AllThingsD » MWC2013

After Making a Business, Huawei Aims to Make a Name for Itself in Smartphones

Ina Fried — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:30:02 +0000

While most phone makers were trying to find ways to sell more devices, Huawei made several moves last year that actually cost the company business.

The Chinese phone maker said no to opportunities to build 30 million additional feature phones, as well as to do more work making phones sold under other companies’ brand names.

“A product without a brand means nothing,” Huawei Device unit Chairman Richard Yu said in an interview at last month’s Mobile World Congress. “It’s not sustainable for the future.”

Instead, Huawei has been focused on moving up the food chain, with high-end products like the Ascend line, which debuted a year ago. At the Barcelona show, the company unveiled a new campaign touting the Huawei brand and the “Make it Possible” tagline.

Building one’s image is an understandable urge. It’s a path blazed by HTC, and more recently by ZTE and others.

However, HTC’s stumbles could serve as a cautionary tale for phone makers seeking to take on Samsung and Apple at the high end of the market.

Yu said even some of his colleagues were questioning his strategy. But, a year later, he said the company has repositioned itself, and the higher-end products have gained traction.

“We are not dying,” he says. “We are still alive.”

Indeed, he notes that Huawei is one of the few companies in the industry that is both profitable and growing — albeit making far less money than Apple or Samsung.

“In the coming years, we will be better and better,” Yu said. “We will do better than last year, I believe.”

In the U.S., Huawei’s push upmarket is still at an earlier stage. The company still builds products under carriers’ brands, and its products tend to be more of the budget smartphone rather than high-end variety.

“In the U.S. market, we are still in the low end and middle tier,” Yu said.

Huawei isn’t tied to any one operating system, but Yu said that “Android is still the main action.”

The company is also dabbling in other areas, including Windows Phone and Firefox OS, but Yu said that it remains to be seen how well those challengers will do.

Regardless of what is running inside the devices, though, Yu wants more people to know — and appreciate — that it is Huawei making their phones. After all, he said, Huawei is a company with 70,000 people engaged in research and development, a firm with deep understanding of not only devices but mobile communications broadly, given that they also make a ton of the infrastructure on which devices run.

“In the past, everybody knows the best products are from Samsung or from Apple,” Yu said. “I want to let people understand the best products (are) from Huawei.”

Only in Barcelona: Dual Screens and Phones That Translate

Bonnie Cha and Ina Fried — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:54:12 +0000

There weren’t any big surprises or breakout products at Mobile World Congress this year. It has been a combination of more phablets, devices for emerging markets and some meh tablets.

But one of the best things about this show is that it gives us a chance to check out handsets from around the world. Some are simply variations of existing models available in the U.S., while others will make you green with envy.

Since these devices will probably never make it to the States, we decided to bring them to you. Below, you’ll find just a few that caught our eye this week.

NEC Medias W N-05E

NEC had an interesting dual-screen device that closed to work like a traditional smartphone and opened into a near-tablet-size device. Apps could flow over both 4.3-inch screens, or users could run two apps or use one screen as a keyboard and the other for running programs.

Though just a prototype, the NEC product was functional, and included customized email and photo gallery apps that really took advantage of the dual screens.

Kyocera Mamorino3

Just like the senior-dedicated handsets on display, there were plenty of cellphones designed for specifically for kids.

The Kyocera Mamorino3 is one that’s available from Japan. The most interesting feature of this handset is the emergency strap at the end. If a child is in any danger or needs help, he or she can pull the strap to trigger a loud alarm. An email will also be automatically sent to a designated contact person.

More Samsung Galaxy Phones

There is already a range of Samsung Galaxy devices available in the U.S. — most notably the Galaxy S III — but we stumbled across several we hadn’t seen before.

The phones ranged from the large-screen Galaxy Grand to the very entry-level Galaxy Fame and the ruggedized Galaxy Xcover 2. Also on display was the Galaxy Express, a model that seemed to bear a good deal of resemblance to the soon-to-be-updated Galaxy S III.

NTT DoCoMo Translation Service

NTT DoCoMo is one of Japan’s largest mobile operators, and its selection of smartphones is just as vast and varied. At past shows it has displayed handsets made out of wood, phones that look like chocolate and one that could be controlled by eyeball movements.

This year, NTT DoCoMo highlighted more of its services rather than phones. One was its recently launched Android translation app, which only works on NTT DoCoMo phones.

The app can translate voice calls from Japanese to English, Korean or Mandarin. A company spokesperson said there’s about a two- to three-second delay for translation.

You can also dictate a sentence into the phone, and the app will provide a text translation that you can show the other person. Text translation supports 10 languages, including French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Huawei Ascend P2

Huawei announced the Ascend P2 at the show, and quickly claimed it to be the “world’s fastest smartphone.” Such superlatives are meaningless in our book, but the 4G LTE-enabled handset is capable of download speeds of up to 150 megabits per second — to our knowledge, the fastest connection available on a smartphone to date. The Android 4.1 Jelly Bean device is also powered by a quad-core 1.5GHz processor.

Other features of the Ascend P2 include a 4.7-inch, 720p touchscreen and a 13-megapixel rear camera. The phone will be available in Europe starting in the second quarter, but there are no plans to bring it to the U.S. with a carrier.

Dueling Korean Robots Among the Hidden Gems on Barcelona Show Floor

Ina Fried — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:00:21 +0000

If you attend a tech trade show and don’t leave time to wander the show floor, you are really missing out.

Sure, there are juggling clowns that can’t juggle, dime-a-dozen phones and booths touting the beauty of backhaul. But the massive show floor is also home to hidden gems and tons of quirktastic geekiness.

Perusing the booths in Barcelona, I saw all manner of phones, tablets and phablets, along with something called Motorheadphones — headphones that promised “everything louder than everything else.”

“No weak-kneed, lily-livered tin-pot and skinny sounding little pieces of garbage,” Motorheadphones (named for “the world’s loudest band,” Motorhead) promised in its marketing materials.

