AllThingsD » Qualcomm http://allthingsd.com Sun, 19 May 2013 03:12:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 Amid Standards Battle, Wireless Power Consortium Gets a New Ally http://allthingsd.com/20130512/amid-standards-battle-wireless-power-consortium-gets-a-new-ally/ http://allthingsd.com/20130512/amid-standards-battle-wireless-power-consortium-gets-a-new-ally/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:10 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=320459 The battle over wireless charging is heating up.

Power By Proxi Smartphone solution-1

With at least three different standards groups offering different ways to cut the cord, the early market leader is looking to boost its standing.

The Wireless Power Consortium, backer of the Qi (pronounced “chee”) standard, plans to announce on Monday that it has picked up PowerbyProxi as a member. Though not well known outside the charging world, PowerbyProxi has technology that allows for charging of multiple devices on one pad, and for more flexibility in how the device is placed.

Today’s Qi products have been limited on both fronts — key drawbacks seized on by its rival groups. Assuming that it can prove its technology to be compatible with the group’s existing products, PowerbyProxi could help evolve the Qi standard to be more flexible.

“We think that PowerbyProxi’s tech and expertise makes it possible to further innovate the Qi chargers and Qi phones to offer broader and wider freedom of positioning,” said Menno Treffers, head of the Wireless Power Consortium.

That’s important, because while Qi has been used in recent products such as the Nokia Lumia 920 and LG Optimus G and is an option on various new cars, some early backers of the standard have been looking at two alternate approaches. One is backed by the Power Matters Alliance, and the other by the Alliance for Wireless Power. The PMA, in particular, has interest from Starbucks, AT&T and Google, with HTC, Samsung and LG also joining last month.

The A4WP, meanwhile, is a bit further out, but has backing from Samsung and Qualcomm, among others.

Treffers said that the group is confident that its early adoption in products will win out, noting that what enabled Wi-Fi to win over other approaches was its adoption in products.

“We think the same thing will happen with wireless power,” Treffers said.

For its part, PowerbyProxi had been avoiding siding with any of the groups, but decided it could no longer afford to sit on the sidelines.

“What we don’t need is a lot of battle of technologies,” said PowerbyProxi VP Tony Francesca. “The market won’t happen for any of us.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130512/amid-standards-battle-wireless-power-consortium-gets-a-new-ally/feed/ 0 Internet Service on Planes: FCC to Consider Using Satellite Airwaves http://allthingsd.com/20130509/internet-service-on-planes-fcc-to-consider-using-satellite-airwaves/ http://allthingsd.com/20130509/internet-service-on-planes-fcc-to-consider-using-satellite-airwaves/#comments Thu, 09 May 2013 16:09:58 +0000 Danny Yadron http://allthingsd.com/?p=319829 In-flight Internet speeds could rival those on the ground under a proposal expected to move forward on Thursday.

U.S. airlines have been rolling out Internet service on flights for several years. But the service, which typically uses Earth-based antennas, is often too slow for today’s data-guzzling Web apps.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130509/internet-service-on-planes-fcc-to-consider-using-satellite-airwaves/feed/ 0 Samsung Galaxy S4 Costs $237 to Build, Teardown Analysis Shows http://allthingsd.com/20130508/samsung-galaxy-s4-costs-237-to-build-teardown-analysis-shows/ http://allthingsd.com/20130508/samsung-galaxy-s4-costs-237-to-build-teardown-analysis-shows/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 21:28:12 +0000 Arik Hesseldahl http://allthingsd.com/?p=319583 samsungs4_exploded-featureA look inside Samung’s new high-profile smartphone, the Galaxy S4, shows that the South Korean electronics giant is using numerous components produced by its various internally owned subsidiaries.

A teardown analysis conducted by the market research firm IHS, due to be released tomorrow, has pegged Samsung’s cost of materials and manufacturing to produce the U.S. version of the 32 gigabyte model of the S4 at slightly above $237 per unit. Without a contract subsidy, the entry-level 16GB version of the phone costs $639 when sold by AT&T Wireless.

The cost is somewhat higher than that of Apple’s iPhone 5, the base model of which costs $205 to build for a 16GB version, according to an IHS analysis conducted last fall. It’s also well above the cost of Nokia’s Lumia 900, which costs $209 to build, IHS found at the time.

The S4 cost is not far below the cost of Samsung’s larger Galaxy Note tablet, the cost of which IHS estimated last year to be $270.

