AllThingsD » handset

Nokia Completes Talks on Planned Job Cuts

Anna Molin and Sven Grundberg — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 16:49:34 +0000

Nokia Corp., the world’s largest handset maker by shipments, said Thursday it has completed negotiations with its labor unions over jobs cuts at its Salo plant in Finland.

The cuts are part of a plan announced last month to cut about 4,000 jobs at smartphone manufacturing plants at Salo, Reynosa in Mexico and Komarom in Hungary, in a push to move device assembly closer to components suppliers in Asia.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Samsung Hires Former AOL and Google Content Exec David Eun to Lead Renewed Media Push

Kara Swisher — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:20:46 +0000

South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics has hired former AOL and Google exec David Eun to lead a new push to create more media offerings, the company said.

In a press release, the maker of a wide range of devices — from televisions to tablets to smartphones and more — said Eun would serve as executive vice president of its media-related units.

About Eun’s role, Samsung said: “He will play a key role in developing a global media strategy and driving new business opportunities to take advantage of Samsung’s growing number of digital televisions and displays, mobile phones, tablets and other connected devices.”

It’s not clear what that means, but presumably it could spell more investments and acquisitions in digital media, and even in the social space.

The move is part of a larger reorganization at Samsung Electronics, which it also announced has divided into two parts, digital media and communications and device solutions.

Samsung’s deepening of its media efforts — it has previously launched various smaller content initiatives — is an interesting one, especially in light of the fast-changing market it now competes in, in which partners like Apple and Google have also become intense rivals.

Google bought Motorola recently and has been increasing its media offerings, as has Apple. Samsung and Apple are also engaged in a series of global legal battles over devices.

In turn, companies like Amazon — which recently released the Kindle Fire tablet — have upped their efforts in the consumer electronics area.

In addition, Japan’s Sony — which already owns a major Hollywood studio — now owns all its handset business and has recently added tablets to its lineup.

Eun is an interesting choice, having been part of Google’s earliest efforts to move beyond its core search business into media, such as its acquisition of YouTube.

He left his most recent job at AOL, where he had headed its content unit, earlier this year. Eun has also previously worked at both Time Warner and NBC.

Here’s the official press release about his hiring:

Samsung Electronics Appoints David Eun as Executive Vice President

Eun to Enhance Samsung’s Global Media and Content Efforts

SEOUL, Korea — December 14, 2011 –Samsung Electronics Co., the technology leader and innovator in consumer electronics and telecommunications, proudly announces the appointment of David Eun as Executive Vice President.

Eun joins Samsung after an accomplished career in media and content. He was most recently President of AOL Media and Studios, where he oversaw AOL’s efforts to become a leading provider of premium content, spanning over 100 different websites and production studios in NY and LA. Before that, he formed a global Content Partnerships group at Google with oversight for media strategy, partnerships and strategic alliances spanning over 30 different Google products including Google Books, Maps and YouTube. He also has a deep knowledge of traditional media businesses from working at Time Warner and NBC.

He will play a key role in developing a global media strategy and driving new business opportunities to take advantage of Samsung’s growing number of digital televisions and displays, mobile phones, tablets and other connected devices.

“Samsung Electronics has an unparalleled footprint across multiple devices and platforms that provides a unique experience to consumers around the world. The competition for prominence in the living room has already begun, and Samsung Electronics is ideally situated to extend beyond that to connect the entire home and the lives of consumers,” stated Eun. “I’m looking forward to joining the impressive leadership already in place and to building a new presence in media for Samsung Electronics.”

Eun received a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was a Teaching Fellow for the Harvard Negotiation Project, and an A.B., magna cum laude in Government, from Harvard College. He was selected “Digital Power Player of the Year” by the Hollywood Reporter in 2010, is an Advisory Board Member for the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and sits on the Board of the Television Academy of the Arts and Sciences Foundation.

Samsung's Won-Pyo Hong on the Mobile Phone Wars: The Full AsiaD Interview (Video)

Kara Swisher — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:35:07 +0000

We are now posting the full videos from the recent AsiaD conference, which took place in Hong Kong in October.

Over the next week or so, we’re going to follow the schedule of the actual event. Up now: Samsung mobile head Won-Pyo Hong.

Samsung is the largest seller of Google Android handsets globally and will soon surpass Nokia as the world’s largest maker of cellphones.

And then there’s Apple, the world’s largest smartphone vendor, which is engaged with the South Korean giant in an increasingly nasty legal battle over intellectual property.

By the way, Samsung is a key vendor partner of Apple’s, too.

Obviously, these are high (and complex) stakes for Hong, who heads global product strategy for Samsung’s mobile business.

He talks about that and more in this onstage interview with Walt Mossberg:

[ See post to watch video ]

Nuance's Swype Bill: $102.5 Million

Peter Kafka — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:51:22 +0000

Nuance has spelled out its acquisition plans for Swype, the company that makes virtual keyboard software for Google’s Android handsets. Nuance will pay $102.5 million in cash for the start-up, with $77.5 million coming upfront and the rest paid out in 18 months.

Even More AsiaD Speakers: Yahoo's Yang, HTC's Wang, Samsung's Hong and More!

Kara Swisher — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 05:08:36 +0000

With AsiaD just a little over a month away, Walt Mossberg and I are adding even more speakers to the list, for what we hope will be an awesome event in Hong Kong.

Taking place from Oct. 19 to 21, the conference lineup is already impressive, with a mix of speakers from China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, as well as Silicon Valley and more.

The previously announced speakers include: Alibaba’s Jack Ma; Google Android head Andy Rubin; Twitter inventor and product guru, as well as Square co-founder and CEO, Jack Dorsey; Nvidia founder and CEO Jen-Hsun Huang; Asus Chairman Jonney Shih; Sony president and second-in-command Kazuo “Kaz” Hirai; Google+ guru Bradley Horowitz; Hollywood big shot Peter Chernin; Huawei’s North American R&D head John Roese; Microsoft’s Windows Phone head Andy Lees; and a panel of start-up stars — Joyus’ Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, SurveyMonkey’s Dave Goldberg and Airbnb’s Brian Chesky.

Now, to add to the kitty:

Yahoo co-founder and former CEO Jerry Yang, who will appear with the Internet giant’s Asia head Rose Tsou. For all of the noise around the company these days, Yahoo has a huge footprint in the region, maintains a big e-commerce business there and holds massive stakes in key firms, such as Yahoo Japan and China’s Alibaba. One of Yahoo’s first big investments came from Asian investor Masa Son, in fact, way back when.

Also on deck is LivingSocial’s CEO and co-founder Tim O’Shaughnessy, who will appear with Daniel Shin, the CEO and co-founder of South Korea’s Ticket Monster, which the daily deals site just bought as part of its aggressive move into Asia. Competing there with its U.S. rival Groupon, as well as a myriad of local social buying services, the market is a tough one.

