cards at discounts online in order to buy iPhone apps, and enabled third-generation data services on their grey-market iPads by physically cutting SIM cards in half to fit the tablet’s smaller card slots.

Now, as Apple prepares the official launch of the iPhone 3GS with Wi-Fi, considered yesterday’s news in most other markets, a Chinese company called Yosion Technology is offering Chinese Apple fans another option.

Shenzhen-based Yosion has unveiled a product called the Apple Peel 520, a hack which can turn any iPod Touch into a cell phone. The Apple Peel attaches to an iPod Touch like any protective case, but functions as a dock, an extended battery and most intriguingly, a SIM card slot.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Multiplicity: China Begins Cranking Out iPad Clones

John Paczkowski — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:15:48 +0000

With the iPad, Apple hopes to create a new category of device, one that, in the words of CEO Steve Jobs, is “more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smartphone.”

Although the iPad is unproven at market, some Chinese electronics manufacturers are betting that it will succeed in doing just what Jobs foresees. And they’re cloning the hell out of Apple’s (AAPL) device.

Among them, Teso debuted two tablets at a Chinese trade show last week–an Intel (INTC) Atom-based “iPhone-style” tablet that runs Windows 7 and an ARM-based device running Android–and Yinlips plans an iPad look-alike with a six-inch E-Ink display.

Meanwhile, Micro-Star International will show off an Android-based tablet with a 10-inch screen at the Computex electronics show in June.

Then there’s Asus, which is prepping two iPad rivals for launch in the coming months, one for Android and another for Windows. Asus, of course, is the company that earlier this month disparaged the iPad as “one big screen iPhone” and said it was something it could improve.

Finally, Shenzhen Huayi expects big things from its ridiculous-looking iPad knockoff. “We basically made the designs to look like a jumbo iPhone,” President Xiong Yiwei told Korea IT Times. “The profit margin of counterfeit cell phones reached up to 30 percent in the past, but only 10 yuan (US$1.50) profit margin is made per one product. We had a great expectation of netbooks last year, but only 100 yuan (US$15) profit margin was made. The success of iPhonish product is a matter of life or death for us.”

No wonder microprocessor outfit ARM is predicting we’ll see some 50 iPad clones by year’s end.

[Image credits: midbbs.cn, imp3.net and Shanzai]

The Mysterious GPhone Unveiled: A Slideshow History

Drake Martinet — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 08:01:01 +0000

Since the earliest rumors shivered through the blogosphere, Google has been on a steady march toward releasing its own mobile offering.

If the journey was steady, though, the communication was anything but. Google (GOOG) has shifted its language along the way and even outright denied the smartphone project once or twice.

The Nexus One, news of which got out a few weeks ago, might not be the innovative free-to-all everyone was fantasizing about, but it represents the most significant mobile announcement from Google to date, using its Android operating system software.

More to the point, Nexus One, the Silicon Valley search giant’s most aggressive attack on the hegemony of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, will finally be unveiled today at an event that will be ably covered by Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski, starting at about 10 am PT.

But overall, it was a pretty sneaky journey from there to here.

So, here is the visual history, using our new All Things Digital slideshow format.

Almost Famous: Elemental Technologies' Sam Blackman

Drake Martinet — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:01:48 +0000

A new feature wherein All Things Digital looks at up-and-coming and innovative start-ups you should know about.

This week: We caught up with Sam Blackman, CEO of Elemental Technologies at the San Francisco NewTeeVee Live conference.

Elemental Technologies hopes to become a major player in the future of online and over-the-air video through its high-performance encoding technology.

Who: Sam Blackman

What: CEO and Chairman of Elemental Technologies.

Why: People want to watch live video on all their devices. Making a new version of a given video for every device is time- and processor-intensive. Elemental says it can replace up to five existing dedicated servers with one of its own, based on its proprietary software.

Where: @elementaltech (Twitter); company blog; Portland (analog place).

Who else: Sam says, “We’re the first-ever company to take advantage of GPUs for video processing,” but Nvidia (NVDA) is the key hardware player.

Five Stats You Won’t Find in His Facebook Profile

Worst Job: Barista. Late for the Trolley coffee. It had this really abusive owner. He’d yell at us if we gave a half-pump too much flavoring.

Gadget of the Moment: Lenovo X301. It’s all about the keyboard.

Early Geek Influence: Jack Dudman. He was a neighbor growing up and was Steve Jobs’s math teacher at Reed College.