There were rival robots from Korean telecom operators SK Telecom and KT, both aimed at children. KT’s robot is the second version of its Kibot, and sells for around $500 or for free in Korea with a $20-a-month connectivity plan.

The latest Kibot, aimed at kids from 3 to 13, adds a rear projector and a voice recorder. It can teach things from basic sensory understanding through phonics and foreign languages. The device responds to touch — a brief petting, and the robot’s electronic eyes light up.

SK’s Kids Learning Robot is aimed at 4- to 6-year-olds and is still in the final development stages. At around $300, it’s considerably cheaper, using one’s own Android device to provide both the robot’s screen and connectivity. (Support for iPhone is aimed for later this year.)

Each part of the robot’s body contains sensors for interacting with little ones. The robot’s eyes have proximity sensors, the cheeks contain LEDs for expressing emotion and the forehead has touch sensors.

A wireless Bluetooth wand can be used to interact via gestures.

But some of the coolest stuff was hidden behind closed doors in Hall 2. There, in meeting rooms, companies showed off technology not yet ready to be put on public view.

Samsung’s component arms, for example, were said to be showing some new flexible displays. I politely asked at the door if I could have a little peek, and was equally politely, but emphatically, denied.

Hall 2 was also home to lots of deal-making. Verizon Wireless, for example, had folks at the show meeting to hammer out various international roaming agreements. The company hopes to offer 4G LTE roaming by next year in several countries, including Canada.

Even without such access, there was plenty to be seen in the acres of booths that span the length of the new convention center on the outskirts of Barcelona. (Until this year, the show was held in an older venue in the heart of the city.)

Dedicated areas focused on everything from payments to digital health, and there were also the ubiquitous national pavilions, where countries would group together various local companies.

Austria, Canada, China, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Korea, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Tunisia were among those represented, along with host country Spain.

Other stops included a visit with Yota Devices, the Russian company aiming to market a dual-screen Android device with an E-ink screen that can be used to store handy information such as a local map or a boarding pass.

Yota hopes to bring out its first Yota Phones in the fourth quarter of this year, including in North America. The goal is to have the device cost no more than a typical premium Android device with similar specifications.

The hardware maker, spun out of a Russian carrier of the same name, has been making modems and routers, but decided to enter the phone business with its idea for the dual-screen device.

CEO Vladislav Martynov says the company filed for patents some time ago, but expects copycats nonetheless.

“I’m sure everyone will jump on it if we are successful,” Martynov said.

Huawei Plans Firefox OS Phone, but CEO Says Unclear How Consumers Will Take to It

Ina Fried — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:30:25 +0000

Although Huawei is among the manufacturers touted by Mozilla as committed to building Firefox OS devices, the Chinese company’s chief says he has doubts as to how successful the new operating system will be.

“Whether the consumers will accept it or not, it is difficult to say,” Huawei Device Chairman Richard Yu said Wednesday during an interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Carriers, he said, are eager to have alternatives to iOS and Android. It is easy to understand that, Yu told AllThingsD. “But whether this can be very successful or not, it is too early to say.”

It will take time, he said, and needs more than just devices and interest from carriers. “You need ecosystem support,” he said, adding that it is ultimately consumers who will decide if there is enough value there.

If it does find a home, it will probably be at the low end of the market.

Yu said that carriers are also encouraging Huawei to consider building devices based on the open source Tizen effort. Huawei has built experimental devices, Yu said, but hasn’t yet committed to bringing anything to market.

“We are watching,” he said.

Huawei has quietly become the third-largest maker of smartphones, behind Apple and Samsung, though Yu readily acknowledges that those rivals are far larger and more profitable.

While most of Huawei’s business is on Android devices, the company also has a Windows Phone model, the Ascend W1, which went on sale last year. The response has been strong enough that successor devices will come this year, he said.

“The W2 and W3 are in the works,” he said.

Yu had plenty more to say during our sit-down. In part two of the interview, we’ll hear how Yu plans to nearly double smartphone sales this year, and his thoughts on Samsung and Apple.

Fujitsu Steps Out With GPS Cane Concept

Bonnie Cha — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 15:05:13 +0000

It’s not only about smartphones and tablets at Mobile World Congress. There are robots, too, and augmented-reality glasses and cane technology. Yes, cane technology.

Fujitsu unveiled its concept for a next-generation cane this week in Barcelona. Designed primarily for senior citizens, the walking stick has integrated GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity, and features an LCD display built into the handle to help guide you on your walk.

The idea is for the user to plan a route in advance using a desktop program, which then sends directions to the cane. Once outside, the screen tells you which direction to walk by displaying large green arrows. The handle also vibrates whenever you need to make a turn.

The cane, which is simply called New Generation Cane, can also collect information. It keeps track of how many times the cane is tapped on the ground. It can measure heart rate via a built-in thumbpad on the handle. There are also sensors that measure temperature and humidity.

This data, as well as your location, can then be wirelessly sent to a family member, so they can keep tabs on where you are or whether you need help.

Fujitsu said the cane was built with the elderly in mind, but could also be used by hikers and people with disabilities.

The New Generation Cane is just a concept for now. But the company said the device has received great interest and response from attendees at Mobile World Congress, so it’s going to work to bring it to market sooner rather than later.

Smartphone Makers See New Market in Old People

By Ina Fried and Bonnie Cha — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 14:00:56 +0000

Fujitsu devoted a good chunk of its booth at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to an Android phone called the Stylistic, aimed at what the Japanese phone maker politely calls “the mature consumer.”

With its large type, big buttons and touch feedback, Fujitsu is essentially going after seniors. And the company is not alone.

Not far away, Kyocera was showing its own device, the Mi-Look. Available in Japan, the basic cellphone is designed for senior citizens living alone, and includes a number of monitoring features for family members.

