AllThingsD » Orange

That Intel Phone Coming This Week: It's for India's Lava

Ina Fried — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 00:17:22 +0000

Intel said on Tuesday’s earnings call that the first smartphone running its chips will launch this week, but it didn’t identify the customer by name.

However, some deductive reasoning suggests that it will be Lava, a little-known Indian company that Intel announced in February as one of its early customers.

Lenovo and France Telecom’s Orange also plan devices this quarter, but both of those companies have announced dates for later in the quarter. Lenovo’s first Intel phone is coming in May, while Orange’s is expected in June.

Intel is hoping to make a dent in a market that until now has been dominated by the likes of Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Nvidia.

“We have ambitions to not be a minor player here,” CEO Paul Otellini said back in February.

Part of Intel’s strategy has been to create a near-complete reference design that aspiring players — like Lava — can use to quickly get into the smartphone game.

Intel also announced a longer-term partnership with Motorola Mobility, though it has yet to convince most big-name phone makers to adopt its chips.

Intel Announces More Phone Customers, Plans for Speedier Chips

Ina Fried — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:23:01 +0000

Intel, which is looking to crack the phone market, announced a few new partners on Monday, as well as plans to speed up its chips.

France Telecom’s Orange unit and Indian cellphone maker Lava International both plan to sell devices based on the reference phone design Intel created. China’s ZTE will also use Intel chips as part of a multiyear partnership, with its first Intel-based device slated to ship in the second half of this year.

“This is the first step,” ZTE Executive VP He Shiyou said at an Intel press event in Barcelona.

The Orange phone will go on sale first in France and the U.K. this summer.

At January’s Consumer Electronics Show, Intel announced that Motorola and Lenovo would use its processors. Intel had promised it would have more to say in Barcelona.

The announcements with Orange and Lava, in particular, show that Intel is having some success with its strategy of not only offering chips, but also a ready-to-go phone design that customers can use to get quickly into the Android smartphone business.

The company also offered up a look at where it is headed on the chip side.

“It wouldn’t be an Intel presentation if we didn’t show a road map,” Intel CEO Paul Otellini quipped at the briefing with reporters.

Intel said its Z2460, formerly code-named “Medfield,” will run at up to 2GHz. Meanwhile, the company announced a successor chip, which will sample in the second half of the year and ship in products next year. That chip, the Z2580, is designed to double Medfield’s performance. The company also announced plans for a lower-end chip aimed at “value” smartphones that can sell for less than $150 unsubsidized.

Otellini promised that his company will bring its legacy of performance, but won’t sacrifice on battery life, promising 14 days of standby time.

“We take battery life seriously,” he said.

Intel has also inked a deal with Visa to ensure that its phones are ready for mobile commerce, and Visa has certified Intel’s reference design as working with its payWave effort.

Intel faces steep competition in the mobile chip business from current leaders Nvidia, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, in addition to others looking to crack the market, such as Broadcom. The company has been trying to get into the business for some time, but last year began showing a slim Android design it said would, at long last, get it into the game.

Asked what might prompt more bigger-name cellphone makers to adopt Intel chips, Otellini said that the initial products from some of these smaller partners should “light a fire” under the likes of Samsung.

“We have ambitions to not be a minor player here,” he said.

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Orange to Bring Free Wikipedia Access to Cell Users in Africa and Middle East

Ina Fried — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:44:01 +0000

Mobile carrier Orange said on Tuesday that it plans to offer mobile customers in Africa and the Middle East free, unlimited access to Wikipedia.

Orange said it plans to roll out the free service over the course of 2012 to customers in 20 countries, with access in the first countries launching early this year. The service will be available on any phone with an Orange SIM card and the ability to view the mobile Web, with no data plan required.

“In countries where access to information is not always readily available, we are making it simple and easy for our customers to use the world’s most comprehensive online encyclopedia,” Orange Executive VP Marc Rennard said in a statement. “It is the first partnership of this kind in the world where we are enabling customers to access Wikipedia without incurring any data charges.”

Sue Gardner, the executive director of the Wikimedia Foundation, said the partnership with Orange will give Wikipedia access to millions who have not had it.

“Wikipedia is an important service, a public good, and so we want people to be able to access it for free, regardless of what device they’re using,” Gardner said.

Nokia: Lumia 800 Launch Going Fine, Thanks

John Paczkowski — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:09:31 +0000

Nokia launched its new Lumia 800 smartphone Wednesday to a welcoming reception in the United Kingdom, according to early reports.