Because of Samsung’s increasing importance as a global player in smartphones and tablets, we thought it was important to have Dr. Won-Pyo Hong. He heads global product strategy for Samsung’s mobile business, which has surged in the past year to make the Korean tech giant a leader in Android-based phones and tablets, and a significant challenger to Apple.

Also key in the mobile arena is Cher Wang, the chairwoman of three Taiwan companies, including HTC, the important and innovative handset and tablet maker which has been a key player in Android’s success story. But just this week she talked about the possibility of HTC buying an operating system, which would further strengthen its hand in the competitive market.

That’s it for now, but we will have more big names to come, as well as some pretty cool demos we will be putting onstage at AsiaD. So stay tuned.

Viral Video: One-Trick-Pony Googlers and Steve Jobs as Darth Vader

Kara Swisher — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:23:45 +0000

You have to hand it to the CGI folks at Taiwan’s Next Media Animation for this depiction of Google’s $12.5 billion bid for Motorola Mobility.

It includes the search giant’s co-founders riding a pony (it’s a one-trick one); Asian handset makers jumping out of Windows (Phone); and Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Job as a lightsaber-wielding Darth Vader (the helmet looks good with the black turtleneck).

Please enjoy:

Larry Page Might Be Bill Gates+, But He Wants to Be Steve Jobs

Kara Swisher — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:12:09 +0000

Let’s face it: Everyone in Silicon Valley — one way or another — fashions themselves as the next Steve Jobs.

And why not? Both the professional and even personal story of the legendary Apple CEO — which will be chronicled in November in a major book — are the stuff of tech legend and envy: Iconic, in charge, decisive, elegant, innovative, phoenix-like and visionary.

And, of course, more than just a little bit terrifying.

So why not Larry Page, too, and why not now?

One issue: By temperament and action — by which I mean genetically hyper-competitive and hammer-time aggressive — he’s been more like Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who has been the Yin to Jobs’ Yang in their deeply interconnected careers over the last decades.

As I wrote before Page took over again as Google’s CEO earlier this year:

After our first interview in 2001, my notes on the encounter had this one line underlined and in all caps:

LARRY PAGE=BILL GATES.

It was not meant as an insult, but I can tell you I never wrote such a note about Page’s co-founder, the jokey and affable Sergey Brin.

Even then, Gates had a fearsome reputation as a manically competitive exec, a cutting manner to those not as smart as he clearly is and a reputation as a very tough and often eviscerating boss. (And all that was also my experience whenever I was interviewing him.)

While much wonkier, friendlier and more of a sensitive new-aged male, Page, it seemed to me, had the exact same obvious drive and aggression as Gates.

The latest incarnation of that has been Page’s move — bold for now and we’ll-see later — to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, which Google announced yesterday.

By all accounts, Page was the key driver of the deal inside Google, where he now reigns firmly.

Although neither Gates nor Jobs has used acquisitions much as a key weapon in their arsenals, the size and scope of the deal is pure Gates: A focused, overwhelming and competitor-scaring display of might that speaks of industry dominance and play-to-destroy aspirations, masking what is also very reactive.

If Page’s doubling down on mobile reminds you a bit of Gates’s “Internet Tidal Wave” memorandum in 1995, that’s because the move-now tone is the same.

And, also, in that it is more than just a little bit sneaky. Case in point: Google’s yammering on about the importance of Motorola’s patents in the deal. While the patent love is true and an important element, bolstering Google’s own weak portfolio, it’s also a bit of a feint by the search giant, which can simply never come out and say what it is actually up to.

Which is to be the dominant and overwhelming player in the mobile market that Google sees as critical to its future.

“The company obviously wants everyone to focus on the patents, but its ambitions are so much larger in mobile,” said one person close to the situation. “So it underplays as it overplays.”

Indeed, in the time I covered Google, it has always been my experience when the search giant insists stringently on one thing, Page and others are playing a more complex version of “Star Trek” three-dimensional chess.

As the New York Times’ DealBook noted correctly:

If there’s any question about Google’s motivation to own a handset maker rather than just a portfolio of patents, consider this: InterDigital, a licensing company that owns some 8,000 wireless patents and has another 10,000 patent applications being processed, has been up for auction. Many industry insiders were sure that if Google were serious about acquiring a portfolio of patents, InterDigital would be its target. The company’s market value is only about $3 billion and it doesn’t come with all the baggage of Motorola’s handset business.

That’s exactly right, because Page’s ambition is about Google playing a big part in the mobile market — which is humanity’s next critical platform in computing — for its interlocked ecosystem of Google products — from its flagship search to social networking via Google+ to Gmail to its latest Google Wallet initiative to Google Maps to Google Voice.

In other words, it’s a Google world and we all just live in it.

At the heart of it is a desire to make and completely control the object at the center of the virtuous circle: The mobile device, whether it be a smartphone, tablet or whatever doodad you might wear around your neck.

In fact, as I also remember from Google’s earliest days, Page did sport a lot of such contraptions back then, such as a communicator of some sort he once joyfully showed off to me that allowed him to reach Brin quickly. Later, it was a kind of pollution sensor that took its place.

My recollection from that time was that Page adored such objects, visibly inspired by the idea of digital devices that delivered a myriad of helpful and smart services to users as they moved around the world.

You know, like an Apple iPhone, the ground-breaking technical achievement that Jobs rendered unto the world less than a decade ago, changing everything.

With Android and Page’s firm backing, Google quickly and smartly jumped partway into that market with its powerful and fast-growing mobile operating system.

Now, like Jobs, I have no doubt Page wants to own and control the whole value chain to solidify what Google started several years ago and which is its best hope to vault into the next era of computing.

It’s a leap that Gates and Microsoft largely failed at, not for lack of trying — something else Page has to have taken note of.

So, perhaps by making things — maybe even beautiful things like Jobs — Page will transform himself from a Gates into a Jobs.

Or, more likely, a little bit of both.

Until that reckoning, here is a terrific video of Spock playing 3D chess with Captain James T. Kirk — and, yes, he does look freakishly like Page here:

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Watch Google Android Kingpin -- And Motorola Acquirer -- Andy Rubin Unplugged (Video)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 13:44:06 +0000

We’ve interviewed the man-who-would-be-Motoogle, Andy Rubin, twice at big D: All Things Digital events, and Google’s mobile head has always had a lot to say about where this key market is headed.

Luckily, Rubin is also booked for an onstage interview at our AsiaD conference in October in Hong Kong, where a lot of Asian handset manufacturers will be listening carefully to what the leader of Google’s Android mobile operating system has to say about what the search giant is up to with its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

This morning, Google announced the massive deal, which is expected to shake-and-bake the already competitive mobile market and spur regulatory scrutiny.

Until we hear more from Rubin — the longtime industry vet for whom the purchase of Motorola must be sweet justice from his days trying to make his iconic Danger device a success — here are two onstage interviews he did at previous D events.

