AllThingsD » LG http://allthingsd.com Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:11:40 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 CES Hangover: What You Might Have Missed http://allthingsd.com/20120117/ces-hangover-what-you-might-have-missed/ http://allthingsd.com/20120117/ces-hangover-what-you-might-have-missed/#comments Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:59:28 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=164272 The Consumer Electronics Show is over. We came, we saw, we conquered … but we couldn’t possibly write about every one of the more than 20,000 products showcased in Las Vegas last week. Here are a handful that stood out at the show:

Nintendo Wii U
The gaming company didn’t have a spot on the show floor at CES, but Nintendo offered private demos of its upcoming Wii U console, the successor to the popular Nintendo Wii.

The “new Wii” comes with a 6-inch tablet-like motion sensor control that offers a full touchscreen and alternative views of the game being played on the TV set. While using a larger controller to play games might seem cumbersome at first, the interactive options it adds can be fun. The new console also works with the standard Wii controllers, as well as the Wii Nunchuk and Balance Board. It supports 1080p HD output, and the games in the demo were remarkably crisp and clear.

But there are still more questions than answers about the Wii U. Its launch date is still pegged to sometime in the later part of the year, but exactly when and how much it will cost is still unknown. And while Nintendo was the front-runner in motion-sensor gaming with the Wii, Xbox Kinect, in the meantime, has been setting new gaming-console standards with its gesture-control technology, content partnerships and even basic voice command.

When asked about content partnerships in the works, Nintendo declined to comment on any specifics. As for voice-recognition technology, Nintendo also declined to say whether it would be added to the Wii U prior to launch; the company did point to some audio capabilities built into the tablet-like controller, and said it is exploring all kinds of possibilities right now.

Samsung Dual-View 3-D OLED TV
That’s quite a mouthful for a television set, so let’s simplify it: This is a TV that lets you watch two programs at the same time on the same screen — and not by creating separate boxes within the screen. Instead, users wear active-shutter 3-D glasses, and each wearer has a different 2-D image projected to them, or even a different TV show or movie.

What about audio, you ask? Good question: The audio for each program is streamed right through the glasses, so you’ll hear your own program, while your significant other sitting on the other side of the couch will hear his or her choice of entertainment.

A dual-view screen has a certain appeal for gamers, and both Sony and LG have introduced such screens for gaming purposes.

For the average TV watcher, this is notably both high-tech and isolating.

LG’s Blast Chiller
You might have heard about this one by now. We still think it’s cool, no pun intended.

It was apparent at this year’s CES show that appliance makers think we want fridges that tweet and washing machines that send messages to smartphones when the laundry is done. While interconnectivity within the home is still in its teenage — if not even earlier — stages, there was one feature of LG’s refrigerators that seemed quite smart: The Blast Chiller is a compartment that chills cans of soda or beer in about five minutes, and can cool down a larger bottle of wine in about eight minutes. It will be available in LG’s new line of refrigerators — price is unknown, but current models cost around $2,500. The Blast Chiller was definitely a favorite with conference-goers — likely because, by the end of the week, many may have wanted a cold beverage.

Corning Gorilla Glass, the Sequel
You might wonder where glass fits in at a tech show, but this isn’t just any soda-lime glass: It’s the ultra-thin, chemically strengthened Gorilla Glass that forms the displays of many smartphones and tablets, and even coats some laptops. Last week, Corning showed off Gorilla Glass that was 20 percent thinner and just as durable (which I was unable to break with a metal stick, as you can see from the photo here, although you might not want to use my arm strength as your gauge).

Gorilla Glass can be used to create stronger, brighter product displays, the company said. Last year, Corning had also said that it believed the future of glass was “3-D” or flexible glass that can be used in different form factors, including keyboards and kitchen countertops. At CES, the company showed how Gorilla Glass 2 can be used in home appliances and dashboard display systems.

Sleeper Pick: “The Patch”
As anticipated, armbands, accelerometers, exercise gear and health-and-fitness-focused apps dominated the digital-health section of CES this year (and even Jawbone’s UP armband made an appearance). But if you’re not ready for a full-time commitment to some of these devices, BodyMedia and Avery Dennison have come up with a temporary adhesive patch to test your resolve. Meant to be worn on the back of the left tricep for up to seven days, the patch combines the sensors of BodyMedia armbands with Avery Dennison’s wearable tech to aid in weight-loss management.

The patch is still awaiting U.S. regulatory clearance, so it may not be available until the third quarter of the year, or later. I’m told it will be less expensive than BodyMedia’s armbands, which run from $150 to $179 (and now work in conjunction with a new digital-wellness platform from fitness guru Jillian Michaels.)

But in future-form, a potentially inexpensive, disposable patch that has some of the same sensory capabilities of an armband could be an interesting fitness “gadget”: Slap it on, forget it’s there while you exercise, save the data and throw it out.

(Blast Chiller photo courtesy of Flickr/LGEPR)

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120117/ces-hangover-what-you-might-have-missed/feed/ 0 Microsoft, LG Sign Patent Agreement Covering Android, Chrome OS http://allthingsd.com/20120112/microsoft-lg-sign-patent-agreement-covering-android-chrome-os/ http://allthingsd.com/20120112/microsoft-lg-sign-patent-agreement-covering-android-chrome-os/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:36:15 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=163178 Microsoft and LG Electronics said on Thursday that they have signed a patent agreement covering LG devices running Android and Chrome OS. It’s the latest in a string of such deals that Microsoft has signed, though it has also sued both Motorola Mobility and Barnes & Noble over Android-based devices.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120112/microsoft-lg-sign-patent-agreement-covering-android-chrome-os/feed/ 0 LG: 55-Inch Glasses-Free 3-D Screen Is on the Way http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-55-inch-glasses-free-3-d-tv-is-on-the-way/ http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-55-inch-glasses-free-3-d-tv-is-on-the-way/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:03:39 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=161746 As we reported earlier, expect 3-D to be featured alongside “smart” — meaning Internet-connected — TVs at CES this year, as TV makers try a variety of tactics to push high-end television sets with lots of bells and whistles.

One of LG's new Cinema 3-D Smart TVs: Glasses still required.

LG Electronics is no exception to the trend, as the company today unveiled a new line of high-resolution 3-D TVs — part of its Smart TV line — and a 3-D TV with an 84-inch screen.

But what about that glasses-free 3-D? It may come sooner than previously expected, says Seog-ho Ro, LG’s head of global strategy for home entertainment. LG already sells a not-exactly-cheap, 20-inch, glasses-free 3-D monitor and will display another small 3-D screen this week at the annual tech show in Las Vegas.