Orange, for example, said preorders for the Lumia have been higher than for any other Nokia handset in its portfolio, including the N95 and 5800.

Now, while some of the interest in the Lumia 800 is almost certainly due to Orange’s “Get a free Xbox when you upgrade” promotion, it’s clear that there are other reasons as well. The handset’s slick design, gorgeous display and sophisticated integration of Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS have won it early accolades that we haven’t heard around other Nokia hardware in quite some time.

Said Nokia spokesperson Ray Haddow, “The level of preorders, as well as reaction in shops today, lead us to be very positive about the launch of the Nokia Lumia 800.”

Orange Friends Facebook in Effort to Boost Smartphones, Feature Phones

Ina Fried — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:26 +0000

France Telecom’s Orange unit plans to start selling a range of home-grown phones with dedicated Facebook buttons and tight integration with the popular social network.

The three new devices are part of an effort that the French carrier hopes will increase its appeal to both younger phone buyers and those in emerging markets in Europe and Africa.

The phones will start showing up in a handful of markets next month, arriving in most countries early next year. One of the phones is a low-end Android phone, while the other two are even less expensive feature phones. All three are made by TCL Communication Technology, the Chinese company that acquired the Alcatel device business and brand name.

In an interview, Orange’s Vice President of Devices Patrick Remy said that despite the growth of smartphones, nearly half of customers are still leaving its stores with something other than a smartphone.

“We strongly believe we can do a better job, and we need to do a better job,” Remy said. The new Facebook-centric phones are one of several strategies that Orange is trying, an effort that also includes placing support staff in its stores to help new smartphone users, and efforts to help cull the masses of apps in the Android Market for those who may be intimidated by the selection.

Each of the phones is tightly integrated with Facebook’s existing software for Android and for feature phones. Earlier this year, Facebook acquired Snaptu, an Israeli company that focused on bringing the social network to feature phones.

The new Orange phones are separate from the work Facebook is doing on a higher-end HTML5-based platform, announced earlier this year.

Orange isn’t the first to tap the popularity of Facebook in an effort to boost smartphone sales. For much of this year, HTC has sold two phones — the Salsa and ChaCha (known as the Status in the U.S.), both with dedicated Facebook buttons. INQ Mobile also sells a Facebook-centric phone, though it has yet to be made available in the U.S.

Orange already sells the ChaCha, as well.

“The ChaCha is a great device with a good level of integration,” Remy said. But, he added, with the lower price of the Vancouver smartphone, Orange is “opening up some additional and new opportunities.”

With the Android device, Orange is looking to offer both a low-priced device and low service pricing. In Romania, for example, Orange plans to charge just 9 euros a month for a plan that includes unlimited use of the Facebook app, along with a bundle of voice minutes, 200 text messages and 60MB of data.

Orange plans to sell the pricier of the two feature phones for less than 60 Euros unsubsidized, and the lower-cost one for less than 40 euros.

In all three cases, Remy said, the goal is “making sure that Facebook was only one click a way whatever you are doing with your phone.”

T-Mobile's Bobsled Now Running on iPhone, Android and the Web

Ina Fried — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 04:01:14 +0000

Aiming to find some new territory to conquer, T-Mobile USA said on Monday that it has expanded its Bobsled IP calling service to run on Android and iOS devices.

T-Mobile notes that 20 percent of calling is currently done using IP telephony; that figure is expected to reach 40 percent over the next three years.

“We want to embrace the opportunity to get our fair share of that market,” T-Mobile Senior VP Brad Duea told AllThingsD. It doesn’t hurt that T-Mobile has the smallest share among major U.S. cellular carriers, or that it doesn’t have its own landline phone business, as do Sprint, AT&T and Verizon. “We don’t have a legacy landline business to protect,” Duea said.

T-Mobile launched the Bobsled service earlier this year, initially focused on calling between Facebook friends. The company had a little trouble getting off the ground, as Facebook took issue with the way T-Mobile was marketing it. It was eventually relaunched in May.

With the latest expansion, the service now allows calling via mobile devices as well as through Mac and PC Web browsers. Calls are free not only to other PCs but also from any device to any phone number in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, Duea said. T-Mobile also has a group and text messaging component to Bobsled, which is currently available on three T-Mobile Android devices, and is coming soon to any Android or iOS device.

“With IP (telephony), we can extend our reach beyond our market, literally into other countries,” Duea said. T-Mobile isn’t the only carrier that sees such calling services — dubbed “over-the-top” services — as a way to expand their markets to new geographies. France Telecom’s Orange, for example, has an app called ON Voicefeed that aims to get into VoIP calling by providing a custom voicemail service.