The first is at D: Dive into Mobile last December with Walt Mossberg and me; the second is with Walt alone at D@CES in early 2010:

[ See post to watch video ]

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

Motoogle: BOOM! The Mobile Business Just Got Completely Blown Up

Kara Swisher — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:30:05 +0000

With the entry of Google into the handset-making market, the search giant has just declared a number of things, most especially that its own future is all about mobile.

With the $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility, the iconic but struggling maker of mobile devices, Google has put a huge stake in the ground in this highly competitive market and thereby shaken up the entire ecosystem.

A lot of this is about patents, as Google CEO Larry Page said in his blog post about the megadeal this morning, and about acquiring a bigger portfolio that Google has long sought for its Android mobile operating system and has been unsuccessful at getting for itself, despite onerous efforts. Since Motorola has been in the mobile arena for so long, it has a large trove of important ones.

But the dramatic acquisition by Google is also a declaration that mobile is more important to it than the skein of alliances it has built for Android with phone makers worldwide, as part of its objective of making it the dominant mobile platform for smartphones and tablets globally.

While Google has been reaching out to other hardware partners to assure them, and has said they all will remain the same in Android-land, the large mobile manufacturers who have placed their trust in Google — especially Samsung or HTC — have to be wondering what to do now.

Make no mistake — they already resent Google from time to time, the way Compaq or Dell has resented Microsoft in the PC business.

But, since Google already showed favoritism to Motorola by letting them do the first Honeycomb tablet, the Xoom (although it didn’t do any good), that discomfort will only increase now.

While Google managed to get them into lockstep on today’s announcement, with a whole Web page titled “Quotes From Android Partners,” each of them using the exact same phrase “defending Android” in their quotes feels a little like they are victims of Stockholm syndrome.

Yes, we concur with everything the Borg tells us to! Defending! Android! We’re Droids too! (Calling Patty Hearst, stat!)

The impact on everyone — from Microsoft and its partner Nokia to Apple to Research In Motion and, also, to all the wireless carriers — will be felt immediately.

And, of course, by government regulators, who have watched warily as Google has marched into business after adjacent business to its core search one.

This deal — which will require approval — is sure to even further put all of Google’s businesses in the crosshairs of rivals, who will agitate for fervent investigations.

While Android has been conceived at Google and has an “autonomous unit” with the company — run by longtime mobile vet Andy Rubin — it has now entered a new and perhaps dangerous phase for all involved, including Google.

Because while such a union is not uncommon in the mobile business — Apple and RIM do software and hardware together and Google has released its own Nexus phone (made by others) — no one has done it via acquisition and in such a definitive way.

And what an acquisition it is. Or, perhaps more accurately, could be.

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.

(Image courtesy of the United States Department of Energy)

AsiaD Adventures: Walt and Kara in Seoul (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:01:33 +0000

This week, my AllThingsD partner-in-crime Walt Mossberg and I are in Asia as part of our planning for the upcoming AsiaD conference in the fall.

We’ll soon be announcing even more speakers for the event, which takes place in Hong Kong from Oct. 19-21.

And while AsiaD will have a Chinese flavor, by virtue of location and given how increasingly important the country is in the digital arena, we also want to make sure that the focus is pan-Asian.

Hence, our trip to South Korea — as well as to Tokyo, Japan — to meet companies, look at start-ups and get a feel for the key trends of these places.

In Seoul earlier this week, for example, Walt and I went to visit Samsung, the company that dominates most of tech in South Korea.

The giant conglomerate, which has been a major maker of televisions and other consumer electronics, is now aggressively competing in the smartphone and tablet arena.

It has partnered with Google Android as one of many handset and tablet makers using the mobile operating system. But from our talks with execs here, all Samsung seems to think about is Apple and its powerful iPhone and iPad, which it seems to consider its one and only rival.

We’ll be talking about all this and more at AsiaD, but until then, enjoy the video of our tour, which includes us as stars on the video wall at Samsung’s D’light exhibit in Seoul:

[ See post to watch video ]

Apple: Enjoy Your Smartphone Market Share; We'll Console Ourselves With Profit Share

John Paczkowski — Tue, 03 May 2011 11:10:09 +0000

What Apple lacks in smartphone market share it more than makes up for in handset industry operating profits.

In its second quarter, Apple claimed a full half of the operating profits generated by the industry’s eight largest manufacturers, says Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley. And it did it with only an 18.6 percent share of the smartphone market and a 4.9 percent share of the broader handset market.

A remarkable achievement, pocketing one out of every two operating profit dollars in such a volatile and highly competitive industry–more so because Apple’s managed it by stealing share from entrenched players with a single phone that’s not even five years old. And, according to Walkley, that trend will likely continue for some time.

“While most of this share came from Nokia, we anticipate Apple will continue to gain share from Nokia and RIM during their smartphone OS transitions,” he predicted. “Given RIM’s pre-announcement this past Thursday combined with our skepticism regarding QNX and RIM’s ability to launch competitive ‘super phones’ during 2012, we believe RIM’s value share will continue to fall during the next several years….[And] we anticipate further declines [at Nokia] over the next several quarters as [the company] undergoes a platform transition.”

Apple App Happy Sonos Also Goes Android

Kara Swisher — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:00:07 +0000

Sonos–the maker of innovative wireless music systems that has been boosted by its Apple iPhone and iPad Controller app–is set to roll out one for Google’s Android mobile operating system.

The Sonos Controller for Android will officially introduce the app at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona next week, although the Santa Barbara, Calif., company is announcing it today.

“It’s a no-brainer,” said Sonos CEO John MacFarlane in an interview with BoomTown yesterday. “It basically doubles our market space.”

The free app allows you to control Sonos’s various players wirelessly with a smartphone or tablet.

The impact of the iPhone and the iPad on sales of its various devices has been clear enough, said MacFarlane, as registrations of the app have escalated.

“There is more usage of the smartphone, but tablets are clearly happening, said MacFarlane. “But I have the same view of both that these devices are the Holy Grail everyone has always wanted.”

The move to Android will take longer to beta test, he said, since its ecosystem has a plethora of unit types from a variety of handset makers.

The app will be out in March.

Here’s an image of the app on an Android phone and the official press release:

ROCK THE HOUSE: SONOS INTRODUCES SONOS CONTROLLER FOR ANDROID

Wireless Music System for Android Provides Unlimited Music, Incredible Control and Amazing Sound in Every Room

SANTA BARBARA, CA–February 10, 2011–Sonos, the leading developer of wireless multi-room music systems for the home, today introduced the Sonos Controller for Android, a free app that transforms most Android™ smartphones into a wireless music controller for the award-winning Sonos Multi-Room Music System. The Sonos Controller for Android, available in late March as a free download from Android Market™, will make its public debut next week at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. To watch a video introduction of the Sonos Controller for Android, please visit www.sonos.com/android.

