AllThingsD » phones http://allthingsd.com Sun, 27 May 2012 01:54:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 Bill Clinton Highlights Global Cellular Success Stories as CTIA 2012 Wraps Up http://allthingsd.com/20120510/bill-clinton-highlights-global-cellular-success-stories-as-ctia-2012-wraps-up/ http://allthingsd.com/20120510/bill-clinton-highlights-global-cellular-success-stories-as-ctia-2012-wraps-up/#comments Thu, 10 May 2012 19:56:06 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=206723 Former President Bill Clinton spoke Thursday on how the growing ubiquity of cellphones is dramatically changing lives throughout the world.

In the final speech of the CTIA trade show in New Orleans, Clinton talked about how cellphones are enabling the first banking in Haiti, allowing people to detect counterfeit drugs in Africa and connecting refugees throughout the globe.

Wireless technology is also going to help in America’s battle to control healthcare costs, which now account for 18 percent of U.S. spending.

Clinton also spoke about the need for bipartisanship and the consequences that can and do occur when people don’t work together to solve the tough problems facing society. He pointed to examples in Costa Rica and Brazil where people of different viewpoints are coming together even on issues with no clear solution.

The 42nd president began his talk on a light note, pointing out that among the findings of the genome project is that most humans have between 1 percent and 4 percent Neanderthal DNA.

“My wife and daughter weren’t surprised,” Clinton quipped. “They already knew I was part Neanderthal, but they were stunned to find they were too.”

Just a reminder, even though CTIA wraps up later on Thursday, our coverage will continue in the coming days as we share some interesting stories we found through meetings and our tour of the show floor.

(Thanks to Taylor Hatmaker for the photo.)

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120510/bill-clinton-highlights-global-cellular-success-stories-as-ctia-2012-wraps-up/feed/ 0 Fake Angry Birds Slingshot Malware Onto Android Phones http://allthingsd.com/20120413/malware-aims-to-slingshot-into-angry-birds-space/ http://allthingsd.com/20120413/malware-aims-to-slingshot-into-angry-birds-space/#comments Fri, 13 Apr 2012 12:00:19 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=196212 Some folks are getting more villains than they bargained for when downloading software claiming to be Angry Birds Space.

Gamemaker Rovio and antivirus firms are cautioning of malware-laden software disguising itself as the latest installment of the popular game series.

“As you get ready to pop pigs in zero gravity, watch out for fake versions of Angry Birds Space, and make sure to download safe by getting the official game from Rovio,” the Angry Birds maker warned on its Web site Thursday.

Sophos warned that a program purporting to be the Android version of the game actually installs malware and could render infected phones vulnerable to control by hackers. The malware-laden titles showed up on various alternative Android app marketplaces, not the official Google Play store.

“The Trojan horse, which Sophos detects as Andr/KongFu-L, appears to be a fully-functional version of the popular smartphone game, but uses the GingerBreak exploit to gain root access to the device, and install malicious code,” Sophos senior technology consultant Graham Cluley said in a blog post. “The Trojan communicates with a remote website in an attempt to download and install further malware onto the compromised Android smartphone.”

The space version of Angry Birds has soared to the top of the charts since being made available last month for Android, iOS, Mac and PC. Rovio said 10 million copies were downloaded in the first three days after it was made available on March 22.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120413/malware-aims-to-slingshot-into-angry-birds-space/feed/ 0 HP's Greenblatt Leaves webOS Post for New Role http://allthingsd.com/20120329/hps-greenblatt-leaves-webos-post-for-new-role/ http://allthingsd.com/20120329/hps-greenblatt-leaves-webos-post-for-new-role/#comments Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:32:16 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://allthingsd.com/?p=191379 Hewlett-Packard has confirmed that Sam Greenblatt, the CTO of the company’s webOS business unit, has left that role.

I just received an email statement on the subject from an HP spokesman: “Sam Greenblatt is moving from webOS to a new role at HP and will continue to assist the team during the transition. The Open webOS project is on schedule and HP remains committed to the roadmap announced in January.”

Naturally, when a senior executive leaves a position for an undefined “new role,” it’s often seen as a signal that he or she is on the way out, and simply remains on the payroll to handle the details of a smooth transition. I’m told that this is not one of those cases, and we’ll see what Greenblatt’s role is soon enough.

This, of course, comes in the wake of HP’s downgrading of its webOS business into an open-source software project last last year, and the departure of several executives from within the group, chief among them Jon Rubinstein, the onetime CEO of Palm, which HP acquired in 2010 for $1.2 billion. Others have included Richard Kerris, former VP of Worldwide Developer Relations, who fled to Nokia; and Brian Hernacki, chief architect of webOS, who left in January.

The webOS unit is certainly a lot smaller than it was a year ago. In February, HP cut 275 people from the group, on top of the 500 or so it fired in September.

Greenblatt’s job change was first reported by the enthusiast site webOS Nation.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120329/hps-greenblatt-leaves-webos-post-for-new-role/feed/ 0 We're Not in San Francisco Anymore http://allthingsd.com/20120327/were-not-in-san-francisco-anymore/ http://allthingsd.com/20120327/were-not-in-san-francisco-anymore/#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:59:48 +0000 Eric Johnson http://allthingsd.com/?p=190686

I’m sitting across from 4 diff people talking on Razr flip phones at LAX airport. Have I traveled back in time & someone forgot to tell me?

–Nick Bilton, via Twitter

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120327/were-not-in-san-francisco-anymore/feed/ 0 An Inside Look at the FCC's Gadget Library (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120323/an-inside-look-at-the-fccs-gadget-library-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120323/an-inside-look-at-the-fccs-gadget-library-video/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:20:16 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=188382 The library of the Federal Communications Commission houses plenty of books and newspapers, but it is also home to a growing collection of TVs, smartphones and tablets.

About a year ago, the agency started amassing the latest gadgets in an effort to ensure that its staff is able to try out the technology they are overseeing.

“You want people writing policies in this area to have hands-on contact,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in an interview at January’s Consumer Electronics Show. Earlier this week, AllThingsD got a behind-the-scenes tour of the library.

The gadget room is separated by a glass wall from the more traditional part of the library. Inside are tablets from RIM, Samsung and Apple, as well as phones ranging from the latest Androids to the big-button Jitterbug phone aimed at seniors. There are also 3-D televisions, a Sonos digital audio player and various set-top boxes.