T-Mobile is particularly interested in offering calling to young iPod touch owners, who might then be interested in T-mobile service when they get their first phone. (Of course, T-Mobile also hopes to be acquired by AT&T before that happens.) The company plans to eventually issue Bobsled customers their own phone numbers, so they can receive calls from any phone.

Vodafone Becomes Latest Carrier to Set Up Shop in Silicon Valley

Ina Fried — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 00:00:31 +0000

Even if they don’t offer wireless service in the U.S., it has become fashionable for overseas carriers to establish a beachhead in Silicon Valley.

It makes sense, given that many of the hottest wireless apps and services are being developed here, not to mention the fact that the region is home to both Apple and Google. The latest to hop on the trend is Vodafone, which on Thursday is opening a research and development facility in Redwood City.

“It’s a corporate objective to accelerate innovation of products,” center director Fay Arjomandi said in an interview on Thursday.

The goal is that once Vodafone has decided to work with a partner, that company’s service will be running in user trials in a Vodafone market within nine months.

The facility offers office space to partners, as well as a sample Vodafone network to allow them to develop and test their products. Companies can stay for several months or just a day or two, Arjomandi said.

“We’re here in Silicon Valley to identify the best and brightest,” said Rick Rasmussen, who heads operations and logistics for the new facility.

Vodafone, which is a part owner of Verizon Wireless, is also partnered with that company on the new center. Its facility will also have a Verizon test network; Verizon’s facilities in Waltham, Mass., and a just-opened one in San Francisco, also offer Vodafone test networks.

Unlike other European carriers with a U.S. presence, though, Vodafone has no interest in offering products here, Arjomandi said. France Telecom’s Orange, for example, doesn’t offer wireless service in the U.S., but has launched some products, such as its ON Voicemail service.

U.S. Carriers Silent on Motoroogle, but France Telecom Gives It a Thumbs Up

Ina Fried — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:30:36 +0000

While there is much speculation on the effect that Google’s deal to buy Motorola Mobility would have on hardware makers, another interesting question is how it will affect its always delicate relationships with cellular carriers.

The major U.S. carriers have been silent Monday in the wake of the deal, but one major carrier — France Telecom’s Orange — tells AllThingsD that it supports the deal, with Senior Vice President Yves Maitre calling it “great news” for the industry.

“I believe it is always good to have very strong players and very integrated ones,” Maitre said in an interview. “We welcome strong competitors to Apple, and Motorola and Google will be this type of very strong competitor.”

Verizon, AT&T and Sprint all declined to comment. But rest assured, their silence does not equal a lack of interest. Though they once welcomed Android as an important counterbalance to Apple’s power, many wireless carriers have grown concerned that Google has also been exerting increasing control over Android. All have a huge interest in what happens to Android, which now makes up a significant chunk of their smartphone sales.

Google also once tried to make an end run around carriers by selling the Nexus One directly, though in recent years it has worked to restore its relationship with wireless firms.

For his part, Maitre sees Google’s Motorola deal as a continuation of a trend toward a tighter tie between phones and the operating systems that power them.

“I think the industry is going more and more vertical,” he said. “You have Apple, which has been doing vertical integration. Then we have Microsoft with the same through its partnership with Nokia.”

Maitre said competition is important, but said he is not concerned that the Motorola deal will leave Android and iPhone without decent rivals.

“The market will not let Apple and Google be alone,” he said, adding that the deal may force some of the other players in the industry to think about new arrangements, including potentially more acquisitions. “It’s difficult to say, but we may see some other partnership or takeover in the next six to nine months.”

Microsoft, meanwhile, is hoping the move will give it a needed boost in the market.

“Investing in a broad and truly open mobile ecosystem is important for the industry and consumers alike, and Windows Phone is now the only platform that does so with equal opportunity for all partners,” Windows Phone President Andy Lees said in a statement to AllThingsD.

The Data Plan of the Future is Available Now, at Least in Europe

Ina Fried — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 12:00:12 +0000

While carriers in the United States have talked about having one data plan that can be shared among a number of digital devices, one international telecom company is already putting the plan into action.

For a couple of months now, France Telecom’s Orange unit has been allowing iPad owners in Austria to share one allotment of data with a phone, while other shared data plans were recently launched in France, the United Kingdom and Spain.