Most phone manufacturers source their components from many different suppliers. But Samsung, a large, diversified manufacturer of many different kinds of electronic components, has used its significant capabilities to supply itself with many of the key parts inside most versions of the S4 phone sold around the world.

“Samsung’s strength is this ability to in-source to itself,” IHS analyst Vincent Leung said in an interview. “They just keep adding to the list of components that they can supply to themselves.”

One key component that Samsung did not supply to itself for versions of the phone being sold in the U.S. was the main applications processor. U.S. versions of the phone contain a Snapdragon processor from Qualcomm, which contributes $20 to the overall cost.

Versions of the phone sold in Korea and other markets around the world contain a Samsung-made chip called the Exynos 5 Octa that costs $28. Samsung is known to be manufacturing at least four variations of the phone for different market geographies around the world, including at least two being sold in the U.S., one going to AT&T and T-Mobile, and another going to Verizon Wireless and Sprint, said Andrew Rassweiler, another IHS analyst.

“Samsung is demonstrating its ability to suit the tastes of carriers in different regions of the world,” Rassweiler said. “It comes down to what the market is willing to spend on the features offered.”

The fact that Samsung used the Qualcomm-made chip is a testament to the U.S. chipmaker’s prowess. “Even with all the vertical integration it’s doing, it’s not like Samsung has given up on Qualcomm,” Rassweiler said.

One interesting difference between the U.S. and Korean versions resulted from the difference in the choice of processor. U.S. versions of the phone contain an image-processing chip made by Japan’s Fujitsu that added $1.50 to the total cost. Leung says that in the Korean versions, some of the image processing is handed off to Samsung’s Exynos chip.

Samsung also supplied the flash memory used to store data on the device. IHS estimates that 16GB of memory added $28 to the cost of the device.

The Korean giant also supplied itself with a display and touchscreen parts, which added $75 to the cost of components. The combined display package also includes Gorilla Glass, a strong glass material made by U.S.-based Corning.

Samsung is also thought to have supplied itself with several unlabeled components, including the camera module and some wireless baseband chips.

A few non-Samsung suppliers include Broadcom, which provided Bluetooth and Wi-Fi chips; Maxim, which provided a power-management chip; and Triquint Semiconductor, which provided some wireless chips.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130508/samsung-galaxy-s4-costs-237-to-build-teardown-analysis-shows/feed/ 0 Connecting Things to the Internet Does Not an Internet of Things Make http://allthingsd.com/20130508/connecting-things-to-the-internet-does-not-an-internet-of-things-make/ http://allthingsd.com/20130508/connecting-things-to-the-internet-does-not-an-internet-of-things-make/#comments Wed, 08 May 2013 16:48:50 +0000 Liat Ben-Zur http://allthingsd.com/?p=318836
iot380

Image copyright Red_Spruce

The Internet of Things has continued to emerge as a trend this year within the consumer electronics sector. Everyone’s trying to get into the game, with connected devices now ranging from dog collars to toasters to sneakers, all getting connected to “the cloud.”

This is an exciting trend for consumer electronics in general, but we as an industry need to take a step back and realize that true connectivity extends beyond just the cloud.

Just because something is connected to the Internet, doesn’t mean it’s truly part of an Internet of Things (or as we like to call it at Qualcomm, the “Internet of Everything”). What’s unique about the Internet is its openness — the ability for one website to link to any other and leverage information in novel ways. Remember when the word “mashup” was all the rage in Web talk? Why was that? Because you just could. You could have one website leverage data and APIs from another website and mash that up to deliver a completely new, cool Web service, a la LivePlasma.com, Pageflakes.com, HousingMaps.com, etc.

So what’s the problem? Aren’t all these hot new connected IoT devices connected up to the cloud? Well, that’s the problem. We are oversimplifying the landscape. Each specific device seems to connect to its particular cloud service. There isn’t really one cloud. Every manufacturer has their own cloud service, and often these clouds are closed, proprietary environments. Devices that live in their own siloed cloud cannot speak to one another, meaning they cannot benefit from the data, context or control of nearby IoT devices. That is why we currently need a separate app to control — and interface with — each connected thing we buy. This may be acceptable in the near term, but it cannot scale.