Each of the devices is on loan, with the agency aiming to refresh its collection each month with whatever the latest and greatest devices are. In some cases, the technology arrives in the FCC’s library even before it goes on sale.

That said, they are still waiting on the new iPad.


[ See post to watch video ]

The device library is the FCC’s effort to deal with the fact that its workers can’t afford to buy all of the latest products, nor are they allowed to accept them for free, due to ethics rules. But, at the same time, they really need to be familiar with what’s out there, in order to make smart policies.

Genachowski and the agency’s previous managing director, former Microsoft executive Steven VanRoekel, were two of the key figures behind the library. VanRoekel is now the federal government’s chief information officer.

In addition to its standard collection, the agency also organizes special events around specific topics, such as public-safety technology or accessible products for people with disabilities.

With some of the special exhibits, the agency lets things spill over into the main library. In the case of the public-safety collection, things even spilled into the streets, as FCC staffers got a look at in-car technology and even a hot air balloon that could be used to send up new wireless infrastructure in the event of a natural disaster.

For now, workers can only play around with the products inside the library itself, though Genachowski would like to see it expand further.

“Our goal is to have it be a lending library,” he said.

For a closer look inside the library, check out the photo gallery and video, as well as this immersive Photosynth photo.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120323/an-inside-look-at-the-fccs-gadget-library-video/feed/ 0 Mobile Data Use Surging, but Tablets Largely a Wi-Fi-Only Affair http://allthingsd.com/20120320/mobile-data-use-surging-but-tablets-largely-a-wi-fi-only-affair/ http://allthingsd.com/20120320/mobile-data-use-surging-but-tablets-largely-a-wi-fi-only-affair/#comments Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:00:57 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=188039 Even when tablet buyers opt for a device with the ability to use a cellular network, most are opting to use the device only on Wi-Fi.

In a report released on Monday, analyst Chetan Sharma said that 90 percent of tablets are using Wi-Fi, even though some of those are capable of using a cellular connection. As a result, carriers are a less important factor when it comes to tablet sales.

One key reason is that U.S. carriers don’t allow users to share a data plan with other devices, something that Sharma said should change this year. Those that offer such shared data plans will fare better than those that stick to a plan for each device, Sharma said.

One of the interesting things to watch will be how the mix shifts with the new iPad, which is capable of using high-speed LTE networks and — when enabled by the carrier — of acting as a wireless hotspot. Both AT&T and Verizon said they saw impressive initial sales for the device, with Apple saying it has sold three million new iPads in its first weekend. Apple didn’t say how many were of the Wi-Fi-only variety and how many purchasers paid the extra $130 for a cellular-equipped model.

While tablets may not be gobbling up much cellular data, smartphones sure are. Sharma said that the U.S. cellphone market generated $67 billion in revenue from data, making up 39 percent of overall revenue. Fourth-quarter data revenue alone was $18.6 billion, up 4 percent sequentially and 19 percent from the prior year.

However, monthly revenue per customer — a key industry metric — is tailing off. Data continues to grow, but is no longer offsetting the decline in voice revenue. The U.S. industry saw average monthly revenue per customer drop by 43 cents, as a 52-cent per customer gain in data was more than offset by a 96-cent per customer decline in voice.

Smartphones continue to dominate sales, accounting for two-thirds of sales in the fourth quarter and 80 percent of sales to traditional contract customers.

Some other interesting tidbits from Sharma’s report:

Patents
According to Sharma, IBM had the lead when it comes to U.S. mobile patent filings, followed by Samsung, Microsoft, Sony, Qualcomm, LG, Ericsson, Panasonic, Broadcom and RIM. Other big names include Nokia at No. 12, Intel at No. 13, Apple at No. 16, Motorola at No. 21 and Google at No. 23. Among the carriers, Sprint had the most patents granted, with 323 awarded last year.

Predictions
Sharma forecast that mobile data revenue in the U.S. will total $80 billion this year, up from $67 billion in 2011. Additionally, he said he sees the amount of money generated by mobile data passing the amount of revenue from mobile calling in early 2013.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120320/mobile-data-use-surging-but-tablets-largely-a-wi-fi-only-affair/feed/ 0 AllThingsD Takes SXSW by Storm (in Pictures) http://allthingsd.com/20120313/allthingsd-takes-sxsw-by-storm/ http://allthingsd.com/20120313/allthingsd-takes-sxsw-by-storm/#comments Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:46:17 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=185471 SXSW Interactive is, thankfully, almost over. We came, we saw, we ate from food trucks. We stood in lines in the rain (grudgingly wearing branded ponchos), we strained our eyes and ears for any slivers of news that might come out of the panels, and we got more texts and buzzes and pings from our phones’ location-based and messaging apps than we thought was technically possible.

We learned that video games are good for you, that TV has ruined politics in the U.S. and that social media should fix it, and that Jimmy Fallon has different activities in mind when he thinks of “activity wristbands.” We learned how to be disruptive. We heard Google’s designers explain how they convinced their company to take on that infamous redesign.

We identified one of the worst marketing gimmicks in all of Austin (aside from this controversial one), and heard about all the crazy tasks SXSW-ers hired people to do for them. We learned that an impromptu Jay-Z concert will light up Twitter like it’s Arab Spring in Austin. We hosted not one but two parties at SXSW, announcing at the first event the new All Things Reviewed section of our Web site.

Since words can only say so much, we’ve put together a slideshow for you, below, and our full list of stories is below that:

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120313/allthingsd-takes-sxsw-by-storm/feed/ 0 Videos, Consultants, Fake Steve Jobs. How Beyond Oblivion Burned $32 Million Without Paying for a Single Song. http://allthingsd.com/20120302/videos-consultants-fake-steve-jobs-how-beyond-oblivion-burned-32-million-without-paying-for-a-single-song/ http://allthingsd.com/20120302/videos-consultants-fake-steve-jobs-how-beyond-oblivion-burned-32-million-without-paying-for-a-single-song/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 23:06:15 +0000 Peter Kafka http://allthingsd.com/?p=180121 It’s easy to build a failed music service. Building a failed music service that blows through $32 million without ever opening its doors? That takes some work.