Although the plans vary somewhat by country, the basic premise is the same. Users pay an extra couple of dollars a month for each additional device that shares data — similar to the way families and businesses here have long been able to share minutes between multiple phones.

“We believe that’s really a way for the future,” said Olaf Swantee, senior executive vice president for France Telecom’s Orange unit.

And while France Telecom appears to be the first major carrier to offer such plans, others are likely to follow suit. At last month’s D9 conference, AT&T executive Ralph de la Vega confirmed that some sort of shared plan is in the works.

“We’re working on one,” de la Vega said in the onstage interview. “It will be soon. I can’t comment on a quarter (when it will launch) but it will be soon.”

An AT&T representative declined to comment further. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo also said recently that company is exploring such an offer.

The move to offer such data plans could become increasingly important as carriers look to shift away from unlimited data plans, in favor of those where customers pay for a certain amount of megabytes or gigabytes. Although the concept is inherently a bit tricky for users to get their heads around, it could ultimately become more palatable if all those bytes could be shared among different devices.

Currently, the need to sign up for an entirely new data plan is acting as a disincentive for many customers to buy additional devices with built-in cellular connections. Instead, users have gravitated toward Wi-Fi equipped devices, in some cases pairing those with a mobile hotspot. Such hotspots connect to the cellular data network and then distribute that connection over Wi-Fi to any number of nearby devices. Using a hotspot, though, requires all devices being used to be nearby one another — and the hotspot is yet another device to carry around and charge.

As for the France Telecom plan, early results are encouraging. In Austria, the country where France Telecom has been offering the plans the longest, the company said that 38 percent of all iPads on its network are now using the shared data plans.

Shared data plans are just one of the moves Orange is making as digital devices and smartphones go mainstream.

Swantee said it is part of an effort to offer a broader array of services to its customers.

“We are talking to customers and not SIM cards,” he said. Over time, Swantee said, the efforts could stretch beyond rate plans and also extend to services that could be used on multiple mobile devices, as well as over landline connections.

“We really believe in the long run you will have people that want to have an experience that works across different devices,” Swantee said.

As Smartphones Go Mainstream, the Industry Works to Make Them Mom-and-Pop Friendly

Ina Fried — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:10:29 +0000

Once the purview of corporate road warriors and hard-core geeks, the smartphone is now the device of choice for the majority of phone buyers who are due for an upgrade. As a result, carriers around the world are shifting their approach in how they develop, market and sell the devices.

The early period of the smartphone is probably typified by Verizon’s successful Droid campaign, which focused heavily on the technical muscle of the device. Although that campaign continues, today’s carriers are at least as concerned with how to make smartphones appear easy and approachable to those moving up from feature phones.

At France Telecom, which sells phones in dozens of countries worldwide, 45 percent of all devices sold last year were smartphones, prompting the company to create a bunch of new services aimed at making the transition easier. A quarter of its customers sign up for at least one of the Orange Care services, which range from backing up contacts to call-in support.

The company is also setting up a “get started with smartphone” service that it expects to have up and running in 13 countries by the end of this month. In 300 of its stores, Orange plans to set up “Care Corners” dedicated to offering paid-for specialist support, especially help getting started.

“We want to democratize the smartphone,” said Olaf Swantee, senior executive vice president for France Telecom’s Orange unit.

Here in the U.S., carriers and device makers are also tweaking their pitch. Sprint, for example, has focused on a set of Sprint ID packs that allow Android newbies to get up and running with a collection of apps and widgets that match their interests. The concept was first introduced at the CTIA show in 2010 with partners such as Disney, MTV and ESPN. Since then, the carrier has continued to roll out new themed collections, including a NASCAR pack, a “green” pack to go along with its first eco-centric Android device and a Relay ID pack aimed at the hearing-impaired community.

“Smartphones are already mainstream,” an AT&T representative said, noting that the company sold more than 5.5 million smartphones last quarter, with smartphones accounting for nearly two-thirds of new sales to contract customers.

At the same time, even the father of Android admits that the operating system is still geared mainly to techies.

“I would probably characterize Android as it is today as an early adopters’ platform,” Google’s Andy Rubin said at last December’s D: Dive Into Mobile conference. “It’s for the tech enthusiast and people who are married to the tech enthusiast.”

Both Google and those that make Android devices, of course, are trying to change that. Samsung, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and other Android phone makers all offer their own custom user interfaces designed to make Android simpler to use.

Microsoft, for its part, has made a big part of its Windows Phone 7 pitch the idea that it is offering a smartphone for the masses. Its early ads focused on it being a phone designed to fit into, rather than take over, one’s life.