And therein lies the rub. The Internet of Everything should be the realization of devices becoming smarter from sharing context and information from one another. It should bring continuous computing to fruition, whereby information that matters to you can follow you regardless of the physical devices available. The Internet of Everything should enable a step function in UI design as nearby devices, appliances, sensors and intelligent software replace the need for human input. Smart application developers have already started using this type of real world physical input to automatically fill in information so that end users don’t have to (think GPS). Now imagine when the intelligence and sensing can start to come from beyond the phone itself — when information from your appliances, car or your garage door opener can provide this “contextual intelligence.”

To be fair, the Internet of Everything is not just about collecting data from other devices. It’s also about sharing control across devices. Today, most people think this simply means controlling a refrigerator or lights from a smartphone app. But that is just the beginning. Imagine if simple, low-cost devices like toasters can dynamically discover nearby devices that have advanced UIs (such as smartphones, TVs, computers and tablets). Suddenly, cheap appliances can offer beautiful, sophisticated interfaces. There is also a trend toward the ability to shift control from one device to another as you move through your day. Why can’t my SMS messages follow me around different screens in my home, even when my mobile phone is quietly tucked away in my purse?

And while we’re at it, let’s discuss the importance of connectivity itself in an Internet of Everything world. There is no denying that everything is getting connected. Whether it’s via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, ZWave, Ethernet, Powerline or 3G, it’s happening. But regardless of the underlying connectivity technology, ideally all of these devices should be able to discover, connect and talk to one another. The idea of each device connecting only to its own cloud service is worrisome. What happens if that particular cloud service goes down? What happens if external access to the Internet goes down? Does that mean that these smart devices lose all of their “smarts”? What about privacy? What if I want some devices to keep the data they collect locally on my personal network and not share it externally on the Internet? For example, do I really want my door locks or garage door opener to track every time I come in and out of my home and then send that up to “the cloud?”

These are the complexities often overlooked in many of the initial IoT devices today. But these complexities must and will be addressed, as the Internet of Everything scales and evolves.

Indeed, this vision requires openness and flexibility. It requires the ability to work across heterogeneous networks and heterogeneous devices. It requires the ability for devices to function and add value even when there is no Internet connectivity. The good news is that this future is not far away. And I can’t wait. Because frankly, with every year that goes by, I can use smarter things around me to make up for the intelligence I seem to be losing.

Liat Ben-Zur is a senior director of product management at Qualcomm. She can be found on Twitter at @liatbenzur.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130508/connecting-things-to-the-internet-does-not-an-internet-of-things-make/feed/ 0 Jon Rubinstein Joins Board of Qualcomm, as Mobile Chipmaker Ups Its Silicon Valley Cred http://allthingsd.com/20130506/exclusive-jon-rubinstein-joins-board-of-qualcomm-as-mobile-chipmaker-ups-its-silicon-valley-cred/ http://allthingsd.com/20130506/exclusive-jon-rubinstein-joins-board-of-qualcomm-as-mobile-chipmaker-ups-its-silicon-valley-cred/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 20:05:12 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=318763 ruby-380x253

According to sources close to the situation, well-known tech exec Jon Rubinstein will be joining the board of Qualcomm, the San Diego-based chipmaker that has gotten a big boost of late for its role in the explosion of mobile devices.

Rubinstein is an interesting and logical choice for Qualcomm, having been a high-profile player for a long time in the mobile space, beginning with his work on the iPod while at Apple. After he left his last job at Hewlett-Packard last year, though, he has been very low-key.

(Update: Qualcomm confirmed the appointment in a press release.)

For Qualcomm, the selection of Rubinstein to join the board is something to watch, as he is the second exec from Silicon Valley to be tapped by the company recently. In March, Qualcomm hired tech investor Laurie Yoler as SVP of business development, making her “responsible for augmenting existing business relationships in Silicon Valley, as well as developing new strategic business opportunities for Qualcomm in the region.”

Rubinstein has even more experience here and is also familiar with a range of mobile efforts over the years, some of which were successful and others not so much, from his work at Apple, Palm and then HP. He is also a board member of Amazon.

Aside from CEO and Chairman Paul Jacobs, Rubinstein — who has degrees in electrical engineering and computer science — will be the most technically experienced director on the 11-person board.

Qualcomm declined to comment.

Here’s a nice primer on Rubinstein by Arik Hesseldahl, in a report on his leaving HP early last year:

Best known for his work on Apple’s iconic iPod music player, Rubinstein left Apple in 2006 and joined Roger McNamee as a partner in the private equity firm Elevation Partners, following its 2007 investments in Palm.