A version of Fujitsu’s Stylistic S01 has also been available in Japan, but is coming to Europe this year with France Telecom-Orange. The phone will hit France around June, followed by the United Kingdom and Germany, and eventually Italy and Spain.

Its features include measuring steps and calories (using the camera to estimate food intake). The Stylistic also has a “help” button that can be pulled out to trigger an automated call to a preset number that requests help and includes GPS location information.

Kyocera Mi-Look

Kyocera’s phone features a strap at the end of the device that can be pulled in case of an emergency. When activated, the phone makes a loud sound, and an email is sent to an emergency contact with the user’s location, using the phone’s GPS.

In addition, the Mi-Look also comes with a docking station that has a motion sensor. If the sensors don’t pick up any movement over an extended period of time, the dock will send an email notification to a contact person.

The Mi-Look also doubles as a pedometer. It can track the number of steps a person takes and, you guessed it, send reports to a family member.

Emporia Telecom focuses entirely on the senior market. Here in Barcelona, they debuted a new basic phone that can connect directly to a family member’s Android device or iPhone running Emporia’s eME app.

Loved ones running the app can then directly send photos or update phone contacts on the Emporia device.

Asus PadFone Infinity Brings Better Screen, Faster Processor and High Price Tag

Bonnie Cha — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:45:54 +0000

If the idea of holding a seven-inch phablet up to your head doesn’t sound appealing, then you might find the Asus PadFone Infinity to be a better solution.

Announced alongside the Asus Fonepad, the PadFone Infinity features a five-inch smartphone that transforms into a 10.1-inch tablet when docked into an accompanying accessory. (The Samsung Galaxy Note might have put the term “phablet” on the map, but I’d argue that the PadFone was the original.) It’s the third model in the PadFone series, and it improves on previous versions with a faster processor, bigger screen and more.

The 4G LTE smartphone runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and features a five-inch, 1,920 by 1,080 touchscreen. (The PadFone 2 has a 4.6-inch, 1,280 by 720 display.)

On the back there’s a 13-megapixel camera that incorporates technology to help capture more details and improve low-light performance. There’s also a front-facing two-megapixel camera. Powering the device is a quad-core 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

The tablet part of PadFone Infinity is simply a shell and doesn’t work until you dock the smartphone into the back. Once connected, it provides access to everything you have on your smartphone, and it automatically reformats everything to fit on a 10.1-inch, 1,920 by 1,200 pixel touchscreen.

I got a chance to check it out here at Mobile World Congress, and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the PadFone Infinity has a high-quality design. The smartphone’s screen is simply gorgeous.

Also, the transition from smartphone to tablet was seamless. Once docked, the tablet came to life and, as far as I could tell, there weren’t any problems with apps not displaying correctly on the larger screen.

The benefit to such a design is that you don’t have to sync your apps between two devices. It also saves money on your mobile bill, since you don’t have to add another device to your data plan.

That said, it doesn’t help reduce clutter, since you still have to carry around two gadgets. It’s also incredibly expensive, at about $1,300. For $600 less, you could get the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 tablet.

The Asus PadFone Infinity is expected to be available in the U.K. starting in April. There are currently no plans to bring it to the U.S.; though, like previous versions, you should be able to buy it online.

Google's Rubin: No Need for Retail Stores

Ina Fried — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:48:26 +0000

Despite reports that Google has been eyeing real estate for physical stores, Android chief Andy Rubin says the company really doesn’t need its own retail effort.

A few years ago, consumers needed to touch and feel devices, but these days they can often get the information they need to make a purchase decision by talking to friends and reading reviews.

“They don’t have to go in the store and feel it anymore,” Rubin said, during a roundtable with reporters at Mobile World Congress on Tuesday.

Plus, he said, the Google hardware effort is still in its infancy. “For Nexus, I don’t think the program is far enough along to think about the necessity of having these things in a retail store,” he said.

As for whether Google as a whole might nonetheless be considering retail stores, “Google has no plans and we have nothing to announce,” he said.

During the hourlong roundtable, Rubin also addressed other hot topics, including Samsung’s dominance in the Android market.

He and colleagues were coy on the company’s effort to move into subscription music, noting only that the Google Play marketplace is still in its early days.

“I’ve seen the same rumors you have,” said Google Play head Jamie Rosenberg. “I’m not going to comment.”

Andy Rubin: Samsung's Android Success Mostly About Just Executing Well

Ina Fried — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:35:44 +0000

The head of Android says there isn’t much he can do about the fact that Samsung is the only company making huge profits by using the Google operating system.

“There’s one big company that’s being hugely successful,” Rubin said in a roundtable with reporters at Mobile World Congress on Tuesday. “That’s mostly about execution. It’s not mostly around Android.”

Rubin says that other Android makers are still making profits, if not large ones. And if they want to make more money, they will have to find their own path to take on Samsung.

“People have to figure out how to run their own businesses,” he said. “Should I be unfair to Samsung? I can’t do that. I have to be fair to everyone.”

Rubin also noted the huge investment Samsung has made in building its brand from upstart to global household name in recent years.

Taiwan PC Makers Struggle in Smartphone Market

Eva Dou — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:30:36 +0000

Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc. are once again staking a plot at this year’s Mobile World Congress telecom show with new devices, but the Taiwanese personal computer makers have yet to make money off their smartphone efforts.

Both Taipei-based computer companies have been making a difficult entry into the smartphone market, as they seek to diversify outside the slowing PC industry. Acer and Asustek face fierce competition from well-known mobile brands like Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. and low-cost Chinese white box manufacturers.

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Google's Andy Rubin on Firefox OS: "In General, I Feel Friendly"

Ina Fried — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:21:08 +0000

The head of Android praised the advent of Firefox OS, saying Mozilla’s effort can bring the Web to parts of the market that Android can’t reach.

Plus, it is open.