Wishes There Was an App for That: A really smart public transit app. Like one that knows where I am and can tell me which of the options near me I can go to, to get to my destination fastest.

Sport You Can’t Live Without: Ultimate Frisbee

Bio in 140 Characters

Raised in Oregon. EE at Brown. Time at Intel, then Pixelworks. Left to start Elemental Technologies. Loves work, kids and Ultimate Frisbee.

The Five Questions

Elemental’s products seem pretty hardcore geeky. Break it down for me.

The man on the street today wants to view video on any device at any time. The content owners of that video need to be able to format the video differently for each type of device ["transcoding"]. We make that process much cheaper. At the beginning, we saw that there was going to be a huge increase in the amount of video produced out there, but that it was hard to distribute.

Right now it’s really hard [lots of equipment and time] to create, say, 240 versions of every video [so that they can be viewed quickly on an iPhone and in HD on a laptop, for instance]. Four to five regular CPU [central processing unit] servers can be replaced by one of our servers with a GPU [graphical processing unit] and our software. That means far less cost for businesses and many more video options for the consumer.

Device variations are just exploding. How do you see the changing landscape moving your business?

I don’t see the number of video formats decreasing at all. Every company that [produces] a device wants to control delivery to it. No one is going to dominate the cellphone market. It’s just too big. You can get three percent and have a nice business. As long as that is the way the game is played, our products will be very desirable.

Why are you going to be the first software company to acquire an auto body shop?

That’s my dream. The way our product works is, when we take an order, we just submit the hardware request to Dell (DELL). They plug in a GPU. We take the box and add our software.

The funny story is that we wanted a more custom look, so we found this auto body shop in Portland that takes the bezels [rack server face plates], sands them, cleans them, repaints them and sends them back. They look beautiful, like tons of engineering went into it. Dell will do that for you, but its 20 grand, and we’re a start-up. That’s my dream, a company that doesn’t have any employees who drive to work but owns an auto body shop.

Every geek has a memory where they saw something new and had to say to themselves, “Dang, I love living in the future.” What’s yours?

I know exactly what that was. Turtle graphics. My mother put me in a programming class in kindergarten, and there was this thing called LOGO [where you could use computer instructions to make an onscreen turtle draw something]. I had an hour class where I figured out how to draw a square. I went home that night and wrote down on paper a program that would draw the American flag.

My neighbor had an Apple (AAPL) IIc that I used to input that first program. I probably stayed up all night as a six-year-old doing that and that was it for me. What a genius idea. I mean, kids love seeing results, and there were no visual results [from programming] for a long time. LOGO was the first thing where you could spend about an hour and get visual results.

What tech war are you watching most closely?

There’s a battle looming between Intel (INTC) and Nvidia, as Intel releases their own GPU architecture. We’re trying to be really well-positioned to benefit from that arms race of the FLOPS [the processing performance unit].

The In Living Color Interview

[ See post to watch video ]

Kara Visits TEDMED (Featuring Synthetic Skin and Heart-Scanning iPhones!)

Kara Swisher — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:05:11 +0000

Can your cellphone check your blood sugar? What does a wireless BandAid do? Is my pill networked? Can a videogame cure cancer? Will a robot care for my mom? Can an Apple (AAPL) iPhone save my life?

And, of course, does synthetic skin feel gross?

The answer to the last question is yes, but it is also pretty astonishing to touch, as noted in one of the many tech-heavy talks at TEDMED, the medical and health-care conference, which has returned after a five-year hiatus, to Hotel Coronado near San Diego.

The four-day gathering is being helmed by RIchard Saul Wurman, the legendary creator of the original Techonology, Entertainment and Design conference. After he sold it, Wurman struck a deal to license the name for this independent event from TED.

Speakers include famed inventor Dean Kamen, pioneering genomic scientist J. Craig Venter, 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta and Qualcomm (QCOM) CEO Paul Jacobs.

Here’s a video I did, which includes interviews with Wurman, as well as his new conference partner, Marc Hodosh, and clips from presentations by Intel (INTC) Fellow Eric Dishman comparing mainframe computers to hospitals, and actress Goldie Hawn, who talked about the benefits of a happier classroom:

[ See post to watch video ]

Liveblogging Yahoo's Third-Quarter Conference Call: Bartz "Came Down With Something," and CFO Carries On (and On and On and On)

Kara Swisher — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:15:15 +0000

Uh-oh, Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz was expected to appear on the Internet giant’s third-quarter earnings call, but she has apparently “came down with something,” according to CFO Tim Morse.