In 2009 he replaced longtime Palm executive Ed Colligan as its CEO, and oversaw a dramatic restructuring of the company’s products, including a significant rebuild of its smartphone operating system. Gone was the legacy PalmOS that had been used in so many popular devices like the Treo that for a time competed seriously against Research In Motion’s BlackBerry.

PalmOS was replaced by WebOS, which first appeared on the Pre smartphone, then later on the Pixi and Veer devices. After HP acquired Palm, WebOS was also used on the abandoned TouchPad tablet, and is now an open-source operating system overseen by HP.

Rubinstein’s departure is no big surprise. Sources said he hadn’t been seen at HP’s offices following the decision by former CEO Léo Apotheker to get out of the business of making WebOS-based hardware. His future plans have been the subject of speculation for some time.

After HP decided to exit the WebOS hardware business, Rubinstein was assigned to a vaguely described “product innovation role” within HP’s Personal Systems Group during a management shakeup last July. It was an unusual move and one made with little explanation at the time. But sources say it was a preface to Rubinstein’s departure, one intended to lessen its PR impact when he finally left. “That ‘innovation’ gig he was given in July was his first step toward the exit,” said one source, a former Palm exec with close ties to Rubinstein.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130506/exclusive-jon-rubinstein-joins-board-of-qualcomm-as-mobile-chipmaker-ups-its-silicon-valley-cred/feed/ 0 Two Views From Samsung About its "Octa" Chip http://allthingsd.com/20130427/two-views-from-samsung-about-its-octa-chip/ http://allthingsd.com/20130427/two-views-from-samsung-about-its-octa-chip/#comments Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:00:00 +0000 Don Clark http://allthingsd.com/?p=316139 At the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Samsung described an unusual eight-brained processor as a major step above competing chips. Now that U.S. buyers will be late to get it, the company is playing down the differences.

So-called “teardown” analyses of the new Samsung Galaxy S 4 smartphone by TechInsights and Chipworks this week confirmed that the chip known as “Octa” has arrived in handsets aimed at Europe and Latin America. But in a model for the high-profile U.S. market, iFixit found a popular chip from Qualcomm in the new flagship phone.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130427/two-views-from-samsung-about-its-octa-chip/feed/ 0 Qualcomm Revenue Rises 24 Percent http://allthingsd.com/20130424/qualcomm-revenue-rises-24-percent/ http://allthingsd.com/20130424/qualcomm-revenue-rises-24-percent/#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:57:51 +0000 Don Clark http://allthingsd.com/?p=315302 Chip maker Qualcomm Inc. continued to benefit from strong demand for mobile devices in its latest quarter, though profit fell 16 percent due to a large one-time gain in the year-earlier period.

The San Diego-based company said revenue jumped 24 percent, and projected a range for revenue growth in the current quarter with a midpoint of nearly 31 percent.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130424/qualcomm-revenue-rises-24-percent/feed/ 0 Sesame Workshop Shows Off Mobile Experiments in Rural India, Augmented Reality http://allthingsd.com/20130416/sesame-workshop-shows-off-mobile-experiments-in-rural-india-augmented-reality/ http://allthingsd.com/20130416/sesame-workshop-shows-off-mobile-experiments-in-rural-india-augmented-reality/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:27:57 +0000 Eric Johnson http://allthingsd.com/?p=311968 EQ7G4126-LCan you tell me how to get to Galli Galli Sim Sim? Not all of India’s kids can, since many don’t have access to a TV, so the official Indian version of “Sesame Street” is expanding its reach with new mobile services that work on all phones.

Sesame Workshop’s Scott Chambers talked about those services at D: Dive Into Mobile today in New York City. The hope is that Sesame will now have a better way to educate children in rural areas, where mobile devices have greater penetration.

Chambers called the Indian mobile outreach program a “successful experiment.”

“The communities are using what they’ve learned just from watching this media,” he said, after showing a short video.

Chambers also demoed an augmented-reality application called Big Bird’s Words. With the app, children can use a phone’s camera to find printed words that Big Bird announces from out of a 500-word vocabulary. In the picture above, Chambers is finding the word “milk” on a label.

The app isn’t commercially available yet, but Sesame Workshop is experimenting with it now in the U.S.

“We look at [mobile] the same way we looked at television as an opportunity back in 1969,” Chambers said. “It’s not just using technology for technology’s sake.”