With the award-winning Sonos S5 in any room and an Android phone in hand, music lovers will enjoy an unmatched wireless music experience in the home. You’ll be able to access and play all the music on earth–from the Internet and your personal music library–throughout the home, wirelessly. Use the free Sonos Controller for Android app to control all your music and rooms, all from the palm of your hand. And, Sonos Controller for Android features Sonos’ latest innovation in the home music experience–music voice search–allowing users to find any artist, album or track by simply speaking into the phone.

“Sonos’ mission is to fill every home with music,” said John MacFarlane, CEO, Sonos, Inc. “We are thrilled to bring the joy of music to the homes of Android fans worldwide.”

To get started enjoying music in any or every room of the home, all you need is a Sonos ZonePlayer and a Sonos Controller such as the free Sonos Controller for Android. The most popular Sonos ZonePlayer is the Sonos S5, an all-in-one wireless music system you can plug in anywhere. Now you can play any track you like, anytime you like, in any room you like. Wirelessly play the same song in every room of the house–perfectly synchronized. Or, mix it up and play different songs in different rooms.

When it comes to controlling Sonos, you simply reach into your pocket for your Android smartphone. With Sonos Controller for Android, you can search for songs and stations by typing or speaking, choose the music and control the volume in as many rooms as you like. And because your Android phone is controlling the music, and not the source of it, when a text comes in or you need to make a phone call, the music doesn’t stop.

Sonos connects directly to the Internet so you can access a world of music without ever turning on your computer. Search and play more than 100,000 Internet radio stations, shows and podcasts–from around the world. Play songs, playlists and radio from the most popular music services like Deezer, iheartradio, Last.fm, Napster, Pandora, Rdio, Rhapsody, SiriusXM Internet Radio, Spotify, Wolfgang’s Vault, and more. And of course, Sonos can play your entire digital music library (such as iTunes) stored on a computer or Network Attached storage drive.

The Sonos Controller for Android is designed to work on any Android smartphone running Android 2.1 or later with a screen size of HVGA 320 x 480, WVGA 480 x 800 or WVGA 480 x 854. Sonos Controller for Android joins the family of Sonos Controllers which includes free apps for iPhone and iPad, a dedicated touchscreen controller, the Sonos Controller 200, and free software for your Mac or PC, included with every ZonePlayer. All controllers work together seamlessly.

Sonos will be demonstrating the Sonos Controller for Android at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 13-17, 2011. For a demonstration in person, you’ll find Sonos at the following locations:
• Android: Hall 8; Booth 8C25
• Motorola: Hall 8, Booth 8A28
• Sonos: Hall 7; Suite 7HS11

For more information about Sonos or to locate an authorized Sonos dealer in your area, please visit www.sonos.com or call 877.80.SONOS.

Verizon iPhone Has New Antenna Design

Andrew Morse and Don Clark — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:04:35 +0000

Apple Inc.’s iPhone for the Verizon Wireless network contains a newly designed version of the antenna that was associated with dropped calls on the original device, according to a company that disassembled the handset.

The new iPhone 4 model, as expected, also includes a chip from Qualcomm Inc. that allows the device to work on Verizon’s network, which is based on a technology called CDMA, or code division multiple access. But iFixit, a gadget repair site in San Luis Obispo, Calif., found that Apple selected a chip model from Qualcomm that can support multiple wireless technologies.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Bidders Emerge for Nortel Patents

Stuart Weinberg and Anupreeta Das — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:40:11 +0000

Canada’s Nortel Networks Corp. expects to select an initial bidder for a massive portfolio of patents within three weeks, drawing from a pool of at least five potential buyers including Apple Inc. and Google Inc., people familiar with the matter said.

Nortel filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and has been shedding its assets in bankruptcy court, including the portfolio of 4,000 patents. This portfolio contains a set of patents related to the emerging technology used in long-term evolution, or LTE, wireless phone networks. Wireless carriers, network-equipment firms and handset vendors are interested in the Nortel patents because they could be a critical defense against lawsuits in the competitive, and increasingly litigious, wireless industry.

The deal, expected at around $1 billion, would be a preliminary “stalking horse” bid filed with the Delaware bankruptcy court, these people said. Stalking-horse bids are initial offers for an asset that help set a floor price for a broader auction.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Nokia Reports Lower Profit, Shrinking Margins

Voices — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:20:06 +0000

Nokia shares sagged this morning as the world’s largest mobile phone maker posted a 20 percent drop in fourth-quarter net profit to 742 million euros ($1.02 billion) for adjusted earnings of 22 cents a share–not quite as bad as analysts had expected–but also reported shrinking operating margins, a three percent drop in handset shipments and a weak outlook for Q1. CEO Stephen Elop said Nokia “faces some significant challenges in our competitiveness.”

An "Apple Invasion" in Korea: Two Million iPhones Sold

John Paczkowski — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:22:19 +0000

Another sales milestone for the iPhone, this one in Korea. Korea Telecom today said that it has sold two million iPhones since it began offering the handset in November 2009. Of the that number, 1.03 million were iPhone 4s, and KT sold one million of them in four months. The remaining 970,000 were iPhone 3GSs. Quite an achievement considering there were only seven million smartphone users in Korea at the end of last year and the country has long been viewed as a tough market for multinational cellphone manufacturers. Or, rather, other multinational cellphone manufacturers. Because according to a KT spokesperson, the iPhone’s “proliferation rate” in Korea is high–and accelerating to the point of “Apple invasion.” That said, local cellphone manufacturers are still doing quite well. Samsung, for example, sold 2 million Galaxy S handsets in six months following its June debut.

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang Describes Mobile's Powerful Future at D@CES

Peter Kafka — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 23:21:36 +0000

All of those tablets rolling out this week means lots of opportunity for chipmaker Nvidia, which used to specialize in graphics, but is now looking to power a whole new class of mobile devices. CEO Jen-Hsun Huang tells Mobilized’s Ina Fried how he sees the market shaking out, and what it means for his company and his competitors. We’ll also be looking for an update on Nvidia’s legal battle with Intel.

Sorry, joining slightly late. Jen-Hsun Huang is walking through Nvidia’s recent announcements.

And also some history. 1995 was important because the personal computer really became personal back then. (I assume this relates to a Windows release but not clear why.)

At the time, we thought we’d be a $300 million company in five years. But we got a lot bigger.

[ See post to watch video ]

Ina Fried: You’re expanding beyond graphics, but how big is that business?

JH: We’ve shipped one billion GeForce processors. That’s a lot. We’re also doing Quadro processors for high-end processing. We’ve got the new Tesla business, where we use our GPU for general technical computing. It’s being used for the world’s fastest supercomputer.

Our newest business is the Tegra business. Using our expertise for a new class of mobile computing.

IF: Earlier versions of the Tegra were used in the Zune.

JH: And the Kin.

IF: I wasn’t going to mention the Kin.

Now JH is talking Intel. Which started with move into building chipsets, 12 years ago. Started with Xbox, then AMD platforms, then we wanted to scale out so we started talking about Intel. Now we’re in a dispute.