The company tells AllThingsD that it will have a 55-inch pilot version of its glasses-free 3-D display technology ready for 2013 and hopes to bring it to market by 2014. While it’s too early to know an exact price point, LG confirmed that it will be “expensive,” despite the fact that the company considers its current 3-D TV line to be cost competitive.

Toshiba, which has brought glasses-free 3-D gaming to laptops, has also confirmed that it plans to make “big” glasses-free 3-D TV screens available in the U.S. sometime early this year.

Because of technical obstacles, glasses-free 3-D TV has been relatively slow coming to large screens — it can be hard to experience the 3-D effects from viewing angles other than directly in front of the screen.

Until glasses-free, or autostereoscopic, 3-D becomes mainstream, companies are looking to convince consumers that 3-D glasses really aren’t all that bad (we’ll let consumers speak for themselves on that). LG, for instance, is pushing its new “passive” 3-D glasses that are 20 percent lighter than previous versions and can snap on the front of regular spectacles. LG says it has realized that consumers don’t want to pay for relatively expensive active-shutter 3-D glasses and that it is “getting aggressive about passive.”

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-55-inch-glasses-free-3-d-tv-is-on-the-way/feed/ 0 LG Pushes 4G Smartphone Through Verizon: The LG Spectrum http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-pushes-4g-smartphone-through-verizon-the-lg-spectrum/ http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-pushes-4g-smartphone-through-verizon-the-lg-spectrum/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:15:53 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=161628 In the smartphone market, LG Electronics has done well at the low end with the Optimus phone, which is popular with prepaid carriers. But the company has been largely absent in the high-end phone market.

Today, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, LG showed off its new Spectrum, a 4G LTE smartphone with a 4.5 inch HD IPS display, through a partnership with Verizon. The phone runs Android’s Gingerbread operating system and is upgradable to Android Ice Cream Sandwich. It has rear- and front-facing cameras, and captures 8 megapixel images and 1080 HD video. The phone will be available on Jan. 19 in Verizon stores and will cost $199.99 with a two-year contract.

Through a partnership with ESPN, the Spectrum will stream exclusive mobile video content from ESPN in HD.

LG also teased its upcoming dual-solution VMware smartphone and said it would have more details at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. But what we know about the phone is that it will run two Android operating systems on a single device — one for work and one geared toward personal use. LG cited the growing trend of consumers using personal phones for work as evidence of a need for this sort of thing.

We also got a glimpse of the 55-inch OLED TV from LG — another one of the worst-kept secrets in Vegas — and learned a little bit more about the company’s 3-D TV efforts. More to come shortly.

Ina Fried contributed to this article.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120109/lg-pushes-4g-smartphone-through-verizon-the-lg-spectrum/feed/ 0 At CES 2012, 3-D Is Riding Shotgun to "Smart" TVs http://allthingsd.com/20120106/at-ces-2012-3-d-is-riding-shotgun-to-smart-tvs/ http://allthingsd.com/20120106/at-ces-2012-3-d-is-riding-shotgun-to-smart-tvs/#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:48:29 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=160499 After years of flogging 3-D TVs at the annual Consumer Electronics Show, television makers are trying a different tactic.

For 2012, they are focusing on making TVs “smarter” by enabling them to connect to the Internet for apps and video services on the Web.

But that doesn’t mean 3-D is going away. It’s just riding shotgun with smart TVs.

Smart TV is not a new concept, of course. Up until now, it has been defined as Internet-connected television achieved through a separate box or device that connects to the TV and streams Internet content, or via a computer-like processor built directly into the TV.

On the showroom floor in Las Vegas next week, electronics makers including Samsung Electronics, Sony and LG Electronics are expected to show off more television sets that bring Internet connectivity to entertainment centers for the home. Yesterday, Google announced that LG will join the list of companies supporting Google TV; Samsung, Sony, and Vizio Inc. have also adopted Google’s Internet TV technology.

With Apple rumored to have a possible Internet-connected HDTV in the pipeline, TV makers are making all kinds of pushes to bring to market devices that offer consumers a full range of options. For many consumers, the answer for now will still be external devices that offer easy, upgradable solutions, like the Microsoft Xbox, Apple TV, Google TV and even Roku’s latest gadget.

Analysts believe that Internet-enabled TVs will begin to take a larger share of the market by default, eventually becoming a check-off item for consumers, rather than a special feature. Some 60 percent of new televisions being sold in 2012 are expected to have Internet connectivity. According to NPD’s DisplaySearch, connected-TV shipments are expected to reach 138 million globally by 2015, accounting for 47 percent of all flat-panel TVs.

So where does 3-D fit into all this?

TV makers will still be touting 3-D at CES 2012, as many smart TVs will also include 3-D capabilities. Samsung Electronics, for instance, says that more than half of its 2012 TV models will support 3-D. “Our commitment to 3-D is only deepening,” says Ethan Raisel, director of communications at Samsung.

Tim Alessi, Director of New Product Development at LG, estimates that around 20 percent of all LG TV units will support 3-D, and notes that 3-D is featured in 50 percent of the company’s lineup for this year.

But despite the fact that 3-D TV sales in 2011 showed some encouraging gains — with an estimated 21.5 million 3-D units reported to have shipped last year and sales showing significant gains from quarter to quarter — the forced exuberance over three-dimensional screens has been tempered a bit.

That’s likely because it doesn’t matter how well 3-D TV units are selling — for the consumer, anyway. “It’s not really the penetration that matters, it’s the use,” says Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. “You’d be hard pressed to find a 3-D TV owner that actually uses it in 3-D mode even once a week. That’s not a formula for building consumer momentum.”

For TV, 3-D presents a three-headed monster: To start, there are the technical and psychological obstacles of those pesky 3-D glasses — and while autostereoscopic (glasses-free) 3-D technology is being worked on in many R&D labs, industry experts all agree that quality 3-D without glasses is at least a few years away.

Secondly, 3-D presents a chicken-and-egg dilemma that doesn’t exist with smart-TV features — the question of where the viewable content will come from. Many content creators have been holding off on making 3-D programs. The Discovery Channel and ESPN made headlines two years ago when they announced 3-D channels; but in terms of sports, 3-D has been relegated to key events, due to high production costs.

An increasing number of 3-D movies are available on DVD, but moviemakers that hopped aboard the 3-D train early — think Pixar Animation Studios and DreamWorks Animation — were likely doing so to plant a flag in the ground for when 3-D finally does hit critical mass in the living room, says Scott Steinberg, head of strategic consulting firm TechSavvy.

Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer even said recently, regarding the company’s 3-D TV push, that he hadn’t realized all of the challenges in getting 3-D content in place.

And the third issue affecting the uptake of 3-D has been the cost of the sets. On average, the cost of 47-inch to 50-inch 3-D TV sets is $400 more than similar HDTVs, according to a 2011 report from Retrevo. And while the entire consumer electronics industry has been hurt by a weak U.S. economy, TV sales have been hit particularly hard.