BoomTown is sending over chicken soup right now, but let’s hope she gets her vaccinations tout de suite!

Worst of all, no sassy quotes or cursing, replaced by a very earnest Morse, who sounded like he was once a Boy Scout.

After the markets closed, Yahoo reported better-than-expected earnings on still lackluster revenues.

Overall, the conference call boiled down to one quote from Morse that seems to have been selected as the Yahoo (YHOO) buzzword of the moment:

“The theme for third quarter was stabilization.”

2:02 pm PDT: Investor stuff from guy who sounded like a robot that I completely ignored, since I was much more interested in a conversation between two women about a bad date this past weekend, which I eavesdropped on in its entirety while liveblogging from a Starbucks (SBUX) in San Francisco.

By the way, the man whom the ladies are ripping was a very unstable date!

2:04 pm: Morse jumped on and gave everyone the bad news about Bartz being sick and the good news about the better-than-expected net income, while also updating all the various happenings of the quarter.

“I am happy to report that our Q3 revenue came in above our guidance range,” said Morse, who sounded somewhat jaunty.

Morse reeled off numbers, numbers and more numbers, some stuff about the new marketing campaign ($18 million spent so far and $45 million in the next quarter!) and other stuff about the cost cuts and fourth-quarter guidance.

Also, no sale of the company’s Alibaba in China or the Yahoo! Japan stake, thank you very much!

2:12 pm: Morse also gave a quick update about the search and online advertising partnership Yahoo has struck with Microsoft (MSFT).

His message: The Silicon Vally Internet icon is not out of search, because it is not about the algorithm, but a better search product.

Tim, you might want to roll that claim back, especially since you also might want to notice how well Google (GOOG) has done with its giant math-brains in the search business.

Morse tried mightily to channel Bartz on search, using a comparison she has made about the Intel (INTC) chip, which is widely used by computer makers. Said Morse, it’s the “differentiation” that matters!

I wonder if Yahoo will keep repeating that one, even as its search share continues to decline.

But Morse did make a funny about how many ex-Yahoos are on the Microsoft payroll now, so the partnership transition should go smoothly.

Well, there’s that!

2:28 pm: Morse mentioned Yahoo’s analysts day next week, and then opened up the call to questions.

Analysts always ask very dull questions at earnings calls and this one proved no different.

The first was about display run rate and about the search market in comparison to Google.

What’s the good word? Stabilization, of course!

The next question was about eBay (EBAY), which seems far from the point.

Morse agreed and cut it short.

Then, a question about guaranteed placement and stock buybacks. Zzzzzzzzz–even Morse sounded bored.

The Starbucks lovelorn ladies had left by now, so I was too.

2:37 pm: The next question concerned the affiliate business and how it might be affected by the Microsoft deal.

I immediately summoned the barista, since it was clearly time for a double espresso!

A question came next about when the display ad business would recover from the econalypse. Morse: Stabilization!

Then, a query about gross margins and whether they can be maintained. Morse was not saying, except to point out that there was a “good, old-fashioned, get-your-hands-dirty” attitude at work at Yahoo now about watching costs.

I was suddenly worried about dirty-handed Yahoos, just when the CEO is sick!

Use Purell, please–or suffer the wrath of Judy!

2:43 pm: Another question on ad sales and quality. Thus, I moved onto mainlining coffee beans en masse. I long for a visit from Juan Valdez!

Then, a question about Q4 guidance, which was not good enough for one analyst, who wanted more.

Morse did not really bite, although he talked a lot.

Next, a question about slow-growing page views and what was Yahoo planning to sell of its various assets.

Morse tried to be all silver-lining about page views and would not talk about specific divestitures (nor did he mention the appointment of a new head of Yahoo M&A).

“We continue to look at the landscape,” he said.

What about more job cuts or hiring, since Yahoo added 200 people in the quarter? Morse noted Yahoo was staying strong in tech talent and was “putting feet on the street” in advertising.

Also something about paid inclusion, but a new person at Starbucks was having a really good cellphone argument, so I zoned out of Morse-talk for a second!

2:56 pm: A question about premium and nonpremium inventory. Looks good on premium, said Morse.

The next query was about the different metrics between the new and old homepage, as well as a request for more info about the analyst day next week.

Morse refused to “steal my own thunder” on what is going to happen there. But, there will be thunder? I am always dubious when it comes to Yahoo and thunder.