IF: So where do things stand with that?

JH: [More or less a non-answer here.]

IF: Okay, let’s talk about the future!

JH: Cool. 2011 is a big year, a year that computing is getting redefined because of these mobile products.

IF: That sounds like hyperbole, but I sort of agree. There’s some amazing stuff being shown off this year. But explain what’s different about this stuff.

JH: We like to call the new phones superphones. Time to do a demo.

JH is plugging in a new Android handset into a dock. It’s taking awhile. Complains about his vision. Okay, there we go. Showing off multitasking, apps, etc. Showing off 1080p video that looks cool. No audio, though. “This is a full-on computer.”

JH: We think these will really change things, because they can be laptops, or a media center, etc., simply based on where you dock it and the kind of accessories.

IF: So you have cellphones basically being able to replace a computer. But Microsoft is also announcing that Windows will run on ARM processors, including ones you make. How important is that?

JH: If you’re a software company of any kind, your primary focus is to target processors, anywhere. At this point, it’s a foregone conclusion that ARM will be the largest installed base of processors in the world.

Then the important thing is the operating systems: Andriod, iOS and RIM are incredibly important.

IF: So Windows is fourth most important?

JH: The most important CPU architecture going forward is likely to be ARM. At this point, you have to embrace ARM or you’re going to miss out on a very important market. Now they have a huge growth market that’s opened up to them.

IF: Again, explain the importance of Windows on ARM vs. Intel, etc.

JH: It’s huge!

Then he talks about energy dissipation, and that the designs are more elegant. He notes that the D staff backstage is using MacBooks and Airs “because they’re more elegant.”

And note that Steve Ballmer showed off a next gen of Windows running on Tegra 2/ARM. Office, too.

IF: But beyond Windows, what kind of software work has to be done to take advantage of ARM?

JH: Lots of work.

IF: Windows took a decade to catch up last time around. They can’t take this long this time.

JH: Right. That’s why we’re talking about this now, so when next gen of Windows is out, we’ll be ready.

A discussion about how the market shakes out between different chipsets.

JH: Next-gen Windows, by the time it shakes out, I don’t think it will matter what chipset you use if you’re a consumer. Enterprise will still run on x86, I think.

IF: Back to the cool stuff we’re seeing this year at CES, which seemed impossible a few years ago. What will we see in a few years that we can’t imagine now?

JH: Whatever expectation you have for game consoles, PCs, etc. will be “fully met by mobile devices in the next three to four years.”

And in the next three to four years this kind of device will likely exceed your expectations, because the supercomputer will be in the cloud.

IF: More future talk, please. 3-D on the phone?

JH: 3-D on the phone is a foregone conclusion. This kind of glass (on phone) is perfect for 3-D display. And it will work perfectly when you’re touching it. Long term, this device will have much better computer vision, so instead of taking a picture and sending it back, it might analyze the image and send a signal back, to reduce bandwidth.

IF: Except there are all kinds of problems with bandwidth. You had problems with wireless at your demo. Isn’t that a bigger problem going forward?

JH: The carriers finally have real incentive to invest in the pipe, because there’s a reason to use it, with all the hi-def video, etc. So we can take their promises seriously, finally.

Next year every phone will be a 4G phone.

IF: Talk about your fab-less approach to this business.

JH: In 1993, we couldn’t get a fab. We didn’t have a choice. And now ARM has democratized the CPU. It’s a big deal. [Missing the connection here, but perhaps it's my ignorance.]

Okay, that’s it! Thanks.

In 4G Race, Verizon Pulls Ahead With Pricey Speed

Walter S. Mossberg — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 02:03:48 +0000

One of the biggest technology trends in 2011 will be the expansion of new, faster cellular networks called 4G, or fourth generation. These networks promise a big increase in speed and capacity to handle the surge in streaming video, audio and Web surfing from hot-selling devices like super-smart phones and tablets, as well as from laptops. But you’ll have to buy new phones, modems and other connected consumer devices to get the higher speed they offer.

[ See post to watch video ]

Wireless carriers and handset makers will be touting their 4G plans and compatible devices at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but it will be a couple of years before 4G networks in the U.S. achieve the same coverage as the current standard, called 3G.

The move to 4G from 3G began last year, with Sprint leading the way and Verizon Wireless joining in the last few weeks of 2010 with a limited deployment. But 2011 will see the service spreading to more and more cities, and is also expected to see the entry of AT&T. T-Mobile hasn’t announced an actual 4G network rollout, but is instead relying on a souped-up version of 3G that it is marketing as 4G because it claims it can deliver similar data speeds with its approach.

I’ve been testing the 4G network of the latest entrant, Verizon, in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., which is one of 38 metro areas (plus 60 airports) where the company turned on its 4G network in December. My verdict is that it’s wicked fast—the fastest 4G network I’ve tried—but also potentially costly. In my tests, with a laptop modem, it proved dramatically faster than Verizon’s 3G network, and recorded speeds on a par with some land-line Internet connections.

But 4G from Verizon won’t be cheap. For laptop modem users, at least, Verizon is charging $50 a month for up to 5 gigabytes of data use and $80 monthly for 10 gigabytes. If you run over, the company will bill you $10 for every extra gigabyte. Such data limits aren’t new, but, with 4G’s much higher speeds, users may find themselves sending and receiving more data more often, and thus breaching the limits more regularly. For instance, in my tests, I was easily able to download a nearly 600 megabyte TV show, something I wouldn’t even try with a 3G modem. That one download would have eaten up more than 10% of my monthly cap under the $50 plan.

Verizon’s first LTE laptop modem, the LG VL600, has a flip top that reveals the USB connector.

Verizon’s variant of 4G uses a different underlying technology than Sprint’s. It’s called LTE, for Long Term Evolution, and is also the 4G system being adopted by many other cellular operators around the world, including AT&T. (Technically, this first version of LTE isn’t considered true 4G by the engineering standards body that rules on such matters, but that makes little difference to consumers looking for faster connections.)

The company says it chose LTE because it is not only fast, but is less prone to interference, can provide better battery life, has less latency, or lag, and can better handle multiple users simultaneously. The LTE system doesn’t affect voice calls on Verizon’s network—it’s only for data, and operates in tandem with the current voice network.

Verizon claims its new network is up to 10 times faster than its 3G network and says consumers will see speeds of between 5 and 12 megabits per second for downloads and between 2 and 5 mbps for uploads, in “real-world, loaded network environments.”

As of this writing, Verizon doesn’t offer an actual LTE-capable smart phone, only LTE USB modems that plug into laptops. But the company is expected to offer a sneak peek at CES this week of several LTE phones that will roll out in the coming months, as well other planned LTE devices, from a variety of manufacturers. Again, I want to stress that your current Verizon phone or laptop modem can’t be upgraded to work with LTE. You’ll need a new one.