Steinberg says that for the average American household, television purchasing is about being practical right now. “It’s much more important to have the maximum-value TV with Internet capabilities and apps, than to invest in a still-unproven technology like 3-D.”

A December 2011 report from Parks & Associates on consumer purchasing intent also indicates that smart TVs are what’s grabbing the interest of consumers right now.

Even that report points out that smart TVs won’t deliver the killer blow to 3-D. As smart TVs are punched up with even more features — from apps to motion remotes to voice-command capabilities — more middle-class households looking to purchase smart TVs may buy in to 3-D, whether they’re actively looking for it or not.

Whether consumers actually want to sit in their living rooms and wear 3-D glasses to watch TV remains to be seen. For now, TV makers will still insist that they do.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120106/at-ces-2012-3-d-is-riding-shotgun-to-smart-tvs/feed/ 1 With No iPhone 5, Koreans Change View of Apple -- And Themselves http://allthingsd.com/20111005/with-no-iphone-5-koreans-change-view-of-apple-and-themselves/ http://allthingsd.com/20111005/with-no-iphone-5-koreans-change-view-of-apple-and-themselves/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:30:12 +0000 Evan Ramstad http://allthingsd.com/?p=128761 Apple Inc.’s rollout of a new version of iPhone 4 rather than the major redesign that many techies were expecting is being portrayed in South Korea as good news for the country’s big electronics companies — even as Apple fans in the country, like many elsewhere in the world, said they are disappointed.

Whether or not Apple’s iPhone 4S will really make a big difference for the Korean companies — Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co. — in the global smartphone race remains to be seen.

But it is sure to change the perceptions of that race among South Koreans and the portrayal of it in the domestic media.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111005/with-no-iphone-5-koreans-change-view-of-apple-and-themselves/feed/ 2 LG: Layoffs Galore? http://allthingsd.com/20110908/lg-layoffs-galore/ http://allthingsd.com/20110908/lg-layoffs-galore/#comments Thu, 08 Sep 2011 22:20:17 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=118822 Ugly news for LG Electronics. The South Korean company has reportedly implemented massive layoffs in its mobile division in an effort to turn that business around. According to the Korea Economic Daily, LG sacked 20 to 30 percent of its overseas mobile staff, mostly in marketing and purchasing positions. But after five consecutive quarterly losses and continuing poor performance in the smartphone market, what else was it to do? Reached for comment, an LG spokesperson disputed the report saying “no decision has been made as to any job reductions.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110908/lg-layoffs-galore/feed/ 0 Nokia Remains Top Handset Maker, but for How Long? http://allthingsd.com/20110811/nokia-remains-top-handset-maker-but-for-how-long/ http://allthingsd.com/20110811/nokia-remains-top-handset-maker-but-for-how-long/#comments Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:58:14 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=108744 Nokia’s platform may be burning and the company may be rushing to bring its first Windows Phone handsets to market, but it remained the leading mobile phone manufacturer in the second quarter.

New metrics from research outfit Gartner, which measures handset sales to end users rather than handsets shipped into the channel, show Nokia selling 97.9 million mobile devices in the second quarter, for a 22.8 percent market share. That’s down from the 30.3 percent share it claimed in the year prior, but still far more than the 16.3 percent held by its nearest rival, Samsung. LG and Apple trailed far behind the pair, with 5.7 percent and 4.6 percent shares respectively.

The smartphone market, however, was another matter entirely. There, devices running Google’s Android OS hold a commanding lead with a 43.4 percent share of the market, up from 17.2 percent in the year prior. Nokia’s share is a little more than half that, with handsets running Symbian claiming 22.1 percent, down from 40.9. Meanwhile, Apple’s iOS holds an 18.2 percent share, up from 14.1 percent; and Research In Motion’s Blackberry OS has an 11.7 percent share, down from 18.7 percent.

So Nokia managed to hold some of its ground in the second quarter, despite ceding a lot of it to rivals. But it’s growing increasingly more difficult for it to do so, as that year-over-year drop — 40.9 percent to 22.1 percent — shows.

“The sales efforts of the channel, combined with Nokia’s greater concentration in retail and distributors’ sales, saw Nokia destock more than 9 million units overall and 5 million smartphones, helping it hold on to its position as the leading smartphone manufacturer by volume,” Gartner analyst Roberta Cozza said. “However, we will not see a repeat of this performance in the third quarter of 2011, as Nokia’s channel is pretty lean.”

[Image credit: visionshare/Flickr]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110811/nokia-remains-top-handset-maker-but-for-how-long/feed/ 0 Apple Tied Up in Booting Suit http://allthingsd.com/20110808/apple-tied-up-in-booting-suit/ http://allthingsd.com/20110808/apple-tied-up-in-booting-suit/#comments Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:50:35 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=107194 It’s going to be a busy fall for Apple legal. A multitude of iPhone-related patent suits are in litigation, and now there’s a new one concerning its Mac operating system.

PatentlyApple reports that Operating Systems Solutions LLC has filed suit against Apple, alleging OS X violates a patent it owns for quickly booting an operating system. The patent at issue here, RE840,092: “Method for Quickly Booting a Computer System,” describes what seems to be a pretty basic process:

“A method for fast booting a computer system, comprising the steps of: A. performing a power on self test (POST) of basic input output system (BIOS) when the system is powered on or reset is requested; B. checking whether a boot configuration information including a system booting state which was created while executing a previous normal booting process exists or not; C. storing the boot configuration information from execution of the POST operation before loading a graphic interface (GUI) program, based on the checking result; and D. loading the graphic user interface (GUI) program.”

Operating Systems Solutions cites Apple’s MacBook Pro as an example of infringing hardware, but argues that anything running Mac OS X is liable. It’s seeking injunctive relief as well as damages.

At first glance, this seems like just another case of a patent troll coming forward to try its hand at squeezing some cash out of Apple. But as Florian Mueller notes over at FOSSpatents, there may be something else going on here as well. Operating Systems Solutions LLC appears to have acquired the patent at issue in this case from LG Electronics. And while there’s no evidence of a working relationship between the two companies (LG is not included in the suit), it’s certainly possible that Operating Systems Solutions could be a proxy for LG, which sells a number of Android-based devices that might draw Apple’s ire.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110808/apple-tied-up-in-booting-suit/feed/ 0 It's Official: Apple Ousts Nokia as the World's Largest Smartphone Vendor http://allthingsd.com/20110729/its-official-apple-ousts-nokia-as-the-worlds-largest-smartphone-vendor/ http://allthingsd.com/20110729/its-official-apple-ousts-nokia-as-the-worlds-largest-smartphone-vendor/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:53:18 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=104269 IDC and Strategy Analytics today officially confirmed what was unofficially revealed last week: Apple has ousted Nokia as the largest smartphone maker in the world. The company sold 20.3 million iPhones last quarter, up 142 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, and according to Strategy Analytics that gives it an 18.5 percent share of the worldwide smartphone market — greater than Nokia’s 15.2 percent share, which has fallen by more than half since last year.