“In general, I feel friendly toward them. … open is good,” Andy Rubin said in a roundtable with reporters at Mobile World Congress on Tuesday. “Competition is good. We built Android because there was no open operating system.”

Rubin said he is glad to find himself in competition with more open operating systems than closed ones.

Getting more people with access to the Web benefits Google more broadly, he said.

“There are places where Android can’t go,” he said, referring to memory and other hardware requirements. Firefox can help reach those. “For certain markets, it makes sense.”

Viking's Vision for a Cellphone-Free Future

Bonnie Cha — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 16:05:47 +0000

A lot of people have their eyes on Google Glass. But Google isn’t the only company working on augmented-reality wearable glasses.

An Osaka, Japan-based company called Brilliant Service has developed a new operating system dubbed Viking, designed for use in glasses. The company’s goal is to completely replace the cellphone.

Built using Objective-C programming language, the OS offers only basic functions right now (phone, navigation), but will include most of the features found on smartphones today, and then some. The company also plans to open up Viking to developers, so they can write apps for the OS.

Brilliant Service showed off a prototype of Viking at Mobile World Congress, and I gave it a try to see what the future might look like.

To be clear, the company is only providing the software, not the hardware. It’s currently looking for OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners to make the actual glasses. As such, the device I tried on was basically a mini computer soldered onto glasses. It was extremely heavy and kept slipping off my face, not to mention nearly burning my forehead.

Brilliant Service director Erika Kang assured me that the final product will be a much more elegant device.

So, back to the demo. After donning the glasses and being instructed to look down at the floor, a map appeared right at my feet, along with a compass to show which direction I was walking in. Looking up at the ceiling brought up a navigation menu, where I could then reach out in front of the glasses with my hand to select an app.

Viking creates a crude outline of your hand and fingers, so you can track your movements and see where you’re tapping.

I selected a drawing app from the menu, and I moved my hand around to paint a picture. To exit the app, I swiped my hand down.

I also tried the phone app. When there was an incoming call, a telephone icon appeared, and by making the telephone sign (or shaka sign), it transferred the call to a Bluetooth headset. To hang up, I used the same gesture.

King said these gestures is what makes Viking different from Google Glass. But while they worked just fine, I can’t imagine waving my hands in front of me like a crazy person just to use my phone.

The company plans to add voice recognition in the future, so you can simply dictate commands. It also envisions features like a virtual keyboard where you can look down at a desk and start typing. Also on the radar is a translation function where you can look at a person speaking a foreign language and see translated text right above their head.

Viking has only been in development for about a month. There’s no specific time frame of when (or if) we might see Viking-powered glasses on the streets, or how much they’ll cost. But King said the goal is to offer them at a consumer-friendly price.

Apple Now a Bit Easier to Deal With, and Other Observations From France Telecom's Straight-Talking CEO

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:47:05 +0000

Apple, while still a force to be reckoned with, has become a bit easier to deal with under Tim Cook, at least according to one major European operator.

“Apple has [become] more flexible, paying more attention to everyone else, probably a little less arrogant than they used to be,” France Telecom-Orange CEO Stephane Richard said during a dinner with reporters in Barcelona on Monday. Characterizing today’s Apple with the same company under Steve Jobs, Richard said, “I think they are probably a little more under pressure, and it is quite nice.”

And while carriers are rooting for Mozilla, Microsoft, BlackBerry and mobile Linux to emerge as rivals to Android and the iPhone, there’s no way the market is large enough to support that many competitors.

“There is probably not room for everyone,” Richard said. “But all of us hope that among those initiatives, at least one will be able to emerge as a third ecosystem.”

It is observations like these, made during a media dinner on Monday night, that make Richard a popular interview among nearly all the journalists on the wireless beat.

Naturally, Richard reserved some of his most pointed commentary for bemoaning what he and other European wireless firms see as the over-regulation of the telecommunications industry on the continent.

He called one particular regulator “dumb” and said another, while holding a decent view of the marketplace, appears powerless to improve the situation.

Richard compared the near-monopolies of Facebook and Google and the Apple-Samsung duopoly to the highly competitive wireless carrier market in Europe, which he said features more than 100 companies. “We are living through incredible competition; they are not living through competition. That’s it,” he said. He implored regulators to prevent further companies from entering the crowded market.

At the same time, Richard acknowledged that this is a case he and other European operators have been making for years.

“It is a little tiring to sing the same song,” he said.

As for the ecosystem battle, Richard said that Windows Phone has a “very difficult” road to truly compete with iOS and Android. Richard said devices running the Microsoft-developed operating system are neither better designed nor cheaper, nor do they offer a better application experience than iOS or Android. Put simply, Windows Phone is good but lacks a “wow” factor, Richard said.

“The Nokia family in my opinion is nice, but there is no ‘wow’ effect,” Richard said. “When you have a market with very steady players like Apple and Samsung, you need to have a ‘wow’ effect.”

Making things worse, he said, hardware makers have generally been selling Windows Phones for the same price as the more popular devices.

BlackBerry, too, has a tough road, Richard said, though he praised the work of CEO Thorsten Heins and the new leadership there.

“He is doing a great job, but I am not sure they will be successful,” Richard said. “At least they have a basis of very faithful users, which is not the case of Nokia.”

Asus Tries Another Phone-Tablet Hybrid, This One With Intel Inside

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:52:13 +0000

Asus is known for its hybrid devices.

Its Transformer line merges tablet and laptop, while the Padfone has been an effort to allow a phone to plug in to a larger screen and become a tablet.

Now comes the Fonepad, a 7-inch Android tablet that also makes phone calls. Although it looks like a standard 7-inch tablet, it has built-in telephony features as well as an Intel processor.

Asus Chairman Jonney Shih says that the company is trying new things to adapt to changing lifestyles, but insists the company isn’t just merging things to see what can be mixed.

“There is reason behind it,” Shih said in an interview. Most people spend a lot of time using their portable device as a computer and very little time making calls. So why, Shih reckons, should the screen be so small?