As for the homepage, Morse said Yahoo was still evaluating the performance.

2:58 pm: Mobile. Aaaaaghhh, another chance for Morse to say not much about anything substantive. Morse: Better and more established! Translation: No moolah yet!

A head count question. Will improvement come from cost cuts due to the Microsoft deal or revenue improvements?

Three guesses and the first two don’t count. Thanks for the row-boatloads of money, Microsoft!

Something about bookings and small-to-medium businesses. Morse did not understand the question and neither did I.

Next, a question on search monetization, which has weakened. Answer: Stabilization!

3:02 pm: A question about the new $100 million branding campaign. Morse: “It’s very, very early.”

Some deal question and then one about behaviorial targeting, which Morse said will apparently be a “lifeblood” of the future.

Incredibly, Morse has gone hog-wild chatty with Bartz laid low and is asking for more questions, without making one good joke or salty remark yet.

I was completely losing it when it gets to ad exchange details and not as coffee-saturated as I needed to be.

Finally, the LAST question: Another one about divestiture and acquisition.

As if Morse was going to answer, referring instead–as he has many times in the call–to his “script.” Yahoo will buy stuff, Yahoo will sell stuff, but pretty much a no-comment!

And on that note…Carol: Please, pretty please GET WELL SOON!

Until then, here is a minidose of Bartz, via video snippets from an interview with me at the seventh D: All Things Digital conference.

Her lively tone seen here at D7 would have been a good thing at today’s earnings call:

[ See post to watch video ]

(And, here is a link to Yahoo’s presentation of its financial highlights, for those with a hankering for even more numbers.)

The Chips Are Up

John Paczkowski — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:24:10 +0000

Could the global semiconductor industry be heading for a much anticipated recovery? It’s starting to look that way. Chip sales rose in July for the fifth consecutive month on a month-to-month basis, according to the trade group, Semiconductor Industry Association. Which is not to say sales are robust; down 18.2 percent year-over-year, they’re abysmal, but they are showing continuing signs of recovery.

“The fifth-consecutive month of sequential increases in semiconductor sales reflects improving demand in the consumer sector,” SIA President George Scalise said in a statement. “Sales of consumer products such as netbook PCs and cell phones are supporting the modest recovery in demand that is now under way. Purchases of Information Technology products by the enterprise sector continue to be tempered by caution and longer replacement cycles. There is also evidence of a return to seasonal industry patterns.”

BillShrink's Pham Speaks About the T-Mobile Deal, the Econalypse and More!

Kara Swisher — Wed, 20 May 2009 13:00:04 +0000

Last week, BoomTown paid an economically-minded visit to the Redwood City, Calif., offices of BillShrink, a Silicon Valley start-up aimed at helping consumers find cheaper prices on gas, cellphones and plans and credit cards via a Web-based comparison and alert system.

Launched about a year ago and armed with about $9 million in funding from Bessemer Venture Partners and Trinity Ventures, it has aims of moving into a range of other money-saving arenas too.

But today, it got a major boost in its existing business by inking a deal to be part of a huge national advertising campaign by T-Mobile aimed at boosting price awareness among consumers, an apt message for these econalyptic times.

The ads will start tonight in a big way on the finale of “American Idol” and will star Catherine Zeta-Jones, who asks consumers in high-profile television commercials if they want a “mobile makeover.”

Cue BillShrink, even if it does not end up recommending T-Mobile’s service.

It is the first time the mobile carrier has recommended a third-party Web site and one that is independent. T-Mobile must, given it is the No. 4 player and has to beat the bigger players with a curve ball.

While BillShrink does make money from referrals of vendors, BillShrink CEO Peter Pham said the service it delivers to consumers must remain unbiased to render the right comparison results to consumers.

I sat down and talked with Pham, a former Photobucket exec, about all this and also where BillShrink is headed next.

Here’s the video interview:

[ See post to watch video ]

And here is the T-Mobile commercial:

[ See post to watch video ]

Finally, here is the press release from T-Mobile about the campaign:

T-Mobile Aims to Help Wireless Customers Save Money by Offering ‘Mobile Makeovers’

BELLEVUE, Wash., May 20, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE)–T-Mobile USA, Inc. announced today a new campaign dedicated to helping people save money on their wireless service, and unveils a familiar face to inform customers that T-Mobile has “the coverage you need at the price you want.”