Meanwhile, in a separate report, IDC noted that Apple’s share of the overall handset market more than doubled in the second quarter, rising to 5.6 percent from 2.6 percent a year earlier. That makes it the world’s fourth-largest manufacturer of all mobile phones after Nokia, Samsung and LG. “[Apple] easily posted the highest growth rate of the worldwide leaders despite the fact that its flagship iPhone 4 is now more than a year old,” IDC noted. “[The company's] ability to bring its smartphone momentum to developing economies, where it’s less successful, will help dictate the company’s smartphone fortunes in future.”

And those fortunes look quite promising, given Apple’s achievements to date. After all, the company has managed to become the fourth-largest handset vendor in the world and its largest seller of smartphones in just four years, with essentially one phone.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110729/its-official-apple-ousts-nokia-as-the-worlds-largest-smartphone-vendor/feed/ 0 Apple Testing Hi-Res Screens For Next Generation iPad http://allthingsd.com/20110718/apple-testing-hi-res-screens-for-next-generation-ipad/ http://allthingsd.com/20110718/apple-testing-hi-res-screens-for-next-generation-ipad/#comments Mon, 18 Jul 2011 20:10:32 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=99312 In addition to a new, higher-resolution display, the next generation iPad may have new display supplier as well. The Korea Times reports that Samsung and LG Display are competing for the contract to supply Apple with LCD displays for the successor to the iPad 2.

“Apple’s upcoming iPad 3 will feature an improved display to support quad extended graphics (QXGA), a display resolution of 2048×1536 pixels with a 4:3 aspect ratio to provide full high definition (HD) viewing experience,” an industry source told the Times, adding that Apple is also looking for pixel density of at least 280 pixels-per-inch.

With a resolution of 2048×1536 at 280 ppi, these displays would be a vast improvement over those used in the current crop of iPads. That said, they would still fall short of “Retina Displays” used in the iPhone 4, which boast a 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110718/apple-testing-hi-res-screens-for-next-generation-ipad/feed/ 0 LG: Our Business Is Improving, So We're Cutting Our Smartphone Forecast http://allthingsd.com/20110707/lg-our-business-is-improving-so-were-cutting-our-smartphone-forecast/ http://allthingsd.com/20110707/lg-our-business-is-improving-so-were-cutting-our-smartphone-forecast/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:01:17 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=95368 LG says its business is “gradually improving,” but evidently not so much that the company can stick by its sales targets.

The company on Thursday slashed its 2011 smartphone sales forecast by 20 percent, lowering it to 24 million from 30 million amid increased competition from HTC, Apple and Samsung, among others. Worse, it said that the 150 million in total handset sales it had projected for the year was a bit too aggressive. A more realistic number: 114 million, said Jong-Seok Park, head of LG’s handset division, during a press conference today.

Ugly news for LG and its continuing efforts to revive its money-losing handset business, which is gearing up to report its fifth straight quarterly loss.

“Our overall performance is gradually improving,” Park said. “It’s hard to give an exact timing, because there are so many market variables, and the situation changes quickly.”

Particularly when it changes for the worse …

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110707/lg-our-business-is-improving-so-were-cutting-our-smartphone-forecast/feed/ 0 Engineers Try to Solve Ultrathin TVs http://allthingsd.com/20110517/engineers-try-to-solve-ultrathin-tvs/ http://allthingsd.com/20110517/engineers-try-to-solve-ultrathin-tvs/#comments Tue, 17 May 2011 07:00:07 +0000 Evan Ramstad http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=41146 Ro Jae-song, a materials science professor here, has spent the past eight years researching a display technology called OLED, which is now used for some high-end cellphone screens.

Mr. Ro does contract research for South Korea’s two big electronics makers, Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Co., on a difficult problem: How to build OLED screens big enough for large televisions.

It’s one of the hot topics among display researchers and manufacturers who are meeting in Los Angeles for the annual conference of the Society for Information Display, or SID. More academic gabfest than trade show, engineers will trot out their latest ideas for displays as small as sheet-like films that roll up in a pen to as large as roadside billboards.

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110517/engineers-try-to-solve-ultrathin-tvs/feed/ 0 Sony Jumps on the Honeycomb Bandwagon, Plans Two Android Tablets for Fall http://allthingsd.com/20110425/sony-jumps-on-the-honeycomb-bandwagon-plans-two-android-tablets-for-fall/ http://allthingsd.com/20110425/sony-jumps-on-the-honeycomb-bandwagon-plans-two-android-tablets-for-fall/#comments Tue, 26 Apr 2011 05:14:05 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=6894

Sony became the latest computer maker to toss its hat into the Android tablet ring, announcing plans for two models during a press conference in Japan.

The Japanese computer maker announced plans for two Honeycomb tablets–the 9.4-inch S1 and the S2, with its dual 5.5-inch screens. Sony said the tablets will be available globally starting this fall.

With the move, Sony will join a crowded field that includes Motorola, which led the Honeycomb parade with its Xoom, along with LG, HTC, Samsung, Toshiba and Acer, to name just some of those with announced plans. Meanwhile, Apple still dominates the field with the iPad, while HP and Research In Motion hope to tackle the tablet market with homegrown operating systems.

Both Sony models have built-in Wi-Fi as well as cellular options. In addition to the standard Web-browsing and other Android features, Sony is touting its tablets’ abilities to act as universal remote controls and connect to video and gaming services from the company.

The dual screens on the S2 allow users to combine both displays or use one for content and another for either controls or a virtual keyboard.

The company had been widely expected to cast its tablet fortunes with Android, following in the footsteps of its Sony Ericsson cellphone joint venture, which has bet on the Google operating system to power its smartphones.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110425/sony-jumps-on-the-honeycomb-bandwagon-plans-two-android-tablets-for-fall/feed/ 0 Microsoft Offers Apology for Windows Phone Upgrade Slowness http://allthingsd.com/20110328/microsoft-offers-apology-for-windows-phone-upgrade-slowness/ http://allthingsd.com/20110328/microsoft-offers-apology-for-windows-phone-upgrade-slowness/#comments Mon, 28 Mar 2011 11:30:50 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=5554 With customers unhappy at the pace with which Microsoft has delivered a promised Windows Phone 7 update, the software maker is offering its apologies.

In comments posted on Microsoft’s developer site, Joe Belfiore apologized both for the slowness of the update and for earlier comments that indicated that Microsoft was further along with the update than it actually was.