And while the exact smartphone share numbers vary somewhat in different countries, the rise in adoption and surge in mobile data use is a global phenomenon, Swantee said.

“We have countries where the GDP is $2,500 (per person),” Swantee said. “And we have countries like Switzerland where the GDP per head is in excess of $45,000. The countries all move to these products.”

The price of the devices does tend to vary by country. While the iPhone and high-end Android devices dominate in Western Europe and North America, emerging markets have seen strong sales of lower-end devices, including offerings from Nokia and Research In Motion. Increasingly, though, Android is also playing in these countries, with devices that sell for well below $100 unsubsidized expected to be available this year. In Africa, France Telecom is selling an Alcatel-branded device that offers limited data access and costs just $25.

“Mobile Internet is quickly becoming intrinsic in many people’s life,” said France Telecom Executive Vice President Anne Bouverot. “That drives quite a similar demand (worldwide).”

France's Orange Hopes to Put the Squeeze on Rivals with an iPhone Voice Mail App

Ina Fried — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 05:00:03 +0000

While few in the U.S. know Orange as anything other than a color or a fruit, the France Telecom mobile unit is hoping to change that with an app that improves upon the iPhone’s built-in voicemail.

At Demo on Monday, Orange plans to show off ON VoiceFeed–a program that lets users create custom greetings for individual callers or groups of callers. The idea is to be able to leave a generic message for the masses, while offering something special to co-workers, loved ones or other groups.

The app is slated to be made available for free in the App Store during the next two weeks for those in the UK, U.S. and France. Longer term, Orange can envision a business model that aims to make money by offering to return international calls using VoIP at cheaper rates than are offered by whatever carrier a smartphone owner is using.

While much of Orange is focused on fending off rivals like Skype and Google Voice that would usurp their core business, a small unit at the company–Orange Vallee–is trying to come up with disruptive apps of its own. ON VoiceFeed is not the unit’s first foray; it has also been beta testing an Android product that builds a “living address book.” That product has about 100,000 testers, Orange said.

Given that Orange’s core business generates about eight billion dollars in free cash flow, there are clearly a lot of people at the company looking to preserve that. But, with all that is at risk, it helps to have a “Plan B” and “Plan C,” says Giles Corbett, the head of the Orange Vallee unit that developed the Android and iPhone apps.

After debuting the Android app last year, Orange hoped to quickly follow with apps for the iPhone, BlackBerry and other smartphones, but underestimated the amount of time it would take to rethink what made sense for each platform. The company still hopes to expand beyond the iPhone and Android at some point.

As for the iPhone voice mail program, users can record a custom greeting for a loved one or let their co-workers know they are out of the country without broadcasting that to anyone who calls. Corbett says the product transforms the experience for those who end up in voice mail.

“They are used to voice mail being a dead-end thing,” Corbett said. “All of a sudden it’s ‘Oh’, that’s what (so and so) is doing.”

Indeed, in testing many callers started speaking when they heard a customized greeting–assuming it was the person answering and not voice mail. Now, ON VoiceFeed messages begin with a tone to let callers know that, however personal the greeting, it is still a recorded message.

As for why Orange is testing its products in the U.S. rather than just on its home turf, Corbett noted that nearly half of Android users are in North America and that the region remains home to the largest concentration of iPhone users. Plus, he noted, the traditional geographic boundaries are breaking down with Skype and all of the similar services that sit on top of smartphones, regardless of who the underlying carrier may be.

“Telecoms are going to become much, much more global,” Corbett said.

For a better idea of how the voice mail app will work, here’s a video that Orange posted on YouTube.

Billboards Join Wired Age

Spencer E. Ante — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 12:30:14 +0000

Billboards and posters are one of world’s oldest forms of advertising. Now, some marketers and start-ups say wireless technology could revamp outdoor advertising by bringing interactivity and pay-for-performance models.

Over the last few months, Google Inc., Nokia Corp. and France Telecom SA’s Orange have run pilot advertising campaigns that let a person interact with posters in bus stops, phone booths, train stations and airports in cites including New York and London.

So far, companies are using the posters as a way to distribute wireless applications or ringtones for smartphones. But outdoor advertisers and marketers say the ads could also be used to distribute games, video ads, coupons and even as a way to sell physical or digital goods and services.

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90 Percent of AT&T iPhone Subs Still Under Contract

John Paczkowski — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 12:00:07 +0000

A metric worth mulling as AT&T’s previously monogamous relationship with Apple shifts into polyamory: 90 percent of the carrier’s iPhone users are still under contract.