And that’s what Beyond Oblivion pulled off. The would-be service closed down at the end of last year, before it ever started up.

My hunch is that the company was doomed from the get-go, but Evolver.fm’s Eliot Van Buskirk diligently digs in behind the scenes to find out exactly what happened, and where the money went. It’s a great, gruesome read.

What’s particularly notable about Beyond Oblivion’s collapse is that you can’t accuse the big music labels of killing it with extortionate fees. They planned to get extortionate fees, and Beyond Oblivion’s strategy apparently involved complying — the company had planned to hand over $150 million in upfront licensing payments.

But they never got a chance. Instead, the money went into to all sorts of other stuff that didn’t involve delivering music to consumers. Like expensive marketing consultants. And a promotional video, featuring a vocal-fried narrator, that you can see at the bottom of this post.

Oh. And there was also a fake Steve Jobs:

At CES 2011, [CEO Adam Kidron] already hired a Steve Jobs impersonator to interrupt business meetings between himself and would-be partners “as a joke.” The Steve Jobs look-alike also apparently “roamed the show floor to fool attendees, while an employee filmed the whole thing” — a film that may have been meant for promotional purposes somehow, but which was only seen by employees.

At least Beyond Oblivion’s investors (who include News Corp., which also owns this Web site), didn’t lose any money on this year’s CES show.

Kidron planned to hire models to walk the CES show floor with the words “wanna boinc” on their panties and T-shirts, in the case of the females, or on their chests in the case of Speedo-wearing males. All of the models would have offered demonstrations to CES attendees, giving them a button with the words “I boinced at CES” printed on them. The buttons would also have functioned as the invitation to a private party at a Las Vegas strip club. These plans were scrapped in November as the company unraveled.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120302/videos-consultants-fake-steve-jobs-how-beyond-oblivion-burned-32-million-without-paying-for-a-single-song/feed/ 0 Tablets That Have a Certain Feel to Them http://allthingsd.com/20120301/tablets-that-have-a-certain-feel-to-them/ http://allthingsd.com/20120301/tablets-that-have-a-certain-feel-to-them/#comments Thu, 01 Mar 2012 18:13:48 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=179612 Given that most Android tablets look the same, a couple of companies are showing technologies in Barcelona that make sure they don’t feel the same.

One of those companies is a Finnish start-up called Senseg. Its technology, which it says is just now ready to go into products, lets you rub your hand over a flat glass tablet screen and feel texture that is eerily like a real world object. Touch a picture of kitchen tiles, for example and it feels smooth until the bump where the grout is.

A different approach is offered up by Immersion, a longtime player in this field, which is showing off a new generation of electronics that open the door to far more realistic sensations than the current vibrations or simple touch feedback from a virtual keyboard.

Haptics — or the technology that enables adding a sense of feel to electronics — has been around for a while. Immersion, for example, demoed how a phone or tablet could gain a better sense of feel back at our D7 conference in 2009.

Early devices just rumbled or vibrated at certain times. Touch feedback has already made its way in more limited uses, with the most common being virtual keyboards that offer a physical sensation when a key is pressed.

But the field has continued to evolve. Some of the technology just on the horizon reproduces the way things feel much more authentically.

At its booth this year, Immersion was showing a phone with digital maracas that feel like you’re actually rattling rice. Then there’s the roller coaster video that gives you both the click-click-click as you climb and the “whoosh” as the descent begins. Yet another demo app adds to any music playback a bass track you can feel.

Both Immersion and Senseg also demonstrated haptics used another way — as a physical cue to something in a long list of data. Imagine, for example, scrolling though email and feeling a physical bump when you get to a message from your spouse or boss.

Similarly, varying amounts of touch feedback can be used to indicate the popularity or rank of something. Immersion had a demo app, for example, where users could flip through a set of images and feel increased touch sensation when they scrolled to a photo with lots of comments.

The technologies from Immersion and Senseg have some similarities, but work in different ways. Immersion’s technology uses a rectangular bar-like component called a piezo module, that physically vibrates the device in varying locations and frequencies. Senseg, meanwhile, uses the combination of a custom chip and a special screen coating to create an electric field on the front of the display.

Senseg’s approach requires developers to explicitly write their software to use the technology, meaning it could be most attractive to device makers that want to add a feel to their user interface skin. Immersion, meanwhile, has programming interfaces that developers can use, but also has a mechanism to add haptic feedback even to apps that were not designed for it.

The two technologies are also at different stages. Senseg is just now looking to sign its first customers, while Immersion says its newer technology is already in a tablet from Pantech and will come soon to other tablets. Phones should also get the new touch tech, once the piezo modules are reduced a bit in size.


[ See post to watch video ]

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120301/tablets-that-have-a-certain-feel-to-them/feed/ 0 Eye-Fi Gets $20 Million in Funding, Looks to Mobile Phones for Growth http://allthingsd.com/20120229/eye-fi-gets-20-million-in-funding-looks-to-mobile-phones-for-growth/ http://allthingsd.com/20120229/eye-fi-gets-20-million-in-funding-looks-to-mobile-phones-for-growth/#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:54:06 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=179387 Eye-Fi, maker of SD cards that enable wireless connectivity in digital cameras, has nabbed $20 million in a Series D round of funding from Japan’s NTT DoCoMo and existing investors, including Shasta Ventures, Opus Capital and TransLink Capital.

In addition, the company has added former Skype and eBay exec Michele Don Durbin to its team as vice president of marketing, as Eye-Fi eyes more international growth.

The capital infusion from NTT DoCoMo means Mountain View-based Eye-Fi is going deeper into mobile, after having originally made its footprint in digital cameras without Wi-Fi connectivity.

In April, the company said, NTT DoCoMo’s 59 million mobile subscribers in Japan will be able to use Eye-Fi to share photos between their digital cameras and mobile devices without needing to upload them to a computer. Eye-Fi will introduce a series of applications for both iOS and Android that will allow users to have an Eye-Fi experience without the card, Eye-Fi CEO Yuval Koren said.

“As you think about Eye-Fi and how we’ve evolved, we’re thinking about it as a service first and a device second, especially on connected handsets and smartphone platforms,” Koren said.

The partnership with NTT DoCoMo marks the second in Japan for Eye-Fi. Last fall, the company struck a deal with KDDI, Japan’s second-largest mobile operator, for unbundled app distribution to its mobile subscribers.