The size of people’s hands and their pockets certainly comes to mind. But Shih thinks there are people willing to carry a primary device that is the size of a tablet.

Nor is Asus alone in putting phone capabilities into a clearly tablet-size product. Samsung is including phone capabilities in the global version of its just-introduced Galaxy Note 8.0.

Asus is competing particularly hard on price. It plans to sell an 8 gigabyte version of the device for $249 unsubsidized. That’s not much more than a standard tablet without a built-in cellular modem.

And while Asus is a longtime Intel partner for laptops and netbooks, the expansion into tablets is a welcome addition as the chipmaker struggles to land big-name mobile customers.

The device is slated to go on sale in Asia in March, Europe in April and the United States shortly after that.

Asus also introduced the latest in the Padfone line.

Visa Taps Samsung for NFC Payment Deal

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:30:12 +0000

Visa and Samsung are announcing a deal on Monday that will see future Samsung devices come ready out of the box to connect to the payment network.

Samsung is among the initial partners for a broad Visa Ready program introduced last week. Under its deal with Visa, future Near Field Communication (NFC) compatible Samsung phones will come with Visa’s applet and pre-certified to work with its payment system. The devices will also be able to be provisioned for a specific customer over the air, Visa mobile chief Bill Gadja said in an interview last week.

Rather than viewing new payment technologies as a threat, Gadja said the Visa Ready program is a way to turn upstarts into potential allies rather than rivals.

In addition to the Samsung deal, Visa is also announcing a deal with point-of-sale hardware maker Roam.

BlackBerry said in January that its latest devices have also been certified by Visa.

The news comes just as MasterCard has announced a new payments platform called MasterPass, meant to streamline mobile payments options for both retailers and consumers.

Nokia CEO: Windows Phone Line Needs to Still Hit Lower Prices Over Time

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:05:22 +0000

Even after introducing the company’s cheapest-yet Windows Phone, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop acknowledges that the company still has work to do to compete with the lowest end of the Android market.

The Lumia 520 sells for around $180, roughly twice as much as the cheapest Android phones.

“Yes, we do have to continue to broaden the Lumia,” Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said in a roundtable with reporters on Monday. “There’s definitely an opportunity to push to even lower price points.”

At the same time, Elop said, he is cautious of sacrificing capability in the name of cutting price. Many of those low-end Android phones, he says, are running older software and can’t run the latest programs.

“It’s a careful balance,” he said.

Nokia is thus far trying to position its Series 40-based Asha phones to take on the low end of the Android market. Those devices, he said, contain proxy browsers and other technology designed to limit data use for price-sensitive customers in emerging markets.

“Asha, and how we innovate against Asha, is what we need,” Elop said. “The experience there is better than low-cost Android. I think there’s more opportunity there than people realize.”

For a time, Nokia had a project called Meltemi that sought to introduce mobile Linux for low-end smartphones; however, that project was scrapped in the middle of last year.

Although he has continued to express confidence in Windows Phone as the present and future of Nokia’s smartphone business, Elop acknowledged that establishing the ecosystem has been a greater-than-expected challenge.

“I think it has been very hard,” he said. “The amount of effort to break through in retail has been harder than anyone estimated.”

Nokia, for its part, has started to find its stride with the Lumia 920, Elop said. That phone, with its wireless charging and photography abilities, is starting to show what Nokia is capable of doing on top of Windows. “That gives me great hope for the future.”

Asked about whether there could be a wearable device in Nokia’s future, Elop said there is a definite rise in sensor capability beyond the smartphone.

“We think that’s a fundamental trend,” he said, declining to talk specifically about Nokia’s plans in the area. “These devices are sensing the world around you.”

webOS Finds New Life Yet Again, This Time in LG Televisions

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:44:42 +0000

Like Morris the cat, webOS would appear to have nine lives.

The operating system, developed by Palm and sold to Hewlett-Packard, is changing hands again.

Korean electronics giant LG is scooping up the technology and what remains of its development team. However it is LG’s television unit rather than its smartphone business that is acquiring the software.

It’s the latest twist in a long saga of the software developed to be the reinvention of a classic name in the mobile space.

Palm released its Pre and Pre 2 phones using webOS before selling to HP for more than $1 billion. The software, though well-received initially, languished amid a paucity of apps and the slow introduction of new products.

HP shipped the TouchPad tablet before essentially giving up on the business. HP had released some of the operating system last year under an open source license, and had held out the option of using the software in its own products down the road.

CNET reported the news on Monday morning, ahead of what was expected to be an official announcement later in the day. An LG spokesman wasn’t immediately prepared to discuss the deal, but the details appear to be correct.

Sony Xperia Tablet Z Set to Make Splash in U.S. This May

Bonnie Cha — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:33:02 +0000

What a difference six months makes.

In late December, Sony introduced its Xperia Tablet S — an entertainment-focused Android tablet that was waterlogged with issues and a funky design. Needless to say, it wasn’t Sony’s most successful launch. But the company is hoping to make it right with its new Xperia Tablet Z.

Announced in Japan in January, Sony today revealed at Mobile World Congress that the Xperia Tablet Z will be headed to the U.S. in May. The 16 gigabyte Wi-Fi version will cost $499; the 32GB model will cost $599.

Sony is claiming it to be the world’s thinnest 10.1-inch tablet; at 0.27 inch thick, it weighs just over a pound. It’s built to look similar to the Xperia Z smartphone both in physical design and user interface — something Sony wants to achieve with all of its Xperia-branded devices going forward.

The company is also trying the waterproof thing again. The Xperia Tablet Z can be submerged in up to three feet of water for up to 30 minutes. The display will also respond to touch even if your fingers are wet.

Speaking of the touchscreen, it offers a resolution of 1,920 by 1,200 pixels and shows 20 percent more color than the latest iPad, according to Sony. There’s an eight-megapixel camera on back, and a front-facing two-megapixel camera. The Xperia Tablet Z will ship running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but will be updated to Android 4.2 shortly after launch.