That’s according to Susquehanna analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro (and AT&T, which confirmed that percentage to me), who doesn’t see the launch of the iPhone on Verizon as a catastrophic event for AT&T at all. He thinks the carrier stands to lose two million iPhone users at most to Verizon–hardly a mass exodus.

AT&T’s decision last year to accelerate upgrade eligibility for iPhone customers, making it easier for them to get the iPhone 4 when Apple released it, is proving a wise move indeed. What better deterrent to switching networks than the carrier’s $325 early termination fee?

In all likelihood, iPhone subscriber churn will be no worse at AT&T than it has been at other carriers that have lost iPhone exclusivity. As Matthew Key, CEO of Telefónica Europe, said during a February 2010 earnings call, “Ever since Vodafone has started selling the iPhone in January, we see absolutely no evidence of people leaving us, churning on the iPhone going back to Orange or Vodafone, so [we are] very comfortable with our iPhone volumes. We continue to out-trade the market and no sign of churn whatsoever.”

Microsoft Offers Lync to Connect Enterprise Communications

Voices — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 23:17:32 +0000

Microsoft today launched Lync, the successor to the Office Communications Server and, to hear the company tell it, a great supplement or replacement for PBX systems. In addition to providing a single interface to manage instant messages, voice calls, video calls, meetings and shared whiteboard sessions, Lync integrates enterprise VoIP. Happy customers already include Boeing, Estée Lauder, France Telecom, Nikon and Orange. A free 180-day trial is available now.

China's ZTE Going "Tactile" in Europe

Owen Fletcher — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:00:39 +0000

China’s ZTE Corp., best known as a telecommunications equipment maker but also a growing vendor of mobile phones, estimates it will ship 300,000 units of a new Android smartphone to Europe this year as sales launch in France this month, a ZTE spokeswoman said late Monday.

The smartphone, with a 3.5-inch touch screen, is ZTE’s second in France using Google’s Android operating system.

France Telecom’s Orange, which has already sold the phone in the U.K. with the name “The San Francisco” since September, will also sell the device in France as the “Tactile Internet 2? starting Nov. 18, an Orange spokesman said. It will sell the phone in France for 249 euros ($343) without any service plan and starting at 9 euros with a post-paid plan, the spokesman said.

France’s Bouygues Telecom will also sell the new Android phone as the “Blade,” the ZTE spokeswoman said.

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Windows Phone 7 Launches on October 11–With AT&T and T-Mobile? [UPDATED]

John Paczkowski — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:00:24 +0000

Well, those early reports were right about one thing: October 11th is indeed the day that Microsoft will debut its new Windows Phone 7 operating system at an event in New York City . But they were evidently wrong about the carrier partner the company chose to join it on stage. Because according to the event invitation (click on image below to enlarge), it’s not AT&T, but T-Mobile. In fact, AT&T isn’t mentioned anywhere in the document, which promises attendees an “exclusive showing of T-Mobile powered Windows Phone 7 devices.”

What happened? AT&T was to be the initial exclusive U.S. carrier of Windows Phone 7 smartphones, wasn’t it? And if that was the case, presumably the company would attend the worldwide launch event. But evidently it’s not. Why?

UPDATE I: Looks like AT&T is joining Microsoft in WP7 launch festivities, just at a different event held earlier in the day. (Click image to enlarge.)

UPDATE II: Well, this is interesting. Now T-Mobile has disappeared from that first invite I linked to. I’ve asked Microsoft for an explanation and will update here if I’m offered one.

UPDATE III: Now, Microsoft has put the invitation in question behind a curtain. But, never fear, I took screenshots of the T-Mobile and non-T-Mobile versions, which you can view below.

UPDATE IV: This just in from T-Mobile: “T-Mobile has indicated support for Windows Phone 7 and will announce details of our Window Phone 7 offering on Oct. 11.” Keystone Kops …

Microsoft Lines Up AT&T, Orange for October Windows Phone 7 Launch

John Paczkowski — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:24:12 +0000

Microsoft has set a hard date for the launch of its new Windows Phone 7 operating system: October 11. “People familiar with the launch plans” tell The Wall Street Journal that the company will debut the OS at an event in New York that day and announce AT&T (T) as the exclusive carrier of the first smartphones to run it–one from HTC, another from LG and a third from Samsung.