Eye-Fi’s focus on mobile comes as the company is facing a possible change to SD card standards that could increase competition for the start-up. In January, the SD Association, which represents more than a thousand companies that determine and promote SD standards, announced plans for a new Wireless LAN SD standard for full-sized and micro SD/SDHC/SDXC cards. Eye-Fi said that this proposed new standard violated Eye-Fi’s intellectual property.

A spokesperson for the SD Association told AllThingsD that there are no updates on whether the new standard has been approved, and that the Association is still following its normal process of evaluating disclosures received during the IP disclosure period.

Eye-Fi’s Koren would only say, “As far as we can tell, they are taking a serious look at the IP question that we’ve raised, and we look forward to their response on that.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120229/eye-fi-gets-20-million-in-funding-looks-to-mobile-phones-for-growth/feed/ 0 At Nokia, a Stroll Down Cellular Memory Lane http://allthingsd.com/20120224/at-nokia-a-stroll-down-cellular-memory-lane/ http://allthingsd.com/20120224/at-nokia-a-stroll-down-cellular-memory-lane/#comments Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:34:28 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=177199 While most of my time in Espoo, Finland, was focused on learning about what’s coming next from Nokia, I took a little bit of time to revisit a bit of cellular history.

In the center of its grand Nokia House headquarters, the company has a showcase for some of its long-ago devices, with many more showcased in the Nokia Lounge, a swanky conference room used to meet with important visitors.

All the greatest hits (and a few of the misses) are there.

Phones of all shapes and sizes are featured, from the nearly suitcase-sized 1982 Mobira Senator to the first Communicator smartphone, among the earliest to flip open to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. There are phones with circular keypads, phones with square keypads, and a few devices with no keypads at all.

Even the ill-fated N-Gage gaming devices are there.

While there is much to admire about the modern smartphone, the Nokia collection is a reminder that physical hardware design has gotten a lot more uniform — and, quite frankly, boring — compared to some of the wacky designs from days gone by.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120224/at-nokia-a-stroll-down-cellular-memory-lane/feed/ 0 T-Mobile USA Reports Huge Customer Defections, Says It Will Launch LTE in 2013 http://allthingsd.com/20120222/t-mobile-usa-to-launch-lte-in-2013/ http://allthingsd.com/20120222/t-mobile-usa-to-launch-lte-in-2013/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 06:56:15 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=177146 Deutsche Telekom said on Thursday that T-Mobile USA will launch high-speed LTE service sometime next year, but noted that the most recent quarter was a brutal one for its U.S. mobile business.

“For T-Mobile USA, the past year was characterized by significant challenges, particularly in the fourth quarter, following the market launch of the new Apple iPhone model by the three major national competitors in October,” T-Mobile said. In the fourth quarter alone, T-Mobile USA lost 802,000 contract customers.

Revenue dropped 3.3 percent, to $20.6 billion.

The company is the last major U.S. carrier to announce LTE plans, and it has been questioned whether it would be able to amass enough spectrum to offer the service.

T-Mobile said it will use a combination of spectrum acquired from AT&T, a further $1.4 billion in additional investment, and “refarmed frequencies” to launch LTE service. It also plans to continue its “challenger” brand strategy and more agressively pursue business customers.

T-Mobile’s future has been very much in question ever since its deal to be purchased by AT&T fell apart last year.

At January’s Consumer Electronics Show, T-Mobile had promised it was back as an independent force, but was vague on new details of what its strategy would be. At the time, T-Mobile USA CEO Philip Humm noted that there was no second AT&T deal out there to easily unload the company.

That said, Deutsche Telekom did get some hefty concessions from AT&T when the deal collapsed, including billions in cash, roaming agreements and wireless spectrum.

Humm promised more details on a revised strategy would be coming shortly.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120222/t-mobile-usa-to-launch-lte-in-2013/feed/ 0 More on Windows on ARM: Highlights From Sinofsky's 8,600-Word Opus http://allthingsd.com/20120209/more-on-windows-on-arm-highlights-from-sinofskys-8600-word-opus/ http://allthingsd.com/20120209/more-on-windows-on-arm-highlights-from-sinofskys-8600-word-opus/#comments Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:27:22 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=173174 We’ve already covered the highlights of Microsoft’s Windows-on-ARM news Thursday, namely that it will have a desktop mode, but only for Office, Internet Explorer and Windows itself.

However, there are some other interesting nuggets amid Steven Sinofsky’s epic blog post, which just posted.

There won’t be an “off” button for Windows-on-ARM (WOA), nor will there be various sleep modes.

One of the new aspects of WOA you will notice is that you don’t turn off a WOA PC. WOA PCs will not have the traditional hibernate and sleep options with which we are familiar. Instead, WOA PCs always operate in the newly designed Connected Standby power mode, similar to the way you use a mobile phone today. When the screen is on, you have access to the full power and capabilities of the WOA PC. When the screen goes dark (by pressing the power button or timer), the PC enters a new, very low-power mode that enables the battery to last for weeks.

Microsoft wants a say in how the Windows-on-ARM hardware works, much as it does with Windows Phone.

To those familiar with the Windows Phone 7 approach, the chassis specification, WOA shares some of those elements. The specifications being implemented for WOA allow for more diversity across many dimensions, combined with the same commitment to engineering and product excellence—all while running the same OS binaries across WOA PCs.

In order to test Windows-on-ARM, Microsoft first had to do so on phones, since no ARM tablets yet existed.

Early in the development of WOA, the only hardware we had were existing ARM devices such as phones (ARM tablets didn’t yet exist). We just thought you would enjoy a few fairly early photos I captured of debug WOA all loaded in RAM (unretouched). Note: This is not a product plan or even a hint at a product.

Sinofsky defends Microsoft’s decision not to let more existing Windows programs run in the Windows desktop.

If we enabled the broad porting of existing code we would fail to deliver on our commitment to longer battery life, predictable performance, and especially a reliable experience over time. The conventions used by today’s Windows apps do not necessarily provide this, whether it is background processes, polling loops, timers, system hooks, startup programs, registry changes, kernel mode code, admin rights, unsigned drivers, add-ins, or a host of other common techniques.

Microsoft is making some test Windows-on-ARM machines available to developers, but they don’t give much of an idea what real ARM-based Windows devices will look like.