As with the Xperia Tablet S, Sony is emphasizing the tablet as a companion device for the living room. It has an infrared port, so you can use it as a remote control. A new app called TV SideView also gives you the ability to access program guides, search for content by voice, and share what you’re watching via social networks.

I got a sneak peek at the device before heading to Barcelona, and I was impressed. The design is beautiful, and the tablet was lightweight and slim without feeling cheap. Though I didn’t have an iPad to compare it with, the display’s colors were extremely rich and vibrant, especially when I compared it to the Xperia Tablet S.

I’m looking forward to spending more time with the tablet to see how it performs, and to compare it to the competition. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken notice of an Android tablet, and the Xperia Tablet S did just that.

Nokia Adds to the Windows Phone Family With Lumia 720, 520

Bonnie Cha — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:45:05 +0000

Nokia believes that you shouldn’t have to pay top dollar to enjoy some of the latest smartphone technology, so today the company introduced two new Lumia handsets that deliver higher-end features at lower-end prices.

Nokia Lumia 720

The first of the devices is the Lumia 720. Priced at around $329 before taxes and carrier discounts, the Windows Phone 8 handset is designed for those looking for a quality cameraphone.

It has a 6.7-megapixel camera on back that incorporates technology to help take better pictures day or night. Meanwhile, the front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera delivers HD-quality images and has a wide-angle lens.

It’s also the first Lumia device to offer a microSD expansion slot.

Other features include a 4.3-inch, 800 by 480 pixel touchscreen, a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon processor and NFC technology. The smartphone also provides access to Nokia’s various services, including Nokia Music and the Here location suite, which offers turn-by-turn directions.

I had an opportunity to briefly check out the handset here at Mobile World Congress, and I’ll admit I was smitten. It has the stylings of the flagship Lumia 920 but in a much sleeker and lighter package. The smartphone also felt very responsive and fluid, though, of course, I would need more time to test the device to say so for sure.

The Lumia 720 is expected to be available in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore in the first quarter of this year, and will roll out to other markets, such as Europe, Africa and India, in the second quarter. North American plans were not announced at this time.

Nokia Lumia 520

Meanwhile, the Lumia 520 will definitely be coming to the U.S. via T-Mobile in the second quarter. Pricing was not announced today, but I wouldn’t be surprised if was free with a two-year contract. Global pricing is set at 139 euros ($183 U.S.), and Nokia says it’s the most affordable Lumia yet.

As with the Lumia 720, advanced camera technology is also a highlight of the Lumia 520. The smartphone’s main five-megapixel camera uses the same digital lenses as the Lumia 920. There’s also built-in software that allows you to add different filters to images, accentuate certain features and more.

Aside from a smaller, four-inch, 800 by 480 pixel touchscreen, the Lumia 520 matches the Lumia 720′s feature set listed above. Neither of the smartphones are 4G LTE capable.

Nokia said it hopes these new devices and price points will drive more people to try Windows Phone. But the company has already tried wooing customers with wallet-friendly prices. The Lumia 920 is $100 on contract with AT&T, while the midrange Lumia 820 is $50 on contract, and free on Verizon Wireless.

Offering a variety of devices is great, and giving customers choices is certainly nice, but it remains to be seen whether the new handsets can do anything to lift the visibility of Windows Phone.

In addition to Lumia 520 and 720, Nokia also introduced two basic handsets for emerging markets.

The Nokia 105 is designed for the first-time cellphone buyer, and has a 1.45-inch color screen, FM radio, alarm clock and other essentials. It will be available in the first quarter in markets such as Indonesia, Nigeria and Vietnam. The Nokia 301 adds a larger 2.4-inch color screen, a Web browser and a 3.2-megapixel camera. It’s expected to ship in the second quarter in more than 120 countries.

With New Windows Phone Models, Nokia Aims to Better Compete on Price

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 07:43:02 +0000

Although Nokia has gotten plaudits for the hardware and design of its Windows Phones, the company has also been too pricey to fully compete with low-end Android.

With the launch of the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720 in Barcelona, the Finnish phone maker is hoping to change that.

“We are bringing elements of our high-end flagship Lumia devices to more prices and therefore to more people,” CEO Stephen Elop said during a press conference at its Mobile World Congress booth.

Expanding Windows Phone is especially important considering the company scrapped its Meltemi effort for low-end Linux and has introduced its last Symbian phones, leaving Windows Phone as the company’s only true smartphone platform.

But with a price of 139 Euros ($183), the Lumia 520 won’t bring Nokia into the bottom reaches of the Android market, which stretches into the sub-$100 range. There Nokia is counting on its Asha line, which it has been pitching as more entry-level smartphone than feature phone.

Nokia is also bringing improved camera and voice quality along with support for corporate email to a new basic phone, the Nokia 301. The phone also has built-in support for popular messaging program WhatsApp.

One interesting camera feature talks users through getting a good self-portrait with voice interaction. Taking a cue from Bump, Nokia is introducing “Slam,” a new means of sharing photos between nearby devices.

An even lower-end phone, the Nokia 105, shares design cues from the Lumia and Asha lines but at a 15 Euro price point aimed at the 2.7 billion people who don’t have a phone. Even at that price, it includes a flashlight, FM radio and weeks worth of battery life.

“You can charge this phone once a month and still rely on it,” said Nokia design head Marko Ahtisaari.

Beyond the new phones, Nokia noted that it plans to bring its Here location services to non-Nokia Windows Phones in some markets; it is also licensing its location technology to Mozilla for use with Firefox OS.

“By gaining scale we can increase the quantity and quality of the data we receive,” Elop said.

The company is also opening up more of its technologies on the imaging, music and location fronts to developers and announced a deal with DreamWorks Animation to create Nokia-exclusive entertainment software.