The Journal pins the hardware street date for the week of November 8, but I’m told it will likely be earlier. Sources in a position to know say Windows Phone 7 smartphones will be in stores on October 21. They also say that Microsoft (MSFT) has lined up another exclusive carrier overseas: Orange.

iPhone 4: Stock-Outs at Apple Stores, New Orders Now Shipping in Three Weeks

John Paczkowski — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:00:55 +0000

Apple is selling the iPhone 4 as fast as it can make it–actually faster. With demand for the device off the charts after first-weekend sales, the company’s online storefront is now showing a ship time of three weeks for new orders. And Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore says that his survey of brick-and-mortar stores shows frequent stock-outs. “Demand is outstripping supply in multiple regions despite frequent replenishment,” he wrote in a research note issued this morning.

According to Whitmore’s survey of 100 iPhone 4 retail outlets (Apple, AT&T, Best Buy, O2, Orange and Car-Phone stores in the U.S. and U.K.), 60 percent of Apple Stores were sold out by Thursday evening, as were 100 percent of retail-partner stores. Supplies were replenished overnight, but by end-of-day Friday, quite a few stores were reporting stock-outs. And that number only grew on Saturday.

“Our checks carried out on Saturday revealed that Apple retail stores which were stocked-out on Thursday/Friday were unable to replenish stocks with ~95 percent of stores contacted experiencing stock-out situations. Further, most Apple representatives were not certain about the iPhone 4 stock replenishments and comments such as ‘We’re out of stock’, ‘Don’t know when we will have them in store’, ‘We sold out just minutes ago’, ‘No, we don’t know when we will be getting the phone’ and ‘Your best bet is the online store’ were cited frequently,” Whitmore reported.

“In addition,” according to the analyst, “retail stores which had iPhones in-stock cited long lines (2 to 3 hours) outside the stores. Comments such as ‘We have very limited numbers, we should be sold out in a couple of hours’ and ‘Please give us a call just before you leave home to make sure the iPhones are in stock’ suggested waning inventory levels.”

Whitmore figures Apple (AAPL) sold more than one million iPhone 4s over the weekend, but notes that shipments could have been dramatically higher if there was more supply.

“While the strong start is encouraging, we believe the long-term opportunity for growth of the iPhone is even more significant as near-term shipments are being gated by supply constraints,” Whitmore wrote. “We estimate Apple to sell 44 million iPhones in CY10 (8.5 million in the June quarter) and 55 million in CY11.” (See chart below; click to enlarge.)

T-Orange?

John Paczkowski — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:37:06 +0000

The European Commission has finally cleared Deutsche Telekom’s and France Telecom’s mobile joint venture in the U.K.–but only after the companies agreed to divest a quarter of their combined spectrum in the 1800MHz band and tweak a network-sharing agreement that might have threatened 3, the U.K.’s smallest mobile network.

The merger of France Telecom’s Orange and Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile will create the largest mobile phone operator in the U.K. with about a 34 percent share of the market, just ahead of current market leader O2, which claims about 28 percent. It will also reduce the number of carriers in the country, which critics argue will reduce competition and raise prices.

Orange and T-Mobile disagree, of course, and claim the deal will give subscribers better coverage and improved customer service. We’ll see, I guess.

Oh, no word yet on the combined company’s name.

Yes We Can: Have the Jesus Tablet Soon! But What's in the Package?

Kara Swisher — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:18:12 +0000

The noisy kerfuffle that broke out yesterday over whether a France Telecom exec did or did not confirm in an interview whether there is or is not an Apple tablet computer coming soon would be comical if it were not so–how shall I put it delicately?–inane.

But that’s going to be the way it is for the next few weeks until Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs finally unveils what everyone in Silicon Valley pretty much knows he has been cooking up for a while now.

Which is, of course, the iSlate. Or iPad. Or the iWhatever.

There’s the planned Apple event on Jan. 27, of course, as well as a steady stream of decent reporting by many that this is exactly what’s coming.

The Wall Street Journal, for example, reported last week that Apple plans to ship the tablet in March and that it will feature either a 10-inch or 11-inch touchscreen. The paper also cited analysts who estimate the tablet will cost $1,000 and may include a built-in wireless plan.

Other than that, there is not much more new detailed information out there.

And, as it turned out, what the exec from France Telecom, which owns the Orange mobile service there, actually meant got lost in translation.

Along with doing a John the Baptist, he seems to have said that the device will include wireless and a Webcam.

But not so fast! Orange PR told paidContent that the exec’s remarks were “a few comments taken out of context, then interpreted into English.”