To run this release, a low volume of test PCs specifically designed for WOA will be made available starting around the next Windows 8 milestone. These devices are for developers and hardware partners, and do not represent consumer form factors, by any stretch of the imagination. They have diagnostic tools and ports. They are designed to be opened and debugged. They do not have the final components or firmware (or power or thermal management) that a commercially available device will use. They are made of low-cost plastic. You might have seen devices similar to these on display at CES or demonstrated there, and all of our previous demonstrations have used some form of these test PCs. These PCs do represent WOA and the experience—but they no more represent the final experience than does the current state of x86/64 Windows 8. They will be running the same branch of Windows that will be made available to x86/64 testers at our forthcoming development milestone.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120209/more-on-windows-on-arm-highlights-from-sinofskys-8600-word-opus/feed/ 0 EU Opens Antitrust Probe Against Samsung Over Patents http://allthingsd.com/20120131/eu-opens-antitrust-probe-against-samsung-over-patents/ http://allthingsd.com/20120131/eu-opens-antitrust-probe-against-samsung-over-patents/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:00:01 +0000 Frances Robinson http://allthingsd.com/?p=169229 The European Commission has opened a formal investigation into technology giant Samsung Electronics to see whether it is using specially protected patents, known as “standards-essential,” to distort the market for mobile devices such as phones and tablets in Europe.

The case hinges on standards-essential patents, patents which cover an area that is crucial to compliance with an industry standard, such as 3G or Wi-Fi.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120131/eu-opens-antitrust-probe-against-samsung-over-patents/feed/ 0 China's ZTE Quietly Becoming a Force in Global, U.S. Smartphone Markets http://allthingsd.com/20120118/chinas-zte-quietly-becoming-a-force-in-global-u-s-smartphone-market/ http://allthingsd.com/20120118/chinas-zte-quietly-becoming-a-force-in-global-u-s-smartphone-market/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:00:25 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=164143

While most of the world’s largest cellphone makers are household names, there’s a pretty good chance that you have never heard of the company at No. 4 on the list.

In part, that’s because ZTE is best known for the phones it sells in China, its home market. In recent years, though, ZTE has begun to make inroads in the U.S. Its progress, however, has been largely invisible to consumers.

ZTE’s phones and hotspots tend to bear the brand of the carriers selling them, rather than its own, but the company said that, in time, it expects to see its name out there more.

“We understand the U.S. market is primarily a market driven by the carriers,” ZTE U.S. CEO Lixin Cheng said in an interview at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show. “Compared with some of our competitors, we are more willing to customize our product.”

In 2011, the company debuted a number of new products, including the Chorus phone for Cricket, and the Android-based Avail smartphone for AT&T.

So far this year, ZTE has introduced just one product — a hotspot for Verizon. In the coming months, though, ZTE plans a number of products for the U.S., including several for fast new LTE data networks.

“We will launch an LTE smartphone, tablet and mobile hotspot, and other data products in the United States,” Cheng said. “That’s our strategy this year.”

The company also plans to support both Android and Windows Phone smartphones, with plans on tap to launch a Microsoft-powered smartphone in the U.S. this year.

“We will make sure we have a wide competence in-house to support both operating systems,” said Cheng, who noted that Microsoft is a key partner for his company for its current “Mango” version of Windows Phone, as well as for its upcoming “Tango” low-end effort. ZTE is also interested in what Microsoft has in store with Windows 8.

ZTE began life in 1998 as an effort to bring telephony to more of rural China.

Cheng said the company sees a similar opportunity in the U.S., where smartphones are still either pricey or tied to expensive contracts.

As has been a challenge for fellow Chinese networking-device maker Huawei, some have raised questions over whether ZTE’s products — particularly networking gear — pose security risks.

Cheng rebuffs such concerns, noting that the company is publicly traded, with a largely independent board. And as for the security of its networks, Cheng notes that ZTE is already the key infrastructure provider behind Gogo’s inflight Wi-Fi.

“Our company’s values (are) very comparable with America’s values,” he said.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120118/chinas-zte-quietly-becoming-a-force-in-global-u-s-smartphone-market/feed/ 0 Intel Shows Just How It Plans to Get Into Phones (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120110/intel-shows-just-how-it-plans-to-get-into-phones-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120110/intel-shows-just-how-it-plans-to-get-into-phones-video/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:00:34 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=162455 For years, Intel has talked about using its chips to power smartphones. Now it actually has something in its hands.

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Intel is showing a working reference design that it is offering to any phone maker that wants to use its chips. The phone itself packs a 1.6GHz single-core Atom chip along with an array of sensors and radios.

“The sample platform we have is fully buzzword compliant,” General Manager Mike Bell said in an interview.

The company has been testing thousands of phones internally and says the performance is top of class, with battery life at least as good as most Android devices.

“We are not the best at power, but we are definitely very, very competitive,” Bell said.

Compatibility is another issue that Bell said he is asked about a lot. Nearly all Java-based Android apps should run, as well as a good number of those designed specifically for chips based on cores from rival ARM.

“We think that gets rid of the last argument people have,” Bell said.

Of course, Intel faces plenty of competition in the phone chip space, including existing Android chip providers Qualcomm, Nvidia, Texas Instruments and other challengers, such as Broadcom.

Intel is announcing two phone customers running its chips — a Lenovo phone for China slated to be released in the first half of the year and a multi-year, multi-device alliance with Motorola Mobility that will begin with a phone in the second half of the year.

Although Intel announced only the two customers, Bell indicated more names will be coming soon. (Think next month’s Mobile World Congress for an update.)

“You can imagine our business is all about scale,” he said, declining to say how many phone designs are being built around its chips, or how many customers it has.

In a roundtable with reporters, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha said he was attracted to the chipmaker by both its roadmap and its approach, which focuses as much on running multiple instructions on a single chip core as it does on packing in as many cores as possible.

“What they have done is multithreading vs. multicore,” Jha said, noting there is a big debate in computer science as to which is better. Jha said that, along with other innovations like three-dimensional transistors, this will be important as the laws of physics prevent rapid performance gains just by shrinking the size of transistors.

Intel has focused its phone efforts entirely on Android for now, noting that it believes it has more people working on Android than Google does.