Nokia, Elop insisted, is getting bolder, a word he used frequently during Monday’s event.

“It hasn’t always been easy,” Elop said. “But without question we have remained focused on our strategy.”

GM Says AT&T's 4G LTE Will Replace Verizon Service at Heart of OnStar

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:23:53 +0000

GM announced on Monday that it will start embedding AT&T’s 4G LTE service in its OnStar service, starting with cars produced next year.

The move, which begins with model year 2015 cars sold next year, will allow the carmaker to power a wider range of services from entertainment to safety and diagnostics than possible using the older generation of wireless it has been using.

“We envision, basically, with that big of a pipe, the car becomes a smartphone on wheels,” AT&T emerging devices head Glenn Lurie said in an interview.

It’s a multiyear deal, covering the bulk of cars sold in the U.S. and Canada, but neither company will say how long the deal will run, or what specific services will be offered and how much they will cost. In an interview, Lurie said there will be a range of services, including some that will be offered by GM and some that will be directly billed by AT&T.

Having a fast connection will allow for in-car Wi-Fi and rear-seat entertainment, as well as a new level of diagnostics never before possible, Lurie said. The car maker will also put out various programming hooks to allow software makers to create their own automobile-specific apps, Lurie said.

“We’re going to deliver a set of tools in the car that no one has ever seen before,” Lurie said.

He said he foresees a time when people will be able to add their car to a shared data plan, much as they do a phone or tablet today.

Intel Still Nibbling Around the Edges in Mobile

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:01:57 +0000

Intel’s announcements at Mobile World Congress say as much about where the chipmaker is not as about where the company has managed to land its chips.

The company continues to announce design wins with smaller carriers and device makers looking to enter the market. And sure, they also end up in a product here or there with a fairly well-known brand.

However, the big-name devices continue to come from the likes of Qualcomm and Nvidia at the high end, and Broadcom, MediaTek and others at the low end.

At Mobile World Congress, Intel is launching a dual-core chip and talking about plans for a quad-core processor due this holidays. In terms of customers, the company is launching a new phone with Egypt’s Etisalat Misr, and is working with a bunch of Asian manufacturers to make sure the quad-core chip is widely available on tablets.

But it still seems like Intel is on the outside looking in at the bulk of the Android market, despite a years-long effort.

The chipmaker has been betting that its manufacturing prowess, along with various mobile optimizations, will enable the architecture that has long powered PCs to work its way onto mainstream phones, those typically powered by ARM-based processors.

And the company has promised, yet again, that better news isn’t far off.

To hear why it has taken so long — and just what might turn the tide — we’ll have a chance to talk with Mike Bell, the man who leads the effort, at our upcoming D: Dive Into Mobile conference in April.

Yep, Samsung's Galaxy S IV to Launch at March 14 Event in New York

Ina Fried — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 04:56:51 +0000

Samsung confirmed on Monday that the Galaxy S IV will debut at a March 14 event in New York.

A Samsung representative confirmed the date and location for the event, but declined to offer further details.

The confirmation comes just as the world’s biggest cellphone show — Mobile World Congress — kicks off in Barcelona. Samsung used the show to launch an eight-inch version of its Galaxy Note tablet, but, like HTC, opted not to make its big news at the show.

The Galaxy S has emerged as the biggest single rival to Apple’s iPhone, and has propelled Samsung to become the most high-profile — and profitable — of the Android device makers.

Surprise! HP's New Slate 7 Tablet Runs on Android.

Bonnie Cha — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 17:11:06 +0000

It was only a few weeks ago that HP introduced its first laptop running Google’s Chrome operating system, and now we have HP’s first tablet running on Google’s mobile OS.

Unveiled today at Mobile World Congress, the HP Slate 7 is a 7-inch tablet running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and integrated Beats Audio technology.

While still committed to Windows, HP said it wants to offer its customers more choice, including access to the Google experience, and the Slate 7 is the company’s effort to do so in another form factor.

But it’s another device in an already crowded field of Android tablets, so how will HP try to woo customers? With a cheap price tag.

The Slate 7 costs $169 and will be available in the U.S. starting in April. That’s $30 less than the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD. Even so, it might be a tough sell.

There are trade-offs for the cheaper price. The display only has a resolution of 1,024 by 600 pixels, and though it has expandable memory, it only comes in an 8 gigabyte model.

It’s powered by a 1.6GHz dual-core ARM processor and comes with a three-megapixel camera on back and a front-facing VGA camera. Battery life is estimated at up to five hours.

By comparison, the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD lack rear cameras, but both have higher resolution screens (1,280 by 800 pixels) and come in 16GB and 32GB versions. The Nexus 7 also has a faster quad-core Nvidia processor, and as a Nexus device, it will be the first to receive the latest OS updates from Google.

The Kindle Fire HD, meanwhile, offers up to 11 hours of battery life and access to Amazon’s expansive content library.

A savings of $30 is nice, but a better screen, longer battery life and content might be worth the extra money in the long run.

I got some brief hands on-time with the Slate 7 at a media event in Barcelona, and there’s nothing about the tablet that really stood out to me. The design is portable and light enough to use one-handed, but it blends into the sea of other Android devices. (HP is selling a model with a red back, so I suppose that’s different.)

As an entry-level device, I didn’t expect a high-resolution screen, and the display is bright and clear enough to view text and images. But if HP really wanted to grab people’s attention, it should have matched the competition. Also, HP is really pushing the Beats Audio integration as a differentiator, but I don’t see it as a killer feature.

There are rumors that HP is working on a high-end Android tablet.

HP has had an on-again, off-again relationship with Android. Back in 2010 it was rumored to have been developing an Android tablet and smartphone. That work started before HP acquired Palm for $1.2 billion and then focused its efforts entirely on webOS, tabling work already done on Android.

We know how things turned out with that. The Palm deal led to the TouchPad, which at its original selling price sold at Best Buy like ice cubes in the Arctic. That led to the device being killed along with the entire WebOS hardware business in 2011, and sudden, bizarre popularity when the price of unsold inventory was slashed.