“First, I was wrong when I said ‘most people have received the February update,’” Belfiore said in the posting on Microsoft’s Channel 9 site. “There are many of you who have yet to receive it, and I don’t blame you for speaking up and pointing out my mistake.”

The update delivers copy and paste features, along with performance updates and improvements to the Marketplace for buying apps.

Belfiore and others at Redmond have talked about the update in the past tense, though many customers have yet to get it. Part of this has to do with the fact that both Microsoft and carriers have to sign off and schedule the update, a process that is still under way.

Redmond has posted a schedule of when to expect the update in the U.S., as well as in international markets.

The update is already on some new phones, including the HTC Arrive, the first Windows Phone 7 model from Sprint. In addition to copy and paste support, the so-called NoDo update is the first version of the Windows Phone software that supports CDMA networks such as Sprint and Verizon. AT&T is also adding the HTC HD7S phone, which also will run the newer version of the software.

This is not the first stumble Microsoft has had when it comes to updating Windows Phone 7. The company had to delay the roll-out of an earlier update after the process caused problems on some Samsung phones.

The purpose of that update was merely to test the updating process and prepare for future updates.

The copy and paste update has also been delayed a bit, to late March.

Challenges with these updates raise questions about how timely Microsoft will be in delivering a more substantive update to the operating system. At Mobile World Congress in February, Microsoft said it would have a broader update later this year that offers improved Web browsing, multitasking and integrated Twitter support.

Here is the full text of Belfiore’s comments:

Many of you are making critical comments here which are certainly fair. First, I was wrong when I said “most people have received the February update.” There are many of you who have yet to receive it, and I don’t blame you for speaking up and pointing out my mistake. Second, I referred to our updates as “complete” because I was thinking of the internal process where we pass completed software to another group who delivers them – but of course no update is complete until you all have it. Plus, at the time I did the interview we had started the NoDo (“march update”) delivery process and I knew “it was going well” from our perspective: people were officially getting it, the success rate of its deployment on real-world phones was looking good, and we were happy that the process had STARTED well. Still—these are NOT the same as all of you getting it and I’m sorry that I came across as insensitive to that fact.

I am a very, very big advocate for all our end-users and developers, and it bothers me a lot if I sounded out of touch. I wasn’t as prepared for this interview as I should have been—I walked into the studio with an informal state of mind, thinking about MIX and what we WILL be talking about, and I didn’t have the right up-to-date information to give a good explanation on updates which I know to be a very high-interest topic right now.

I have read all of the comments here (and many of them on the other blogs) and so has pretty much everyone in our management team. We know it’s been frustrating to wait for features/fixes and (probably worse) to hear little from us on specific dates. We are sorry the process has been rocky. The “where’s my phone update” table is our first step to try to remedy this in the face of technical problems that have made our first wave of updates take longer than we expected. We know the table would benefit greatly from more detail, and we are hoping to add more to it by working with the Operators who own the “testing” phase to get more clarity. If your phone is shown in “scheduling”, it’ll be worth checking the table next week.

In the spirit of “MIX as a conversation” – I will make sure that when I show up in Vegas that I’m well prepared to give an update in person and to try to answer your questions as best I can. You folks are obviously a very important audience for us and it’s right for you to expect us to communicate and execute better. I know at this point it’s our actions that matter… The main thing we are trying to do is to get the updates out to everyone in a way that is reliable and works, and then make our process better and more transparent in the future.

Thanks,
Joe

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110328/microsoft-offers-apology-for-windows-phone-upgrade-slowness/feed/ 0 Kodak CEO Would Like "Big Money" From Apple and RIM, Please http://allthingsd.com/20110325/kodak-ceo-would-like-big-money-from-apple-and-rim-please/ http://allthingsd.com/20110325/kodak-ceo-would-like-big-money-from-apple-and-rim-please/#comments Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:44:29 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=59237 The U.S. International Trade Commission hasn’t yet decided to review its determination that Apple’s iPhone and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry don’t violate Kodak’s patent on an image-preview function in smartphones. But that hasn’t stopped Kodak Chairman and CEO Antonio Perez from slapping a cash value on the settlement that might result if it does.

$1 billion.

“This is a lot of money, big money,” Perez told Bloomberg, adding that his company “deserves to win.”

Problem is, it lost once already. An ITC judge ruled in January that Apple and RIM didn’t violate the patent at issue here and declared the patent invalid because it’s an obvious variation of an earlier invention.

Now, it’s certainly possible that the commission could overturn that ruling. And, if it does, it’s also possible that it could block imports of the infringing products, which would obviously be a big incentive for both Apple and RIM to settle. That’s what Samsung and LG did when Kodak sued them over the same patent.

But the commission hasn’t overturned the ruling. It hasn’t even decided whether to review it. And even if it does, Kodak itself is facing patent infringement charges from Apple and a suit from RIM challenging the validity of a number of its patents, including the one in the ITC case. Those suits will certainly complicate any potential royalty negotiations.

So it’s a bit premature for Perez to be offering a forecast on patent royalties, though it is doing wonders for Kodak’s share price, which at $3.44 is up about 10 percent on Perez’s bloviating. A nice little pop for a company that lost nearly half its market value last year.

Might want to take a picture of that, Kodak, it will probably last longer.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110325/kodak-ceo-would-like-big-money-from-apple-and-rim-please/feed/ 4 Merger, Schmerger; T-Mobile Introduces New Devices at CTIA http://allthingsd.com/20110321/merger-schmerger-t-mobile-introduces-new-devices-at-ctia/ http://allthingsd.com/20110321/merger-schmerger-t-mobile-introduces-new-devices-at-ctia/#comments Tue, 22 Mar 2011 04:00:24 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=5349 While all the talk in Orlando is about its deal to be bought by AT&T, T-Mobile is hoping at least a few people will pay attention to some of its newest products.

In a series of product introductions that were planned ahead of the bombshell announcement, the No. 4 U.S. carrier introduced the G2x, an Android-based smartphone from LG that features a dual-core Nvidia Tegra chip along with a 4-inch screen. That device, as well as the previously announced G-Slate tablet and Sidekick 4G phone are still due this spring, the carrier said, without being more specific.

T-Mobile also announced plans for a new mobile broadband hotspot coming this spring as well as a USB stick modem that will ship this week.

The carrier also announced the first three areas where it will introduce its fastest network technology–a so-called HSPA+42 network. The network is an incremental improvement on the network that T-Mobile already sells as 4G (although from a technology perspective both the current and faster flavors are based on T-Mobile’s existing 3G network).

Las Vegas, New York and Orlando will be the first to get the HSPA+42 network, which offers peak theoretical speeds double the fastest speeds available on its current “4G” network. Chicago will follow suit, with 25 markets due to get the speed bump by mid-year.