[ See post to watch video ]

MORE CES NEWS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120110/intel-shows-just-how-it-plans-to-get-into-phones-video/feed/ 0 One Start-Up's Adventure in Figuring Out the Price of a Used Chair http://allthingsd.com/20111228/one-start-ups-adventure-in-figuring-out-the-price-of-a-used-chair/ http://allthingsd.com/20111228/one-start-ups-adventure-in-figuring-out-the-price-of-a-used-chair/#comments Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:00:25 +0000 Tricia Duryee http://allthingsd.com/?p=157506 Priceonomics, a small company that aspires to be the Kelley Blue Book for everything, tells the tale of how it sold four used Aeron chairs to another tech start-up, for a profit of $300.

The Priceonomics Web site, which officially launched on Dec. 21, is aimed at helping sellers and buyers determine the best price for used bikes, cars, phones, TVs and other items, so no one gets ripped off.

But rather than explaining what it does in a press release, Priceonomics wrote an entertaining blog post, entitled “Adventures in Aeron Chair Arbitrage,” detailing its experiments with selling the expensive Herman Miller office furniture in San Francisco.

Trials included finding buyers among its start-up incubator classmates, finding the chairs on Craigslist, borrowing a girlfriend’s car to get them, negotiating a lower price, lugging the chairs back to the office, and then almost losing the sale in the end, when the seller’s $1,800 check didn’t go through.

Priceonomics concludes that a business based on hauling used furniture around won’t scale but that there is a need for a centralized location for pricing information.

From its blog post:

“It’s unlikely Priceonomics could build a massively successful business arbitraging used goods if we have to take possession of them. However, it was clear that having our price guides were really helpful for identifying what were the good deals on Craigslist and how much to pay for them. So for now, we’ll just stick to building better price guides to help other people buy things on Craiglist, eBay, and other emerging marketplaces like Zaarly and TaskRabbit.”

Priceonomics may be on to something here.

Not too long ago, one way to determine the fair value of an item on the Internet was through an online auction. EBay became wildly popular as an easy way for total strangers to agree on a price for an item. More recently, auctions have become less relevant, and even eBay is decreasing the alliance of used items on its site.

That’s due in large part to today’s free flow of information on the Internet, which makes pricing more transparent. After all, you can just Google it.

Still, determining the price of an item can be time-consuming. To get a good sense of the fair value, you have to cross-check prices on a handful of sites — if not a dozen.

Priceonomics’ price guide promises to help users easily find out if they are getting a good deal, by comparing items across eBay, Craigslist and even full-priced retailers that might be offering a deal.

So, how much is a second-hand Aeron chair worth?

In the end, Priceonomics says, the chairs resell for $400 to $600 in San Francisco. The company was able to acquire four, for $375 each; it then turned around and unloaded them for $1,800, representing a $300 profit.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111228/one-start-ups-adventure-in-figuring-out-the-price-of-a-used-chair/feed/ 0 Motorola Mobility Shareholders Approve Acquisition by Google http://allthingsd.com/20111117/motorola-mobility-shareholders-approve-acquisition-by-google-regulatory-approval-last-hurdle/ http://allthingsd.com/20111117/motorola-mobility-shareholders-approve-acquisition-by-google-regulatory-approval-last-hurdle/#comments Fri, 18 Nov 2011 01:38:06 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=145494 Motorola Mobility said late on Thursday that 99 percent of shares, voting at a special meeting earlier in the day, were in favor of the company’s deal to be acquired by Google.

The company said it is working quickly to complete the deal but, given regulatory filings and other approvals still needed, it will probably be early 2012 before the deal can close. Motorola had said earlier that the deal should close late this year or early next year.

Google is paying $40 per share, or a total of $12.5 billion, for the company.

“We are pleased and gratified by the strong support we have received from our stockholders, with more than 99 percent of the voting shares voting in support of the transaction,” CEO Sanjay Jha said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Google to realize the significant value this combination will bring to our stockholders and all the new opportunities it will provide our dedicated employees, customers, and partners.”

Last month, the company said in a filing that it was cutting 5 percent of its workforce.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111117/motorola-mobility-shareholders-approve-acquisition-by-google-regulatory-approval-last-hurdle/feed/ 0 Ballmer Didn't Necessarily Say Full Windows Is Coming to Phones, but Might It? http://allthingsd.com/20111115/ballmer-didnt-necessarily-say-full-windows-is-coming-to-phones-but-might-it/ http://allthingsd.com/20111115/ballmer-didnt-necessarily-say-full-windows-is-coming-to-phones-but-might-it/#comments Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:11:03 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=144369 Much is being made over Steve Ballmer’s statements Tuesday at Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting, which some have taken to indicate that Microsoft plans to bring Windows 8 to the phone.

While answering a question about whether or not we are in a post-PC era, Microsoft’s CEO insisted that Windows would continue to be at the center of things.

“We are in the Windows era,” Ballmer said. “We were, we are and we always will be. That’s kind of what we get paid to do.”

Here’s where things get a little tricky. During the next part, Ballmer talked about several initiatives that the company has going on around Windows and makes some comments that at least one reporter took to mean that Windows 8 is coming to the phone.

Here’s what Ballmer said (I’ve used ellipses to mark where there are brief pauses):

“We’ve got broad Windows initiatives … driving Windows down to the phone … with Windows 8 … you’ll see incredible new form factors powered by Windows from tablets, small, large, pens, smaller, bigger, room-size displays. We are in an era in which the range of smart devices is continuing to expand. That’s a fantastic thing for Microsoft. That is a real opportunity.”

So the question is, in which phrase was he referring to Windows 8? From listening to the audio — I wasn’t in the room — it’s tough to tell whether the Windows 8 piece is part of the sentence about the phone or part of the next one. (I recommend listening to it for yourself. It’s at about 47:30 into the webcast, which is available from Microsoft’s investor relations site.)

But here’s what we do know. Microsoft is moving its phone and desktop operating systems closer together.

Things are furthest along in the look and feel department, where Windows 8’s new look bears a striking resemblance to Windows Phone 7. The Metro look that pervades the phone operating system is at the heart of the new start menu for Windows 8 that Microsoft first showed off at our D9 conference in June.

What has yet to happen is the opportunity for developers to write code once and have it run seamlessly on phones, PCs and tablets. Likewise, consumers can’t buy software that runs on all three devices.