T-Mobile is prompting wireless customers to compare the value they are getting with their current wireless provider against other national carriers. People can visit T-Mobile retail stores or http://www.T-Mobile.com for a Mobile Makeover(SM), at no charge, by linking customers to BillShrink, an independent third-party service that provides people with free, unbiased and personalized savings recommendations for everyday bills such as wireless plans, credit cards and gasoline.

“Providing great wireless coverage at a great price is at the heart of what T-Mobile offers,” said Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA, Inc. “We’re so confident that T-Mobile provides the best overall experience for a majority of Americans, we’re willing to put our value to the test by pointing people to an independent source. And while we may not come out on top each and every time, we believe a majority of people will see T-Mobile offers them the value they want, and the best experience in wireless.”

According to BillShrink, as many as eight out of 10 people unknowingly overpay for their wireless service.* BillShrink analyzes a customer’s wireless usage, along with wireless coverage in a customer’s area and service price, to provide recommendations to help people find the best value options. “Wireless customers need quality cell phone coverage at the best available price so BillShrink helps people easily navigate through millions of wireless plan combinations to provide a personalized recommendation,” said Peter Pham, CEO, BillShrink. “BillShrink shows people how to save money on their everyday bills and still get the best level of service.”

To help drive home the message that millions of Americans could save money on their wireless service, a familiar face and voice, Catherine Zeta-Jones, is again featured in T-Mobile’s television advertising. In the ads, she prompts people to get a Mobile Makeover in order to help determine if they are currently paying too much for their wireless services, and where to find the best value, based on their individual needs.

“As an avid T-Mobile customer, I’m delighted once again to help T-Mobile carry its message to millions of Americans about the great value they deliver,” Zeta-Jones said. “The Mobile Makeover campaign is a smart way to show consumers that they could save some serious money.”

The first television spot featuring Ms. Zeta-Jones will air tonight during the American Idol season finale on FOX. It features a group of Ivy League economists trying to educate homeowners they’re paying too much for their cell phone service, only to have door after door slammed in their face. Finally, a homeowner is pleasantly surprised when he opens the door to see Zeta-Jones standing on his doorstep asking, “Do you have time for a Mobile Makeover?” Zeta-Jones will be featured in two additional Mobile Makeover television spots in the coming weeks.

Online advertising, local radio, out-of-home advertising, retail collateral, and online video opportunities also will carry T-Mobile value and Mobile Makeover messaging.

For more information about Mobile Makeover and T-Mobile’s products and services, please visit a T-Mobile retail store, or go to http://www.T-Mobile.com. More information about BillShrink can be found at http://www.BillShrink.com.

*8 of 10 claim based on January 2009 sample of consumers who used BillShrink.com to analyze their reported usage. BillShrink.com is not operated or controlled, and the information/results provided on this site are not verified, by T-Mobile. See T-Mobile.com for rate plan information.

Conficker and What Really Confounded Silicon Valley

Ben Worthen — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:38:04 +0000

There are computer hacks, and then there are REAL hacks, like of the saw variety. Silicon Valley got a wake-up call in the latter variety Thursday, when vandals hacked into fiber-optic cables beneath the ground, knocking parts of three California counties offline.

Some 52,000 households in Santa Clara County were expected to be without phone and Internet until at least late Thursday night, according to a county spokesman. Other counties experienced outages as well. Cellphones were also impacted since the cables that were cut handled all voice and data traffic in and out of the area.

Read the rest of this post

It’s Not Easy Being a Green Recharger

Willa Plank — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:01:53 +0000

My iPhone needs charging every night. Even then, it dies on me by the end of the day, cutting off important conversations. Coming upon solar- and wind-powered portable chargers, I wondered if I found the perfect solution to keeping it going while helping the environment.

How these chargers work is very simple. They take sunlight or wind power to charge their internal batteries, thus able to recharge a cellphone, MP3 player or digital camera through a connector. They are a part of a growing market of products that power up mobile devices on the go.

“For the first time we are seeing innovation,” said Shawn DuBravac, economist and director of research at the Consumer Electronics Association. He said the newest power solutions for portables are in the infancy stage.

I chose the Devotec and the HYmini devices because of their futuristic, sleek looks. The Devotec solar charger, with its cover, can easily fit in a pocket or purse.

I left the Devotec near my windowsill the whole afternoon to catch some rays. The device charged my iPhone, albeit not completely. The most frustrating thing with this device is that I don’t know when it’s done charging. The solar indicator light doesn’t turn off. Also, I don’t know how charged–i.e., quarter- or half-full–the battery is.