As paidContent further wrote:

“A full statement emailed to us has further back-tracking: ‘These responses in no way reflect Orange’s confirmation of the existence of the rumoured device. The spokesperson was merely confirming that he is aware of the speculation surrounding a launch and that Orange would be delighted to have such a product were it ever to be available.’”

Well, that clears it up!

Actually, it would be great to see more information about what is and what is not in the new device over the next days before we all get to see it, as well as much more on exactly which entertainment, wireless, publishing and other partners are involved.

That’s a lot of folks, so concentrating on finding out what’s in the package instead of wondering if Christmas for Apple fanboys is coming would be a good idea about now.

In other words: Yes, you geeks, Steve Jobs will be Santa Claus soon.

Now let’s find out whether what he’s bringing will be naughty or nice, innovative or not so much.

Until then, here is the video of that tongue-tied dude from France making a mess of it (you have to know French to understand):

L’interview politique de Jean-Pierre Elkabbach
by Europe1fr

OyPhone: Apple’s iPhone Lands in Israel Wednesday

John Paczkowski — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:31:31 +0000

Though Apple hasn’t yet brought the iPhone to Israel, it’s estimated that some 80,000 of them are in use in the country today. That’s a remarkable metric and one that suggests Apple’s super-smart phone should do quite well when it officially arrives at market in Israel this week.

Come Thursday, three of the country’s largest wireless carriers–Cellcom, Orange and Bezeq Israel Telecom–will be peddling the Apple (AAPL) device. They’ll be asking 800 shekels for it, about $210 after a subsidy Bank of America Merrill Lynch figures is somewhere around 2,000 shekels. That’s pretty steep, but as the research house notes, the carriers will more than make up for it with new data revenue. Merrill predicts 300,000 iPhones will be sold in their first year at market in Israel, 3.5 percent of the country’s total mobile phone sales.

“We think it is unlikely to have a major impact on subscriber numbers or market share but that it will be positive for data revenue,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts wrote. “Also as the three leading players are all offering iPhone we do not anticipate large-scale customer migration from one carrier to another or that any single player will be overburdened with marketing expenses. The immediate impact of the handset subsidy will be felt in lower profitability, but the companies will benefit in the long run from an average-revenue-per-user uplift due to higher data usage, subscription fees and the sale of the iPhone-related services.”

Google Rocks Real-Time Search

John Paczkowski — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:00:05 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

AMD and Intel Bury the Hatchet

John Paczkowski — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:00:09 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Orange Juices U.K. iPhone Sales

John Paczkowski — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:00:37 +0000

iPhone exclusivity officially came to an end in the U.K. yesterday when, joining O2, Orange became the second carrier to offer the Apple (AAPL) smart phone in the country.

Judging by Orange’s first-day sales, the debut was quite a success. The iPhone went on sale at 7 am Tuesday and by 4 pm, Orange had sold more than 30,000. Not bad. In fact, according to Orange, it’s a new record. Said a spokesperson for the carrier: “Orange is delighted to reveal, that as of 4 PM yesterday, it…sold more than 30,000 iPhones across the UK–smashing what we believe is the previously published first-day sales record for a handset in the UK.”

Orange also claims to have registered roughly 250,000 iPhone presubscriptions, of which only a fraction have been fulfilled. If that is the case, the carrier will end up with a million iPhone users by the end of 2010.

O2 Suffers iPhone Drought

John Paczkowski — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:34:51 +0000

Well this certainly doesn’t bode well for O2: The U.K. wireless carrier, which has reportedly been selling about 2,200 iPhones a day since it secured exclusive distribution rights to the device in 2007, has run out of the 3GS model.

Rabid demand for the iPhone has emptied not just the company’s physical retail outlets, but its online store as well. “We continue to see extremely high levels of demand for the iPhone which means it comes in and out of stock very quickly and will be why the Web site hasn’t had any since Monday,” an O2 spokesperson told the Telegraph.

News of the shortage comes just days after O2 rivals Orange and Vodafone both announced plans to carry the iPhone later this year, bringing an end to O2’s exclusivity deal with Apple (AAPL). If Apple is unable to meet consumer demand with just a single U.K. carrier, how will it cope with three?

A reasonable question, but one for which Apple presumably has an answer. Said Forrester (FORR) analyst Mark Mulligan, “I don’t think [Apple] would expand if it couldn’t meet consumer demand, as that would lead to extreme consumer dissatisfaction–which compared to its peers, Apple is usually good at avoiding.”