Microsoft has made moves to separate the tools developers use to write their programs from the underlying hardware, be it PCs or phones. With Windows Phone, developers are writing their applications in either Silverlight or XNA — the tools first used to develop for the Xbox. With new-style Windows 8 apps, developers are writing in various Web languages, including HTML5 and Javascript. Microsoft is using this approach, among other things, to expand Windows to run on both traditional PC processors and those using the ARM core found in smartphones and tablets.

That leaves the door open for Redmond to make any number of changes, including moving the phone and PC to a more common architecture, without necessarily forcing developers to do another rewrite.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111115/ballmer-didnt-necessarily-say-full-windows-is-coming-to-phones-but-might-it/feed/ 0 HP Has Meeting to Say It Still Doesn't Know What to Do With webOS http://allthingsd.com/20111108/hp-has-meeting-to-say-it-still-doesnt-know-what-to-do-with-webos/ http://allthingsd.com/20111108/hp-has-meeting-to-say-it-still-doesnt-know-what-to-do-with-webos/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 01:00:42 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=142026 It looks like employees of the webOS unit are in for another season of “The Waiting Game.”

Hewlett-Packard called an all-hands meeting Tuesday to tell the unit’s workers that it still doesn’t know what it is going to do with webOS, a source told AllThingsD.

According to The Verge, HP CEO Meg Whitman told employees that a decision is still some three to four weeks away.

“It’s really important to me to make the right decision, not the fast decision,” Whitman said, according to The Verge. “If HP decides to do this (keep webOS), we’re going to do it in a very significant way, over a multiyear period.”

An HP representative told AllThingsD the company had nothing to announce.

As we’ve noted, the company doesn’t really have any easy answers. Most of the would-be buyers have said privately or publicly (and presumably to HP, as well) that they are not interested. The OS, though praised for its interface, has suffered from neglect under current and past management, while rivals like Apple, Google and even Microsoft are moving full speed ahead.

Previous CEO Léo Apotheker had made the call to ax the webOS hardware, pursue strategic alternatives for the software and sell the PC business. Last month, Whitman said HP would keep the PC business, but also said the company had yet to finalize its plans for webOS.

HP acquired the unit with its billion-dollar-plus acquisition of Palm and at one point talked of putting the OS on every PC and on many of the printers it sells, not to mention cellphones and tablets.

I’m checking in with sources, and hope to have a bit more soon, though clearly there isn’t much new to say here.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111108/hp-has-meeting-to-say-it-still-doesnt-know-what-to-do-with-webos/feed/ 0 Trial in Oracle-Google Lawsuit Over Android Delayed http://allthingsd.com/20111027/trial-in-oracle-google-lawsuit-over-android-delayed/ http://allthingsd.com/20111027/trial-in-oracle-google-lawsuit-over-android-delayed/#comments Thu, 27 Oct 2011 12:45:20 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://allthingsd.com/?p=137236 The judge overseeing the Google-Oracle patent infringement lawsuit says the trial in the case won’t happen this year.

In a filing yesterday (see below), Judge William Alsup proposed a trial plan to lawyers for both sides, stating that the trial “will not be in 2011.” Alsup said he expects a long trial that will likely be considered a hardship by people selected to sit on the jury. “Although the trial will not be in 2011, the Court needs some lead time to pre-clear a venire for hardship for a long trial,” Alsup wrote in the filing. The word “venire” refers to the jury selection process. Alsup didn’t hint when he expects the trial to begin.

Court-mandated face-to-face talks between Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and Google CEO Larry Page failed last month. The trial had been expected sometime this month.

Oracle has claimed that Google owes it more than $6 billion for parts of its Java software that were used in the Android mobile operating system, which Oracle took over after it acquired Sun Microsystems last year. Google has argued that Oracle’s claims for damages are flawed.

Goog Orcl Delay

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111027/trial-in-oracle-google-lawsuit-over-android-delayed/feed/ 0 Kazuo Hirai: Highlights From AsiaD (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20111020/kazuo-hirai-highlights-from-asiad-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20111020/kazuo-hirai-highlights-from-asiad-video/#comments Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:30:14 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=135183 With the PlayStation, Sony once dominated the console gaming market. With the Trinitron and the Walkman, it did the same to the TV and portable music player markets. These days, however, it’s struggling to hold its own in all three, competing with a host of formidable new rivals.

As the guy who’s responsible for every single Sony product a consumer can pick up, Kazuo Hirai, the company’s executive deputy president, talked during a wide-ranging interview at AsiaD today about the company’s new tablets, game players and efforts to regain market share. He would not, however, talk about whether Sony is interested in buying out Ericsson in its Sony Ericsson joint venture. Below, video highlights of the session:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111020/kazuo-hirai-highlights-from-asiad-video/feed/ 0 Sony's Kazuo Hirai on 3-D, Phones and Tablets, at AsiaD http://allthingsd.com/20111020/kazuo-hirai-asia/ http://allthingsd.com/20111020/kazuo-hirai-asia/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 23:51:37 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=133904 Sony, a pioneer in consumer electronics, is looking to regain lost ground with its latest generation of tablets and game players.

One of the key players in that effort is Kazuo Hirai, a longtime game unit executive who is now widely seen as second in command of the entire company behind CEO Howard Stringer.

The company continues to have challenges, though, with its next-generation Vita game player delayed until next year and its first Android tablets just now making their way into the global market.

8:07 am: Just getting started here on the final day of AsiaD.

On his role: If it is a product that is being picked up by a consumer and it’s got the Sony name on it, it’s under my name.

8:09 am: Talking about the TV business.

Hirai says the jury is still out on 3-D, but there is a chicken-and-egg problem.

“It really is dependent on how much good content there is.”

One of the driving factors is probably going to be gaming, he said, because it appeals to a younger set. And, because it is not tied to live content, it is easier to tweak 3-D to make it a good experience.

“Gamers are willing to try new things.”

8:12 am: What about Internet-connected TVs? Those also haven’t taken off all that well, Walt says.

Hirai: “I think that it is a function of several things. Again, it’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg.”

8:16 am: On Google TV and Apple TV: Everyone is looking for a prominent space in the living room.

“It’s a very competitive market,” Hirai said.

If it is a fight for the living room, the TV is a natural way to get into that space.