For my tests, I used Verizon’s first LTE laptop modem, the VL600 made by LG of Korea. It sells for $100 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a two-year service contract. This modem can handle data over slower 3G networks, if you happen to stray out of one of Verizon’s 4G service areas. For now, it works only on computers running Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7. But the company says it should have Mac-compatible LTE modems in a month or so.

To use it, you have to first install, from an included CD, a new version of Verizon’s cellular modem software, VZAccess Manager. Older versions won’t work. My test machine was a Lenovo ThinkPad X301, which worked fine with a Verizon 3G modem. Installation was relatively quick and smooth, though I was immediately instructed to download an updated version of the software, so I had to go through it twice.

I disabled Wi-Fi on the ThinkPad, plugged in the LTE modem and ran 10 tests using the popular Speedtest.net website. The results were impressive. Verizon’s 4G network averaged just a shade under 16 megabits per second for downloads and 6.6 mbps for uploads. That was 15 times the download speed, and 13 times the upload speed, of a Verizon 3G modem I tested immediately afterward using the same method in the same location.

To relate these speeds to real-world scenarios, I downloaded from iTunes a standard-definition episode of the TV show “The Good Wife”—a 588 megabyte file—in just seven minutes, instead of the two hours or so iTunes predicted it would take when I was using the 3G modem. I streamed several long videos, including two in HD, from the Web, and they played smooth as silk.

But there are caveats. For one thing, hardly anyone is using this new Verizon network yet, and it’s likely to slow down as it gets crowded, especially with smart-phone users. Secondly, laptop cellular modems typically deliver faster speeds than phones, so my results don’t necessarily predict phone or tablet performance.

Also, speeds can vary by city and distance. My tests were mainly conducted against a server in my local D.C. area. But I also tried a few tests against a server in San Francisco and only got about 6 mbps download—within Verizon’s claims, but much slower.

Still, if you can afford it, and if it works well in phones and tablets, Verizon’s new LTE network could be a great boon to your digital lifestyle.

Find all Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos at the All Things Digital website, allthingsd.com.

A Phone That's a Beauty on the Outside–A Monster Inside

Tricia Duryee — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:10:45 +0000

At Nvidia’s press conference today, CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang admitted this was going to be a promiscuous CES for the company.

Nvidia, which builds tiny computer processors to help devices display graphics, games, video and more on phones, will be found all over the show floor, demonstrating products in conjunction with wireless carriers, automotive makers, handset makers and others.

And for those looking for even more from Huang –and maybe a demo that works– he’ll be appearing on stage with my colleague Ina Fried at our own D at CES event on Friday.

The biggest partnership of all, however, was not announced–a rumored relationship with Microsoft that will likely be unveiled later today, Huang hinted. [Update: that news can be found here.]

What Nvidia was willing to talk about was its plans to build high-performance ARM-based CPU cores, designed to support future products ranging from personal computers and servers to workstations and supercomputers. Up until now, the project was code-named “Project Denver.”

However, Nvidia spent most of the time talking about its new Tegra 2 processor, which is designed to efficiently display Internet content and games–on par with the quality of a console–on a cellphone. That means a compact design that provides the same quality but helps preserve battery life.

Nvidia’s Huang demonstrated the capabilities of the chip with the help of LG, which made an appearance onstage to show off the new Optimus 2X, a new Android phone. Loaded with a Tegra 2, one of the head honchos from LG described the phone as “a beauty on the outside–a monster on the inside.”

Huang plugged the phone into a giant HDTV to demonstrate the chip’s capabilities. He played Angry Birds and navigated a few apps on the homescreen.

But one of the big pushes is in viewing Adobe Flash, and the demo gods were against them. The wireless network was slow, prompting Huang to ask the packed crowd of reporters to spare a bit of bandwidth for him.

“I feel like I am on 56K here,” Huang said. “Oh you guys suck,” he joked.

Huang said the company brought in technology to block others from hogging the bandwidth, but people were using it anyway. “You guys really suck,” he said to more laughs.

More demonstrations were made with videogames, and even other demos failed, including a video chat over Skype.

After it was all said and done, Nvidia served lunch.

Qualcomm Makes It Official, Grabs Atheros for $3.1 Billion

Arik Hesseldahl — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 16:42:04 +0000

Qualcomm, the chipmaker devoted to the wireless handset business, announced today the first major tech acquisition of the year, and the biggest deal in its history, saying it will pay $3.1 billion in cash for Atheros, a chipmaker whose business is in wireless networking.

As I noted yesterday, there are lots of reasons for Qualcomm to want Atheros, not the least of which is its extensive customer list.

Qualcomm’s specialty has always been in CDMA technology, the flavor of mobile phone technology favored by Verizon Wireless and Sprint, and it collects considerable royalties around its patent portfolio there. It has struggled to penetrate other markets, and last year shuttered its FloTV operation amid minimal demand. The good news was that it sold its FloTV spectrum to AT&T for $1.93 billion, which is no doubt offsetting the cost of this deal. Add that to the $10.3 billion in cash and short-term investments on its balance sheet as of Sept. 26 and this is an easy deal to do.

It’s also the biggest deal in Qualcomm’s history and the first significant one under CEO Paul Jacobs, who is the son of founder Irwin Jacobs.

Atheros shareholders have plenty of reasons to smile today as well. The company’s stock price surged by 19 percent yesterday. At $45 a share, Qualcomm is paying more than Atheros has ever been worth in its entire history as a publicly held company. As Shira Ovide over at Deal Journal notes, its highest price before yesterday was $43.90. Happy New Year, indeed.

I caught up with Qualcomm Executive Vice President Steve Mollenkopf and Atheros CEO Craig Barratt to talk about the deal.

NewEnterprise: Steve, let’s start with you. What got Qualcomm interested in Atheros?

Mollenkopf: Historically Qualcomm has been focused on the cellular phone, though recently we’ve done much more than that. We had some integration relationships with some companies that allow us to deliver a platform to our customers. They’re essentially technical relationships, and one of those companies was Atheros. So we were familiar with them. But the real reason, the why Atheros and why now question comes down to this. We think the industry is moving to a place where a lot of the technology and use cases that are being created as part of the shift to smartphones will be used outside of just phones, and will move into many adjacent spaces. The requirement of technology and different customers overlap a lot with Atheros. They’re a leader in their space, we’re a leader in ours and we want to go into markets that will require the expertise from both of us. It seemed natural, actually.

Craig, the idea for the acquisition seems to have grown out of an existing partnership. When did the talk turn from being Qualcomm’s partner to becoming part of Qualcomm?

Barratt: The partnership has gone on for about five years, where we’ve cooperated on joint reference and designs and software and feature integration. Over the years we’ve broadened out from Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, powerline and optical networking. We do have a much more horizontal business. Qualcomm has a very strong vertical business. Through our partnership we saw the teams had a good cultural fit, the engineering teams really respect each other. When we looked at our own strategic imperatives over the long term, we saw that cellular technologies are going to be applied in a much broader markets over time, beyond just smartphones and tablets. There’s an intersection between the Qualcomm technology and our technology, and that’s only going to increase. You’ve probably heard that set-top boxes and things like that are going to start to run Android. So a lot of these mobile technologies are going to start showing up in things like the connected home. Strategically it all started to make sense.