T-Mobile’s announcements follow those from rival Sprint, which earlier on Monday announced plans to offer a version of the Nexus S that runs on its Wi-Max-based 4G network. In a further tie-up with the search giant, Sprint also said that it will enable Google Voice to run on its complete lineup of CDMA-based smartphones.

There was also device news from T-Mobile’s would-be merger partner, AT&T, which announced plans for its first 3-D smartphone, the LG Thrill 4G. It will also carry an additional Windows Phone–HTC’s HD7S, notable for being the largest-screen device in AT&T’s lineup of Windows phones. The move comes as Sprint is due to begin selling the Arrive, its first Windows Phone. Both the Arrive and HD7S will come pre-loaded with Microsoft’s NoDo software update that adds copy and paste abilities.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110321/merger-schmerger-t-mobile-introduces-new-devices-at-ctia/feed/ 0 LG Announces Customs Agent Chaos For PS3 http://allthingsd.com/20110228/lg-announces-customs-agent-chaos-for-ps3/ http://allthingsd.com/20110228/lg-announces-customs-agent-chaos-for-ps3/#comments Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:58:37 +0000 John Paczkowski http://digitaldaily.allthingsd.com/?p=58471 LG Electronics has made good on its threat to block the import of PlayStation 3 consoles into Europe. The Guardian reports that the Hague has granted LG a preliminary injunction against Sony, which it claims has unfairly built some of its patented Blu-ray technology into the product.

Evidently, customs officials seized “tens of thousands” of PS3s in the Netherlands earlier this week and will do the same to any further shipments that arrive there for the next 10 days. Sony, which ironically begat these hostilities by filing patent-infringement claims seeking to block LG from selling mobile phones in the United States, is said to be frantically working to have the ban repealed.

Reached for comment, Sony had very little to say on the matter. “We’re investigating the situation, but cannot comment on it at this time,” said Dan Race of Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Meanwhile, LG is plotting its next move, which could include a play to have the 10-day import ban extended–or a court order to have the consoles destroyed.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110228/lg-announces-customs-agent-chaos-for-ps3/feed/ 2 Nokia's Stephen Elop Responds to Those Who Oppose His Big Windows Phone Deal http://allthingsd.com/20110215/nokias-stephen-elop-on-microsofts-billions-and-those-who-oppose-his-big-windows-phone-deal/ http://allthingsd.com/20110215/nokias-stephen-elop-on-microsofts-billions-and-those-who-oppose-his-big-windows-phone-deal/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:37:13 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=4154 Stephen Elop knows there are plenty of investors and employees who are none too happy with his plan to phase out its homegrown Symbian operating system in favor of an approach that focuses on phones that are built on top of Microsoft’s software.

Financial markets have sent Nokia shares lower, workers have been up in arms and earlier on Tuesday a group of young Nokia investors posted an open letter on the Web calling for the Nokia chief executive to rethink his plans and instead opt for a “Plan B” that would have Nokia maintain ownership of the software layer of its phones.

But Elop said he is not surprised there has been some negative reaction. Elop noted that he has had months to weigh all the options and grow comfortable with the Windows Phone-led strategy, while others are still digesting it.

“There is both an intellectual journey and an emotional journey through which we all need to go,” Elop told Mobilized during a chat on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona. “I’ve had four and a half months to go through the journey.”

As for workers walking off the job last Friday, Elop also seemed to take that in stride. “To the extent that workers need time to go through that emotional journey, that’s something I completely understand.”

While Elop said the main reason he went with Windows Phone was the opportunity for sustainable differentiation, he noted that the billions of dollars from Microsoft doesn’t hurt.

Elop said that the value of the deal reflects not just the standard business terms, but also the fact that Nokia was a “swing vote” in the mobile market and could have gone to Google and Android.

“That, by itself, has substantial value,” Elop said. “In addition to revenue streams one would normally calculate into a deal, there is a clear recognition of a special value that we are providing for which we are receiving compensation–value, money, however you want to describe it–measured in the ‘B’s not ‘M’s.”

The revenue, which was euphemistically referred to during last week’s investor event as “marketing support” will show up over the life of the deal, Elop said, and allow the company to invest more or flow through to its bottom line.

“To be clear it’s not about the money,” Elop said. “If we can be no different than anybody else, then at end of the day margins erode.”

Elop also noted that Nokia is committing fully to Windows Phone, where as Microsoft’s other partners are largely doing products for Google’s operating system as well.

“Some of the other OEMs do their best work for Android right now,” he said.

Although Nokia hasn’t committed to releasing a Windows Phone this year, Smart Devices head Jo Harlow said onstage at Nokia’s press conference that she is feeling the heat to do so.

Elop clarified where that heat was coming from. “From me,” he said. “From me.”

Update: Asked for comment on the Plan B letter, Nokia offered a brief statement.

“We are aware of the letter being posted, but have not been directly contacted,” the company said. “Nokia’s new strategy has full approval of the Board of Directors and the Nokia Leadership Team, and our focus now is on the execution of this new strategy.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110215/nokias-stephen-elop-on-microsofts-billions-and-those-who-oppose-his-big-windows-phone-deal/feed/ 0 A Newbie's Guide to Mobile World Congress, From a Barcelona Newbie http://allthingsd.com/20110213/a-newbies-guide-to-mobile-world-congress-from-a-barcelona-newbie/ http://allthingsd.com/20110213/a-newbies-guide-to-mobile-world-congress-from-a-barcelona-newbie/#comments Sun, 13 Feb 2011 11:00:27 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=3984 Heading to Barcelona for my first Mobile World Congress, I wanted to know what I was in for, so I decided to email a few Barcelona veterans to get their advice.

In Google terms, I cheated by copying off more established rivals. However, as Bing might put it, I just added a few new inputs to my coverage algorithm.

In any case, here’s what I learned overall. Barcelona is filled with pickpockets. I’ll need comfortable shoes to navigate the vast trade show and chase after said pickpockets. There’s way too much going on, so I should give up now. The food is amazing, but I will be too busy to eat any of it and should pick up some candy bars now.

On the news front, expect a lot of stuff on tablets, as well as interesting new gear from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, HTC, LG and China’s ZTE.

Here are some other specific tips I pulled out of the many awesome emails, for which I am deeply grateful. To reward those who shared their knowledge so generously, I have pulled the following out of context to present the more humorous ones and saved the most useful ones for myself.

From Mobile Industry Review’s Ewan MacLeod:

“Whatever you have actually planned, cut that in half and you might end up completing it. On my first year I booked about 40 interviews all over the place in different halls. By 11 am on Monday I was screwed.”