The manual says that an hour of sunlight should suffice to start charging. But after speaking with the company, I was told that the battery needed 24 hours of sunlight, equating to a couple of days near a windowsill, for the internal battery to be fully charged.

Read the rest of this post

Dell: Dude, What Did You Do With Your Cellphone?

Eric Savitz — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:20:57 +0000

So, uh, wasn’t Dell (DELL) supposed to be working on a cellphone?

Well, that was the scuttlebutt. But Dell has failed to show at recent mobile trade shows. Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros., asserts in a research note today that the company’s first attempt was basically rejected by the carriers as too, well, Dell-like.

He asserts that Dell showed a prototype to the carriers, but that they weren’t all that impressed. “From our conversation with supply chain and industry sources, it appears that it ultimately came down to lack of carrier interest and small subsidies, making it difficult for Dell to make a profit,” he writes. “In our view, the last thing Dell needs is to enter another money-losing business as it seeks to preserve its operating margins of 5-6 percent.” (Which he notes compares to Hewlett-Packard at around 11 percent, and Apple and IBM at 15 percent.)

Read the rest of this post

Semi: No Sign of End Market Improvement, Avian Says

Eric Savitz — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 20:32:00 +0000

So, did you buy a PC this week? How about a cellphone? A printer? A switch?

Probably not. And that could be a problem.

The higher the current rally takes the semiconductor stocks–the SMH, the Semiconductor HOLDRS, is up 18.5 percent over the last seven sessions–the more you can expect the Street to dig into the question of whether there has been any real change in demand beyond inventory restocking. Auriga USA analyst Daniel Berenbaum took up the question yesterday; he says signs of true improving end demand are scant.

Today, Avi Cohen, head of research at Avian Securities, takes a look, and reaches the same conclusion.

Read the rest of this post

Nokia: Connecting People (With Mandatory Furloughs)

John Paczkowski — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:00:08 +0000

Not two months into 2009 and already the year is turning out to be the weakest the industry has seen in some time. With the economic downturn slowing growth in developing markets, consumers delaying cellphone purchases and retailers destocking them, cellphone juggernaut Nokia (NOK) is scaling back production at its key Salo plant in Finland.

This morning the company said it will temporarily lay off the plant’s entire staff of 2,500 on a rotational basis, with between 20 percent and 30 percent of staff furloughed at a time. “With these plans, we aim to scale down Salo production to reflect reduced market demand, while operations in the factory continue uninterrupted,” Juha Putkiranta, Nokia’s SVP of demand supply network management, said in a statement. “This is one of the measures we are taking to adjust our global demand supply network to the current situation.”

Another such measure: the shuttering of Nokia’s research and development site in Jyväskylä, Finland, which will be phased out by the end of the year.

A grim, but expected announcement. Nokia shipped 113 million handsets world-wide in the fourth quarter of 2008, down 15 percent annually. And in January, the company warned that world-wide sales in ’09 are likely to fall 10 percent year-to-year. As CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo put it at the time, “the macro environment is challenging and, we believe, will remain so in 2009.”

Truer words, apparently. And a somber warning for Motorola (MOT) and Samsung. With 40 percent of the market, Nokia is a bellwether for the industry. If it’s closing R&D facilities and dialing back production for 2009, one can only imagine what sort of ugliness the year has in store for the likes of Motorola.

Dell Mulling SmartDumbphone?

John Paczkowski — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:47:44 +0000

Dell, the second-rate PC company, may soon become a second-rate handset company as well. Anonymous sources tell The Wall Street Journal that the company has developed prototype smartphones that work on Windows Mobile and Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system. The first is said to boast a touchscreen similar to Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, the other a slide-out QWERTY keypad like the Palm Pre, both intended to compete in the segment dominated by the iPhone and BlackBerry devices. According to the Journal, Dell (DELL) may uncrate one or the other, or both, as early as February, assuming it doesn’t abandon them entirely–which is also said to be a possibility. A few other details:

The noncompete clause that prevents Ron Garriques, the former Motorola (MOT) executive heading up Dell’s consumer-products efforts, from working on mobile phones expires next month.
If Dell does debut a phone or two, the introductions won’t take place at next month’s Mobile World Congress show; the company has announced that it’s not attending the show, much less introducing new phones there.
Other reports name the alleged device as the (wince) “MePhone,” which is about the worst name I can think of, though it’s entirely appropriate for Dell.
The Journal report comes on the heels of Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu’s claims that Dell has been making preparations for a cellphone for some time now. “From our supply chain checks, Dell has been studying the cellphone market and talking with component suppliers and manufacturers for nearly two years now,” Wu wrote earlier this month. “The exact timing of Dell’s launch is not clear but our sources indicate it is closer to reality than before. We believe it is likely inevitable that Dell enter the cellphone space given the cannibalization of PCs by smartphones and highly functional mobile devices.”
If Dell does enter the smartphone space, it will likely be with far less elegance and grace than it would have if the company had bought Palm (PALM) when it had the chance. From RealMoney.com contributor Bob Faulkner’s open letter to Michael Dell:
With the advent of the Apple iPhone in 2007 and its subsequent imitators, it has become apparent that we’re seeing “computing” evolve once again. Phones are no longer just something you speak into. They have transformed into a portal for taking the Internet wherever you go.

I realize that you have been busy the last couple of years trying to right the good ship Dell, but your lack of participation in this market segment will hurt the company going forward. There is another rumor making the rounds that you’ve been feeling out suppliers in an attempt to enter the market at some point. While, if this is true, I’m glad to see some movement on this front, I fear that this approach is doomed to fail.

Let me be so bold as to suggest that there is a ready-made solution for you that I recommended nearly two years ago: Dell should buy Palm. Think about it, Michael–it’s a match made in heaven. You get a solution, and they get the stability, influence and purchasing power of Dell.

BoomTown's Annual Waltgelina Walk at CES: Walt and Katie on the (Less Crowded) Floor

Kara Swisher — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 16:15:05 +0000

As BoomTown did last year, I took to the much-less-crowded floor of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas last week with tech review kingpin Walt Mossberg and Mossberg Solution columnist Katherine Boehret to get their take on the scene.

Big news for Walt was the Palm Pre launch and the Yahoo Connected TV initiative. For Katie, it was a $2,000 cellphone.

As I also said last year, I jokingly call Walt the “Brangelina” of CES, since he is stopped constantly on the floor by fans who want to meet him in person and those who just want to kibitz with him about the latest and greatest trends in the tech sector.

So, here are this year’s video ruminations:

[ See post to watch video ]

Motorola Announces Cost Morale Reduction Actions

John Paczkowski — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 17:00:49 +0000

Well this should do wonders for Motorola employee morale….

The handset maker this morning said it will cut compensation and benefits packages for its employees in order to “better align with industry norms”–industry norms in Motorola’s case being the ongoing collapse of its post-Razr phone business. To that end, the company will permanently freeze its U.S. pension plans and temporarily suspend all matching contributions to 401(k) plans. It won’t be offering salary increases this year, either. And, in a sympathetic nod to Motorola’s (MOT) long-suffering employees, co-CEOs Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha will take 25 percent salary reductions. Brown will forego any 2008 cash bonus. Jha will forfeit a portion of his guaranteed 2008 bonus equivalent to that and take the remainder in restricted stock.

“The sustained downturn in the global economy requires that we take these difficult but necessary steps,” said Brown and Jha. “While serving our customers remains a top priority, we are equally focused on our cost structure, and we will continue to implement appropriate measures to conserve cash and reduce expenses.”

Happy holidays, Schaumberg.

Nokia's Incredible Shrinking Handset Market

John Paczkowski — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:15:01 +0000

Nokia’s Capital Markets Day event is proving quite the downer, and the day’s only just begun. This morning the company cut its global handset market forecast for the second time in three weeks, warning that the slowdown in the industry is worse than expected. On Nov. 14, Nokia (NOK) lowered its fourth-quarter 2008 outlook to 330 million mobile devices shipped. It seems even that was too optimistic. The company now expects device volume for the quarter to fall below 330 million and total device volume for 2008 to slip below 1.24 billion. Worse, Nokia says volume in 2009 will fall by at least five percent from 2008 levels. Said Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, “2009 will be challenging for our industry.”

Hell of an understatement, given the news. Hope they serve alcohol at that Capital Markets Day event….

Nokia's Incredible Shrinking Handset Market

John Paczkowski — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:15:01 +0000

Hell of an understatement, given the news. Hope they serve alcohol at that Capital Markets Day event….

Apple: Kaufman Bros. Starts Coverage With Buy Rating

Eric Savitz — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:03:14 +0000

Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu, who until last month worked at American Technology Research, has relaunched coverage of Apple (AAPL) with a Buy rating and a $120 price target.