And what will your new job be at Qualcomm?

Barratt: After the acquisition closes, which should be in the first half of 2011, my role will be president of Qualcomm Networking and Connectivity, reporting to Steve.

Steve, if I’m not mistaken, this is the biggest deal that Qualcomm has ever done.

Mollenkopf: You’re correct. For us on the Qualcomm side this is a big step toward expanding our business beyond our traditional platform business and we’re doing it in a way that is in line with how the industry is changing. A lot of the things we’ve been doing with Atheros are things we’ve already been doing as part of our relationship, so this is a natural next step.

Korea Not Too Keen on Nexus S

John Paczkowski — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 11:38:48 +0000

Google’s Nexus S smartphone isn’t generating quite the same interest in Korea as its predecessor. Though Korea Telecom eagerly added the Nexus One to its lineup this past June, the carrier has greeted the debut of its successor with disinterest.

“Currently, we have no plans to introduce Google’s latest Android handset,’’ KT spokesman Lee In-won told the Korea Times. Evidently, SK Telecom–the country’s largest carrier–holds a similar view, and the reason seems to be the tight control Google is exerting over the device’s local marketing and customization. SK officials, for example, say they’re having difficulty getting SK’s T-Map navigation service onto the Nexus S.

With the S, Google has taken a dim view of the overlays and carrier add-ons that often mar the Android experience, adding little benefit while undermining its usability. Presumably, the difficulties to which SK refers are the result of this. If the Nexus S is to be pure Android, Google can’t allow its carrier partners to compromise by piling crapware and inferior pay services atop it, can it?

As of this writing, Google has not responded to requests for comment.

IPhone Now Fifth Most Popular Phone in Japan

John Paczkowski — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:16:09 +0000

A metric for skeptics who predicted the iPhone would fail in Japan: Apple’s handset is now the fifth-best-selling phone in the country, with 12.2 percent of the market, according to IDC.

This is the first time Apple’s cracked 10 percent in the Japanese market since the iPhone debuted there, so this is something of a milestone. More so when you consider that the company is now in spitting distance of incumbent Kyocera (12.7 percent) and not too far away from market leaders Sharp and Panasonic, which hold about 18.8 percent and 16.6 percent of the market, respectively.

And people said the iPhone would never be big in Japan….

[Image credit: iPhonAsia]

2011 Verizon iPhone Sales: Nine Million or 19 Million?

John Paczkowski — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:32:22 +0000

Of the 25 million smartphones Verizon will activate next year, nine million will be iPhones, says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. He figures Apple’s handset will make up about 36 percent of all activations for the year–assuming the iPhone launches midway through the March quarter. And 6.5 million of those will likely be cannibalized from AT&T–which, were it to retain its exclusive on the iPhone, would sell 17.5 million. Which means the Verizon deal may not give as big a spike to iPhone sales in the States as expected.

“We are modeling for Apple to sell an incremental 2.5 million iPhones with the addition of Verizon, which may be conservative,” Munster explains. “We are modeling for iPhone units at AT&T to be down 30 percent year-over-year in 2011 as the US mix shifts towards Verizon, and as AT&T subs wait to upgrade their iPhones until they are off-contract and can purchase an iPhone on Verizon.”

Interesting, yeah? There is a caveat, though. If iPhone sales at AT&T remain flat year-over-year in 2011, Verizon may see as many iPhones next year as its rival did in calendar 2010. And that would add another 10 million units to Munster’s 2011 iPhone estimate. So: Nine million or 19 million.

What to Do With Photos Piling Up in a Phone

Roger Cheng — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 02:20:42 +0000

I can be quick on the draw when it comes to pulling out my smartphone to snap a few photographs. Like a lot of people, I’ll let those pictures lay idle on my handset for months.

[ See post to watch video ]

A lot of my reluctance has to with the hassle of transferring the pictures to my PC before uploading them to a photo-sharing website or Facebook. Sure, I can use my phone to directly post them online, but I like to use photo-editing software on my computer to touch up the images. As a result, photos from a May birthday party won’t end up on my Facebook page until November.

With sophisticated cameras going into smartphones—including the 5-megapixel, high-dynamic range shooter found in Apple Inc.’s iPhone 4 and the professional-grade, 12-megapixel Carl Zeiss lens in Nokia Corp.’s N8—more people are leaning on their handsets for all sorts of photo opportunities.

Application developers haven’t ignored the trend. A large number of mobile programs recently have cropped up allowing you to tweak photos, add eye-popping filters, tag them with information about subject and location, and then post them on social-networking sites.

Camera Fun Pro turned this Penn Station corridor into an artistic sketch

Instagram put a retro photo border around a shot of a Penn Station waiting room.

I recently attended a holiday dinner with friends, giving me an opportunity to test some of these mobile photo-editing and photo-sharing apps: picplz, Instagram, Hipstamatic, Path and Camera Fun Pro. All five are either free or relatively inexpensive.

Instagram, a free app launched by Burbn Inc. in October for the iPhone, is among the most straightforward. After taking a photo, you are given a choice of a dozen filters that give the picture a retro twinge. Some of the photos shot while sitting in an Italian wine bar looked like something from a movie set.

After choosing your filter, you have the choice of adding a caption. You can add the location as well, although it requires the phone to have a working GPS or network connection, so you can’t get the information while on a subway or in a dead zone.

The program gives you an option to upload the photo to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Foursquare or any combination of the social-networking sites.

I also liked the feed Instagram creates to show you all the photos you’ve taken, giving you a nice timeline of your shots. There is also a section devoted to the most popular photos taken from all Instagram users, giving me some new ideas.

Picplz, another free app, available on iPhones and smartphones using Google Inc.’s Android software, gives you the same capabilities, but only half the number of filters. As a result, I found myself using Instagram more frequently.

A popular app is Hipstamatic ($1.99) from Synthetic Corp., which allows your iPhone to mimic an old-fashioned camera, complete with a virtual old-fashioned case with swappable lenses and flash bulbs on the front, and a small viewfinder on the back. There are several options for types of film, allowing for a large number of different combinations.

Hipstamatic gives this smartphone shot of New York’s Penn Station a ‘real-life’ photo look.

While I appreciated the options, I also was a little overwhelmed. The app isn’t ideal for spontaneous moments, because you have to choose the film, lens and type of flash bulb (or whether to have flash at all) before taking your shot. The costs for the app could add up if you add virtual accessories: types of film, lenses, flashbulbs and camera case. Each feature retails for an additional 99 cents.