And:

“Phone signal is typically rubbish. It’s a real pain when people are trying to demonstrate things. Expect 2G/GPRS and if you get 3G, it’s a bonus. With thousands of people on-site, each with 2-3 devices, it’s no surprise the networks can’t handle it.”

From TechnoBuffalo’s Noah Kravitz:

“Pickpockets are no joke. Listen to what your Mom told you the first time you were in a big city as a kid, and stuff your wallet way the heck down your front pants pocket when you walk on the streets. Seriously. And avoid big crowds of swarming people suddenly hell-bent on getting cozy with you. No joke.”

From CrunchGear’s Greg Kumparak:

“Eat everything you can find. The food is rarely disappointing.”

From Eric Zeman of Phone Scoop:

“The Fira (where the event takes place) is a whacked-out maze, and is confusing. Study a floorplan ahead of time, or find an official map/floorplan that you can download to your phone. It takes longer to get from place to place than you might think, because there is never a direct path. Give yourself enough travel time in between meetings.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110213/a-newbies-guide-to-mobile-world-congress-from-a-barcelona-newbie/feed/ 0 Google's Honeycomb Designer: Humans Shouldn't Have to Do a Computer's Work http://allthingsd.com/20110202/googles-honeycomb-designer-humans-shouldnt-have-to-do-a-computers-work/ http://allthingsd.com/20110202/googles-honeycomb-designer-humans-shouldnt-have-to-do-a-computers-work/#comments Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:10:27 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=3344 In designing Honeycomb, Google executive Matias Duarte said that he hearkened back to one of his core beliefs: That humans shouldn’t have to do work that computers are good at.

Among his pet peeves, for example, is that most computers still make a user decide when they want to save their work. And although a popular Android app lets users selectively quit different programs, Duarte said there shouldn’t be a need for something like the Advanced Task Killer.

“Managing the computing resources, deciding what takes up resident RAM, what takes up resident cycles,” Duarte said in an interview with Mobilized, “this is not a task we should ask humans to do, because, first of all, humans don’t do a very good job of it. They don’t have enough information and enough context.”

For his part, Duarte takes issue with the fact that so many people use the Task Killer app, arguing that Android already does a good job of managing memory and that he has never found the need to run the app on any of his devices.

Meanwhile, other tasks should be left to humans, such as deciding when and how often they are interrupted. A new notification system in Honeycomb allows a user to get more notifications in a single spot and to hit the equivalent of a “do not disturb” button to avoid being bothered with details on new emails and pokes from Facebook.

In addition to trying to be more responsive to the user, Honeycomb aims to be much better suited to larger-screen devices, such as tablets. One of the key changes is the removal of the need for fixed buttons. That’s important, Duarte said, because while there is one dominant way of holding a phone, tablets should be able to be held in many different positions. Among the other refinements planned for Honeycomb are the ability to move more easily between recently used tasks using a new taskbar at the bottom of the screen and support for multiple panes–or “fragments”–within an application, something Duarte said should help Android better scale on devices of differing screen sizes.

“We have this concept of fragments, which allows developers to write their application in a set of modular Lego pieces,” Duarte said. In one size, it might make sense to have two panes stacked on top of each other, while in another it might make sense to have them side-by-side, and a third might fit three such panes on a single screen, he said.

Google is set to offer a more detailed look at Honeycomb at an event on Wednesday that starts at 10 am PT. Mobilized will have live coverage. Motorola’s Xoom, which goes on sale later this month, is the lead device, to be followed in the coming months by other devices, including the LG G-Slate, which is bound for T-Mobile.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110202/googles-honeycomb-designer-humans-shouldnt-have-to-do-a-computers-work/feed/ 0 Windows Phone 7 Shipments Topped Two Million Units Last Quarter http://allthingsd.com/20110126/windows-phone-7-shipments-topped-two-million-units-last-quarter/ http://allthingsd.com/20110126/windows-phone-7-shipments-topped-two-million-units-last-quarter/#comments Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:13:47 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=2987 It’s still not totally clear how quickly they are selling to consumers, but Microsoft says that more than two million Windows Phone 7 devices have now shipped to cellphone carriers as of the end of December.

“We’re still in the early stages,” Microsoft Senior Product Manager Greg Sullivan told Mobilized in a phone interview on Wednesday. “When people use this phone, they really, really like it.”

Back in December, Microsoft said that 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 devices had shipped to carriers.

AT&T, which carries the broadest lineup of Windows Phone 7 models among the U.S. carriers, declined to give out specific sales figures, but said that sales have been steadily growing since launch and that 90 percent of customers said they would recommend a Windows Phone to others.

“We believe this shows that Windows Phone has a bright future in an intensively competitive space,” an AT&T spokesman told Mobilized.

LG had less-nice things to say, with an executive telling a mobile enthusiast site that early sales weren’t what it had hoped. “From an industry perspective we had a high expectation, but from a consumer point of view the visibility is less than we expected,” LG’s James Choi told Pocket-lint.

Sales are an important measure of success over the long term, but perhaps not even the best indicator of the platform’s long-term success, Sullivan said.

“One of the key ways that we’ll measure success of Windows Phone is did we ship a phone people love,” he said, pointing to its customer-satisfaction data, which said that 93 percent of early customers are “satisfied” or “very satisfied,” adding, “That’s a really great number.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110126/windows-phone-7-shipments-topped-two-million-units-last-quarter/feed/ 0 Don't Read This While Driving: T-Mobile Launches Safe Driving App http://allthingsd.com/20110119/dont-read-this-while-driving-t-mobile-launches-safe-driving-app/ http://allthingsd.com/20110119/dont-read-this-while-driving-t-mobile-launches-safe-driving-app/#comments Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:10:59 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=2657 If technology created the problem of texting and driving, it is only natural that we look to technology to solve the problem.

After all, we can’t just put our cellphones out of reach and just not answer the things for five freaking minutes. No, we can’t. Trust me. I’ve been to L.A.

In any case, there is a cottage industry developing for products that help those who want to stop texting and yammering on their phones, but need some help.

In the latest such move, T-Mobile plans to start offering a program for Android phones called DriveSmart Plus that allows subscribers who opt-in to have their phones automatically tell when the user is driving and put the phone into a driving mode that disables most texting and calling features. Calls can be set to go straight to voicemail, and a text message can be sent to people who are calling or texting to let them know that the recipient is driving.

Of course, all of this requires users to opt-in, so it will only help those who recognize that they have a problem and actually want to do something about it. And there are ways to override it, which is useful if there is an emergency or the cellphone user is a passenger in a moving car.

But, hey, it is a start. T-Mobile will offer DriveSmart Plus initially only for one phone–the LG Optimus T–but said it plans to expand the service soon. DriveSmart Basic, a free version of the app, is available for free on some T-Mobile phones, although that app requires users to tell the app when they are driving. DriveSmart Plus, the new premium program, will cost $4.99 per month and covers all lines on a subscriber’s account.