HP’s CEO Meg Whitman has also said that the company plans to offer a smartphone, but it won’t happen this year.

AllThingsD’s Arik Hesseldahl contributed to this report.

Meet Mozilla's Host of New Mobile Partners

Ina Fried — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 16:08:04 +0000

Mozilla’s efforts to build a Web-based mobile operating system around its Firefox browser took a significant step forward on Sunday.

The company brought together several of its early partners in Barcelona to show the progress it has made in the months since it first unveiled the Firefox OS project.

The browser maker is looking to create for the phone an operating system similar to what Google is trying on the desktop with Chrome OS. It has been showing previews of the software since last year and last month said it was readying preview hardware for developers to begin testing apps.

Mozilla is among a number of companies seeking to provide an alternative to Android and iOS. It’s a crowded field, though, that includes BlackBerry, Microsoft and Canonical.

Among those slated to be on hand for the company’s press conference include the chiefs of carriers Deutsche Telekom, Telekom Italia, Telnor and Telefónica as well as Paul Jacobs, CEO of chipmaker Qualcomm.

We’ll have live coverage of the event when it kicks off around 9 am PT on Sunday. And Mozilla chief Gary Kovacs will have more to say about Firefox when he appears in April as part of our D: Dive Into Mobile conference.

5:36 pm Barcelona time: The event won’t begin for another 20 minutes or so, but the information is starting to trickle out. Among the additional partner names that have cropped up here at the event is Sprint.

5:47 pm: Telefonica R&D CEO Carlos Domingo is getting mobbed by reporters, most of whom want to get a photo of the Firefox OS phone he is holding.

5:49 pm: It looks like device makers LG, Huawei, ZTE and Alcatel One Touch are on board as well.

Alcatel, LG and ZTE will build the first devices, with Huawei’s first Firefox OS phones coming on later in the year.

Here’s ZTE’s phone:

Which looks to be headed to Telefonica’s movistar brand.

Telefonica plans a broad launch with devices headed to Brazil, Colombia, Spain and Venezuela around mid-year with more European and Latin American countries later in the year and into 2014. It will have models from Alcatel One Touch, LG and ZTE.

Here’s a look at an Alcatel model:

6:09 pm: Firefox CEO Gary Kovacs kicks off the company’s press conference with a shout out to the company’s co-founders Mitchell Baker and Brendan Eich, who are in the audience.

6:10 pm: Kovacs has some trouble advancing his slides, quips he is using an iPhone to control them.

Kovacs notes that when the company announced its phone OS plans last year it had only a couple early partners and it now has support from 17 carriers and several hardware makers.

6:12 pm: “We’re on the edge of unlocking mobile,” Kovacs says.

6:14 pm: Kovacs notes that his company isn’t profit-driven and won’t be with Firefox OS; the company’s goal is just to keep the Web at the center of things. That will keep power from being concentrated in one or two app stores, to allow lots of over-the-top services and support Web standards.

There shouldn’t be one or two companies that can approve the content seen by billions of people.

“That’s a broken model and it needs to change,” he said.

Kovacs asks all the partners at the event to stand, noting that it’s not easy to support version one of a product.

“I know you are not timid,” he said. “I’m on the phone with you.”

Initial handset makers, as we noted, are ZTE, Alcatel One Touch, LG and Huawei.

“There are more coming,” he said.

6:16 pm: Speaking now is Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs touting HTML5. (Of course, Qualcomm’s chips also power a ton of Android phones and all Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8 devices.)

6:25 pm: Demo time.

Things start out simple and easy, says Firefox’s Jay Sullivan. That’s because most Firefox OS customers will be coming from feature phones.

There will be a Firefox Marketplace to highlight Web apps, but the company isn’t asking developers to do anything different.

“We’re not looking to create a new ecosystem,” Sullivan said.

Among the early Web apps for the Firefox Marketplace are: AccuWeather, AirBnB, Box, Cut the Rope, Facebook, MTV Brasil, Pulse News, SoundCloud, SporTV, Terra, Time Out and Twitter.

And maps are kind of important, Sullivan notes, adding that Firefox has been working with Nokia to make sure its Here Maps work well under Firefox OS.

6:29 pm: Sullivan notes that even though Firefox OS is Web-based lots of things can be cached, even running in Airplane mode. He demos it with an issue of Time Out Barcelona stored for offline reading.

And while Mozilla will have a marketplace, they won’t be the only one, meaning there can be lots of vertical marketplaces as well as the option for device makers to distribute directly.

Mozilla also has an open model for payments, including a carrier billing option.

6:36 pm: Sullivan touting ability to dynamically configure phone for a point in time, like having a bunch of movie-related content for Oscar night without requiring a user to visit an app store.

6:39 pm: Now Mozilla is trotting out the carriers supporting Firefox OS, starting with Franco Bernabe, CEO of Telecom Italia, followed by Telefonica CEO Cesar Alierta.

Telefonica plans to introduce Firefox OS devices in many markets this year and in all of its markets around the world by the end of next year.

“Duopolies are not beneficial for any industry” and Firefox OS should help, Alierta said.

6:53 pm: Deutsche Telekom CEO Rene Obermann said that his company will launch first in Poland this summer and then expand to other Eastern European markets, if all goes well there.

Latin American carrier America Movil said it plans to launch Firefox OS devices in all the countries where it operates.

6:55 pm: Q and A time.

Asked how Firefox OS will stand out from Android and iOS devices, Kovacs said that they can deliver mid- to high-end smartphone performance for the price of a high-end feature phone.

In terms of the United States, Kovacs said the company has plans for its home market. “We have partners lined up,” he said. “It’s not the first launch country,” he added, saying devices are likely in the U.S. next year.

Notably, Sprint — which is listed as a partner — didn’t speak at the event, which just wrapped up.