Hipstamtic has been around for nearly a year, but in September, Synthetic added the capability to order print versions of photos. The packs of photos range between $4.99 and $9.99, depending on the print size. I didn’t get a chance to test out the service, but the company says it has won over many repeat customers.

A more recent app is personal-photo network program Path, which launched in November for the iPhone. The aim for Path is slightly different from the normal sharing program. Rather than post the picture to Facebook and your entire network, the program will share the photo with 50 friends, which Path Chief Executive Dave Morin says is the maximum number of relationships a human can maintain at any given time.

Hipstamatic transforms an iPhone into an old-fashioned camera, complete with swappable lenses and flash bulb.

The initial version of Path, however, required my friends to have the application. My friends ended up receiving an email asking them to sign up for Path, which most promptly ignored. As a result, I wasn’t sharing my photos with anyone. Mr. Morin says the company will release an update that opens up the program, sending email links to the photos that don’t require downloading the program.

The app that got the most attention around the dinner table, however, was Camera Fun Pro from SpiceLoop. While it has been available for the iPhone since January, it arrived on Android devices in September. The app, which costs 99 cents, applies a live filter over the camera, allowing you to see what you get before taking the photo. The 19 filters’ effects on photos aren’t subtle: They implant a bulge, stretch, give a 3-D effect, or tint subjects Avatar-blue. If those aren’t enough distortion for you, you can go back and layer effects on a photo.

Testing the app out on Samsung Electronic Co. Ltd.’s Epic 4G, my friends and I especially enjoyed the sketch filter, which makes everything look like it was hand drawn with a pencil. The photos were reminiscent of A-Ha’s famous music video, which used a similar sketch effect, and had us humming the ’80s pop tune “Take On Me” during the meal.

Write to Roger.Cheng@dowjones.com. Walt Mossberg is on vacation and will return Dec. 16.

Palm Boss Jon Rubinstein: We Still Have a Chance to be a Major Player

John Paczkowski — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:50:07 +0000

When Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein last appeared on the D stage in 2009 he was bringing the Pre to market in a bet-the-company move to recover the handset maker’s long-lost glory. Palm’s new operating system, webOS, had been well received at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier in the year and the company’s share price had ascended from $3 to $10 on its promise.

Two years later, Palm no longer has a share price, having been acquired by Hewlett-Packard, and Rubinstein, no longer its CEO, runs HP’s new mobile devices unit. But with the iconic Silicon Valley company backing it and “doubling down on webOS” and a new tablet based on the OS headed to market, its future is perhaps equally as promising, if not more so.

2:57 pm:
The session kicks off with video of a previous interview with Rubinstein in which he–the “father of the iPod”–claimed never to have used an iPhone.

So, have you touched an iPhone yet? Kara asks.

Rubinstein laughs. “Oh, we’re going to go through this again? Have I used one as my own device? No. Have I touched one? Yes.”

2:58 pm: Rubinstein continues: For me personally, we have lots of people who use iPhones and we have competitive analysis groups who review competing products, but I don’t want to be tainted by another experience. I want to come at this with a fresh perspective and I think what we’re seeing now in this industry is that everyone is copying the iPhone.

3:00 pm: Sorry, we’re having some connectivity issues here….

Moving on now to Palm and its ultimate acquisition by HP.

I think we did have many of the elements to be successful. We had a great team, a great product, a great product pipeline….But I think the market moved too fast and when we looked forward we saw a very clear way to where we could get the company to profitability, but we didn’t see a way to get it to scale….We could have been a small, successful company, but I don’t think that’s long-term sustainable in this business.”

So it was an issue of scale and not the “creepy lady marketing?” Kara asks.

Rubinstein says no, though he concedes the Palm Pre could have been marketed better.

3:04 pm: Ultimately, says, Rubinstein, we just ran out of runway…. We looked at a variety of different alternatives, and at the end of the day we decided that the best thing to do was to hook up with a partner that could get webOS to scale….The most expeditious outcome was to partner with HP.

3:05 pm: What other companies were interested in acquiring you? Kara asks. Rubinstein won’t say. What he will say is that the one that made the most sense was HP. “They didn’t have a great mobile strategy, but they had the means to get webOS to scale….A company like HP needs to be in control of its own strategy….This is not ‘game over.”

3:07 pm: How badly did HP need Palm? “Look,” says Rubinstein, “HP is the largest computer company in the world…it needs a mobile strategy. And it needs a mobile OS of its own….They needed to be in this space, and now they’re very jazzed about webOS.

3:08 pm: How about the Mark Hurd scandal? Was it much of a distraction for Palm? Rubinstein says it wasn’t. Palm was relatively new to the company when it occurred and was thus unaffected. “There was some turmoil for a few days,” he says. “That’s about it.”

3:10 pm: Moving on now to Palm’s role within HP. “What we chose to do as part of the acquistion was to integrate part of Palm into HP and keep part of it separate….The engineering team is essentially separate…things like HR and finance are handled by HP….From my perspective, what we were planning on doing and what HP wanted to do were very well aligned.”

Post acquisition, says Rubinstein, as soon as we aligned our road maps, we were off and running. He notes that internal relationships with divisions like HP Labs have been quite helpful.

Will the Palm name continue? asks Kara.

[Sorry, more connectivity problems.]
Rubinstein: That’s something we’re debating. What do you think we should do?

Kara: Get rid of it.

Rubinstein: Okay [jokingly]….I don’t really have much of a connection to the Palm brand.

3:16 pm: What’s Rubinstein’s view on the competitive environment? “Look, this is a huge market. The growth is phenomenal. If we roll back three years to when I started this Palm adventure, mobile was the place to be. And it still is today. I think we still have the chance to become a major player if we do the right things.”

3:20 pm: What’s the more important device, the phone or the tablet? asks Kara. Rubinstein says he doesn’t think people will have just one device. “It used to be that people shared a device. These days, people have multiple devices. So the new question is how do these devices interact so there’s a seemless user experience across devices….The ability to have a unified experience on all your devices is very important.”

3:21 pm: The conversation moves on to carrier relationships. Rubinstein observes that AT&T is doing pretty well in the Bay Area. “Just for you,” quips Kara.

3:23 pm: And on to the Q&A. First question from Engadget’s Josh Topolsky. What’s the Palm story that’s going to make people buy your phones? How do you convince a consumer to buy your stuff when you’re competing with the likes of Google and Apple?

Rubinstein: We really do have a unique experience compared to everyone else….The other concept around this is the connected device strategy. We’re in this transition now where we’re integrating into HP, so we’re still ramping up.

3:25 pm: Kara circles back, asks about differentiation and how HP can break through all the marketing noise. Where do you think the next radical change in the mobile market is going to come from? she asks.

I think it’s going to be incremental change, not a radical. I think it’s all about bringing this vision of a more connected world to our users.

Kara asks about forthcoming webOS devices.

Rubinstein gives the standard answer: “Stay tuned.” But he added, “This will be a very different conversation next year.”

3:25 pm: And that’s it.

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