DriveSmart Plus is from a venture-backed start-up called Location Labs. T-Mobile is also launching another Location Labs-developed service, dubbed FamilyWhere, for tracking children or family members via their cellphones. It’s apparently useful for monitoring an elderly family member or keeping tabs on school-age kids (or perhaps tracking that cheating spouse, if they are foolish enough to opt-in to the service).

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110119/dont-read-this-while-driving-t-mobile-launches-safe-driving-app/feed/ 0 Samsung, LG Expect Home Appliance Sales to Rise http://allthingsd.com/20110111/samsung-lg-expect-home-appliance-sales-to-rise/ http://allthingsd.com/20110111/samsung-lg-expect-home-appliance-sales-to-rise/#comments Tue, 11 Jan 2011 18:29:18 +0000 Jung-Ah Lee http://voices.allthingsd.com/?p=35075 Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., South Korea’s top two consumer electronics makers, said Tuesday that their home appliance divisions are expected to report brisk sales over the next few years, driven by demand for premium and environmentally friendly products.

Samsung’s home appliance division is targeting to roughly triple annual sales to $30 billion by 2015 from more than $10 billion in 2010, said Hong Chang-wan, head of Samsung Electronics’ digital appliance business.

Meanwhile, LG said it aims to achieve $20 billion in home appliance sales by 2014. While LG didn’t provide sales figures for 2010, the conglomerate had said the division reported sales of 9.541 trillion won ($8.5 billion) in 2009.

The global home appliance market is expected to grow to around $300 billion by 2015, and Samsung hopes to grab a 10 percent market share, Mr. Hong told reporters at the launch of a new Samsung air-conditioner.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110111/samsung-lg-expect-home-appliance-sales-to-rise/feed/ 0 Verizon Wireless Touts 4G Network, Shows Off Devices http://allthingsd.com/20110106/live-verizon-wireless-touts-4g-network-shows-off-devices/ http://allthingsd.com/20110106/live-verizon-wireless-touts-4g-network-shows-off-devices/#comments Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:03:21 +0000 Ina Fried http://mobilized.allthingsd.com/?p=1957 Well, we didn’t learn much new about Verizon Wireless’s new network or devices at the Ivan Seidenberg keynote on Thursday, but he did say that the company would have a preview of its LTE device lineup at this afternoon’s press conference.

Here’s hoping there are a few surprises here beyond the previously announced Motorola Atrix and Xoom.

The event is set to kick off shortly and Mobilized will have live coverage here.

1:05 pm: Well, despite timely warnings to get in our seats beginning at 12:45, it’s now five minutes after and the techno is still pumping.

1:11 pm: Okay. Getting started. Loud music gets louder. Cue video.

Tony Melone and Marni Walden take the stage and CEO Daniel Mead (at least I think it is Mead) is doing an intro.

1:15 pm: Another video now playing with partners. Since HTC CEO Peter Chou is in there, I think it is probably safe to say their oft-rumored LTE smartphone will make an appearance.

1:16 pm: Samsung and Ericsson execs also in the video.

1:17 pm: Verizon exec now touting the advantages of its 4G network including its spectrum, which it says will give it the best in-building coverage.

Also talking about how it is sharing its spectrum with rural service providers.

1:18 pm: Mead: “We’re very pleased to be part of bringing broadband to rural America.”

1:21 pm: Mead hands off to CTO Tony Melone to talk 4G and LTE.

Melone says that the company knows there is a lot of skepticism of the company’s move to go straight to LTE but that the bet is paying off with more networks and running faster than planned.

“The customer feedback we are getting is everything we had hoped for and then some,” Melone says.

Melone talks about 4G LTE plans.

Thirty-six months from now we will have the nation covered with LTE, Melone says. Two-thirds of the population will be covered in 2012. This year alone, he says, Verizon will add 140 new markets, including places like Little Rock, Detroit and Sioux Falls.

1:26 pm: On to devices.

Ten devices coming by mid-year being shown on stage: Four smartphones, two tablets, two notebooks and two mobile hotspots.

1:33 pm: LG CEO shows off the LG Revolution, what appears to be a slimmish smartphone.

Next up, Skype’s CEO talks about a new partnership that will allow for Skype to be always on and integrated into the address book of all of Verizon’s LTE smartphones,

1:34 pm: He’s followed by HTC CEO Peter Chou, who introduces the HTC Thunderbolt.

Chou says he’s been personally testing and using the Thunderbolt, which features the new Skype video chatting along with HTC’s Sense user interface.

“Let me tell you, it’s blazing fast,” Chou says.

Other features include a built-in 4G hotspot and a 4.3-inch Super LCD screen.

1:37 pm: He thanks Qualcomm and Google engineers that worked together to create the device, so guessing this one isn’t using Nvidia’s Tegra chip.

Next up is Electronic Arts VP Travis Boatman. EA’s mobile games lineup ranges from Monopoly and Tetris to Need for Speed and the FIFA 11 soccer game.

The new mobile version of Rock Band for Verizon’s LTE network lets people form a band and remotely jam over the network.

Samsung executive goes onstage to show off three devices for the LTE network, One is a mobile hotspot, one is a smartphone and the other is a 4G version of the Galaxy Tab.

Phone packs 4.3-inch Super Amoled Plus display, which is said to boost colors and offer improved display. It’s got an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with HD video and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

The tablet has a 1.2GHz processor developed by Samsung, while the hotspots provide connections to up to five users at a time.

Most impressive is the fact that the Samsung executive pulled all three devices out of various pockets.

Marni Walden shows off the remaining devices–a Novatel MiFi hotpot that works with both 3G and 4G networks.

There is also a Compaq Netbook, an HP notebook, as well as the previously announced Motorola Xoom and Motorola Droid Bionic.

1:47 pm: On to Q&A (hoping laptop No. 2 holds out through the end of question time.)

First question has to do with LTE speeds, which often exceed the 5- to 12-megabit speeds promised. Mead says that the company’s goal is to meet the promised speed range once the network is fully loaded, something that is not the case today.

Next question is on battery life. Melone says the company believes it will be able to meet customer expectations in that regard.

The company says it won’t announce pricing or rate plans for the 4G products, beyond noting its current prices for 4G laptop cards and service.

As for simultaneous voice and data, Walden says the company intends that at least some of its 4G launch devices will support talking and accessing data at the same time.

“It could be on some devices and not all,” Walden says.

Walden also confirms all the phones it showed Thursday are running Android.

1:55 pm: Asked about net neutrality, Mead says that what the industry needs is “unfettered development.”

“We think the free market system works very well, and we don’t need a lot of heavy intervention.”

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