Game consoles are another way, as Sony has done with PlayStation 3.

“That’s another way to make sure we have a place in the living room.”

8:20 am: Walt: Where do things stand with the competition with Xbox?

Hirai: We have a much larger install base in Japan. We were neck and neck in Europe.

In the U.S., though, Xbox has a larger install base.

Hirai says they expect a 10-year lifespan for the PS3, and see it eventually having a greater install base than any console.

8:21 am: What about the impact on handheld gaming of Apple and smartphone apps? How much of a challenge is that to the traditional structure of gaming?

Hirai: Whether we are talking about iPods, iPads or any Android, they’ve had an impact on the traditional videogame business, no question about it.

Not all negative impact, though. It has also introduced new customers to gaming.

Hirai notes that Sony is bringing PlayStation games to Android, and is now opening it up to some other PlayStation developers.

As much as those casual games are fun to play, they’re not the same as a dedicated player like Sony’s forthcoming PlayStation Vita portable videogame device. It’s coming to Japan in December, and to the rest of the world early next year, Hirai said.

It’s optimized for gaming with physical buttons, Hirai said, and allows for input on the back. It can also play HD movies and do other things.

Walt tries putting it in his pocket. Hirai quips that Walt has a stash of devices backstage. “They should have a metal detector.”

It has a 3G card for cellular connectivity (for data). In the U.S., it will cost $299 for the 3G model and $249 for the Wi-Fi-only model.

Walt: Who is the target market?

Hirai: Same people who have bought PSP and PlayStation 3, as well as those who have gotten into gaming from phones and tablets and iPod touch devices.

“If we can convert even a small percentage of those players … then we have also gained.”

8:31 am: Hirai notes that the company just started preorders in Japan, and there were people lining up at stores just to order one.

8:31 am: On to phones — is Sony interested in buying out Ericsson in its Sony Ericsson joint venture?

Hirai: I’m not going to comment on the speculation. After April, when Sony made its latest reorganization, one of the things I’ve done with Sony’s CEO and Sony Ericsson’s CEO is recognize that Sony Ericsson is an important part of Sony’s overall strategy, and that the two are in lockstep, whether it is a joint venture or not. That’s one of the things we are embarking on.

“Those are the kinds of things we need to work on to make sure it is a seamless experience.”

8:38 am: Why did you sell your camera sensors to Apple?

Hirai: Can you really define who your competitors are, these days?

We sell to Apple. We buy from Samsung. We sell to Samsung.

8:42 am: Walt: You are not in the top tier of smartphones.

Hirai: In certain regions, you are right.

Walt: So, are you going to buy out Ericsson in the cellphone space?

Again, Hirai says he won’t comment on speculation. The most important thing is that we are able to work a lot closer with the folks at Sony Ericsson.

Hirai is now showing Sony’s clamshell Android tablet — the Tablet P. Walt notes that when you open it up, you have a tablet with a big black bar in the middle.

Sony also has the slate-shaped Tablet S, which acts as a remote control, and which is already on sale in most markets.

8:48 am: Q&A: What is Sony doing to reinvigorate the videogame business?

Hirai notes that this question comes up every time the industry is in midcycle, and there are lots of sequels.

When we launch PlayStation Vita, we will have new titles.

Next question is on why there are only three PlayStation-certified Android devices — the Xperia Play phone and Sony’s two tablets. Will this expand to non-Sony devices?

Hirai: This is not a case where we want to keep it in the Sony family. We are in discussions with non-Sony makers. We’ll make the announcements as the time comes to go public. “This is not just for Sony devices.”

8:52 am: On cameras, Hirai said that there are continued innovations coming in the point-and-shoot business, despite the rise of camera phones.

“Stay tuned.”

Walt: Are you actually optimistic about that business?

Hirai: “It’s not a growing business. I get that. The numbers speak for themselves.”

8:54 am: Last question, from Joanna Stern of the Verge. What are Sony’s plans to make all the devices work better together? Where are you guys going with that? It seems like that is a software challenge — an area where you have struggled.

Hirai: The point you made is a very good one. He notes there is a new group looking at cross-device strategy, particularly among networked devices.

“I don’t know about clock radios.”

Unfortunately, because this is a hardware business, I’d like to think we can change everything overnight, but we can’t.

Kazuo Hirai Session Photos

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20111020/kazuo-hirai-asia/feed/ 0 Nokia Aims Software At Low-End Phones http://allthingsd.com/20110929/nokia-aims-software-at-low-end-phones/ http://allthingsd.com/20110929/nokia-aims-software-at-low-end-phones/#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:00:53 +0000 Christopher Lawton http://allthingsd.com/?p=126282 Nokia Corp., having abandoned its ambition to develop a high-end operating system, is shifting its programming efforts toward creating software for its low-end phones, according to people familiar with the matter.

The project is a Linux-based operating system code-named Meltemi, the Greek word for dry summer winds that blow across the Aegean Sea from the north. It is being led by Mary McDowell, the handset maker’s executive vice president in charge of mobile phones, these people say.

A spokesman for Nokia, Doug Dawson, declined to comment on the Finland-based company’s future products or technologies.

Nokia’s attempt to build its own software is another sign that the value in the technology industry is shifting from hardware to software. In the past year, Google Inc.’s Android software has dominated the midrange smartphone market while Apple Inc.’s iPhone, which runs Apple’s iOS software, has captured the high end.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20110929/nokia-aims-software-at-low-end-phones/feed/ 0 Avaya Plans to Go Public http://allthingsd.com/20110607/avaya-plans-to-go-public/ http://allthingsd.com/20110607/avaya-plans-to-go-public/#comments Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:27:11 +0000 Dana Cimilluca and Anupreeta Das http://allthingsd.com/?p=83835 Avaya Inc., a big maker of phones and other telecommunications gear, plans to file for a $1 billion initial public offering as early as this week, according to people familiar with the matter, making it the latest technology company seeking to tap into a resurgent IPO market.

The offering could value Avaya, which was taken private by buyout firms Silver Lake and TPG Capital in 2007, at $5 billion or more, the people said. The exact numbers–and indeed whether the private-equity firms can pull off the IPO–will depend on market sentiment at the time of the offering. Typically, there is a lag of two months or more between the filing of an IPO and its trading debut.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

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