Wu contends that there is still room for significant growth in both the Mac and iPhone businesses, where its market share is relatively small given the size of the PC and cellphone markets. “While continued difficult global macroeconomic headwinds and their impact on technology and consumer spending concern us, we believe the Apple adoption story is still intact and believe the company is positioned to weather the storm better than most,” he writes.

Read the rest of this post

Verizon Apologizes to Obama: Sorry We Snooped on Your Account

Peter Kafka — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:02:53 +0000

This may make it easier for Barack Obama to kick his well-publicized BlackBerry addiction: News that Verizon employees have been snooping through his phone records.

Verizon (VZ) said Thursday night that “a number of Verizon Wireless employees have, without authorization, accessed and viewed President-Elect Barack Obama’s personal cell phone account.” Verizon says the phone is a “simple flip-phone,” and not a Berry, and that it has been inactive for several months. But the startling public admission should be enough to convince Obama, if he needed any more prompting, that he’s going to have to give up his prized gadget.

It may also prompt Verizon to rethink its long-running ad campaign where its customers are followed around by hordes of the mobile company’s employees.

A Video Smorgasbord From the Churchill Club's "Sixth Annual What's Hot and What's Not in Personal Technology"

Kara Swisher — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:15:26 +0000

Last night, Walt Mossberg and I hosted yet another annual “What’s Hot and What’s Not in Personal Technology” event for the Churchill Club.

A brief rundown of the Palo Alto gadgetfest show-and-tell: An animatronic singing Elvis freaked out my No. 1 son, Louie, who played an excellent Luke Skywalker/gadget boy for my presentation; our guest gadget geek was Twitter Co-Founder and CEO Evan Williams, who was a delight with a mini-helicopter, a flat-screen reader and a wry wit; Walt showed off the new Blackberry Storm from RIM (RIMM), the alleged Apple (AAPL) iPhone killer (maybe not so much), as well as a fuel cell and more; and our crazy gadget maven, Greg Harper, co-founder of Gadgetoff, went perfectly insane with everything from tiny projectors to a creepy probe to minicellphone towers to USB ties and eyepads.

It was a lot of fun with a packed crowd, even in this econalypse-impacting Silicon Valley.

Here is a rather longish video, which is well worth watching. Yes, BoomTown is–along with Louie and Elvis–wearing a Yahoo (YHOO) hat.

Here’s the video:

[ See post to watch video ]

[Photo courtesy of Dan Farber of CNET.]

Forrester CEO: Here's a Little Song I Wrote …

John Paczkowski — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:09:30 +0000

Wonderful news. The recession’s impact on the tech sector will not be nearly as pronounced as its predecessor’s, which turned Webvan’s refrigerated Freightliner trucks into hipster moving vans and made the Pets.com mascot piddle itself into oblivion like a submissive puppy. That’s the word from Forrester Research (FORR) CEO George Colony, who believes the current downturn will be far kinder to tech than the one that heralded The Great Dark Time of 2001-2003. His rationale: With tech spending in in the U.S. up only six percent from 2006 to 2007, tech doesn’t have nearly so far to fall this time around (spending was double that number in 2000). More importantly, tech is pervasive–and essential. “It’s seven years since the last recession,” Colony writes. “Technology has become markedly more pervasive in that time–it’s the air we breathe and the water we swim in. Cell phone penetration in the U.S. has tripled in that time; eCommerce has increased by 85 percent. While it may have been ‘nice to have’ (and therefore eminently cut-able) back in 2002, tech now sits at the center of companies’ operations. IT has become Business Technology. If you don’t believe me, start unplugging wires at your company and see how long you can develop, manufacture, deliver, sell, and service your products.”

Point taken. Certainly, we’re not going to see the recession inspiring companies to suddenly shutdown their e-commerce operations or disable Salesforce in aid of their longevity. But that doesn’t mean the Grim Reaper of the “Next Economy” isn’t going to sweep this latest crop of Webvans and Scients off into the abyss, and from there into the pages of a 2013 Fast Company article.

That said, take it from Colony: Don’t worry, be happy.

[Image Credit: Sequoia Capital via VentureBeat]

Forrester CEO: Here's a Little Song I Wrote …

John Paczkowski — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:09:30 +0000

That said, take it from Colony: Don’t worry, be happy.

[Image Credit: Sequoia Capital via VentureBeat]