Check out video from Chambers’s appearance below:


[ See post to watch video ]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130416/sesame-workshop-shows-off-mobile-experiments-in-rural-india-augmented-reality/feed/ 0 HTC First: The Hardware Side to Facebook Home http://allthingsd.com/20130404/htc-first-the-hardware-side-to-facebook-home/ http://allthingsd.com/20130404/htc-first-the-hardware-side-to-facebook-home/#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:41:00 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=309248 While Facebook isn’t building its own phone exactly, it is creating all the tools a hardware maker needs to create such a device.

HTC First Peter Chou

In addition to making Facebook Home available as a software download, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company has crafted a set of tools for phone makers to include Home from the outset.

The company has a list of hardware makers and carriers already interested in doing such devices, including Samsung, Sony, Huawei and Alcatel One Touch.

As we reported more than a year ago, the first partner will be HTC, which is creating a phone to be sold with AT&T. HTC chief Peter Chou appeared onstage on Thursday to show off the aptly named HTC First, which will be the first device to carry Facebook Home as its default interface.

The phone, which will sell for $99.99 and go on sale April 12, will come in red, white, light blue and black. Preorders start today.

AT&T Mobility chief Ralph de la Vega said the HTC First is a canvas on which to show off what Facebook has done.

“It’s simple and it’s elegant,” de la Vega said.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130404/htc-first-the-hardware-side-to-facebook-home/feed/ 0 Facebook Launches Home, Its Android Phone Project http://allthingsd.com/20130404/buffy-has-landed-facebook-launches-its-android-phone-project/ http://allthingsd.com/20130404/buffy-has-landed-facebook-launches-its-android-phone-project/#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:03:09 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=309229 After years of construction, Facebook is at long last revealing its effort to build “a new home” on Android.

zuckerberg at phone event

“Today we are finally going to be talking about that Facebook phone. Or, more accurately, we are going to talk about how you can turn your Android device … into a great social phone,” Mark Zuckerberg said, kicking off the event at company headquarters in Menlo Park. “We think this is the best version of Facebook there is.”

Facebook Home, as the product is known, isn’t a phone, per se, but rather a series of customizations that replaces the look and feel of a standard Android phone with a set of Facebook apps, home screens and messaging experiences.

As we first reported in a series of articles more than a year ago, the project to create a custom Facebook phone on top of Android — code-named Buffy — has been going on for some time.

Facebook has since spent a lot of time noting that it is not building a phone — which is technically true. However, it has built the software guts of one, and it even partnered with HTC to put a hardware face on its the project.

Zuckerberg stressed that what Facebook is doing isn’t building a phone or an operating system, but rather an experience that is a family of apps that becomes your home screen on a standard Android device.

“You don’t need to fork Android to do this,” Zuckerberg said. Facebook Home will be an update on Google Play to the social network’s existing Facebook app. It will be available initially only for phones, with tablet support coming within several months.

Updates to Facebook Home will also come monthly, the company said, arguing that yearly updates such as those made to Android just aren’t frequent enough.

Zuckerberg reiterated why the company is focused on the software rather than a single phone. Zuckerberg said that a great phone might sell 10 million or 20 million units — one percent of Facebook’s total user base.

“We’re not building a phone, and we’re not building an operating system, but we are also building something that is a lot more … than an ordinary app,” he said.

Zuckerberg took aim at the app-centric approach taken by most modern smartphones, saying phones should be about people rather than programs.

Facebook isn’t the only company trying to move away from an app-centric world. Windows Phone, for example, has a People hub that focuses on all the ways that someone connects with a person and their photos and updates.

Apps, of course, are still a part of phones, so an app launcher is just a swipe away.

One particular feature should be more than just an app, Zuckerberg said, and that’s messaging. The company has built a new experience where “Chat Heads” — little pictures of your friends — pop up when a new message comes in.

Beyond the cute head shots, Chat Heads allow messaging to take place in any app, rather than requiring a user to either stop what they are doing or risk ignoring the person seeking their attention.

“It really feels like your friends are always there,” said Joey Flynn, the Facebook designer who created the messaging experience.

Chat Heads work with both text messages and incoming Facebook messages.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130404/buffy-has-landed-facebook-launches-its-android-phone-project/feed/ 0 Major League Baseball Turns to Qualcomm to Improve In-Stadium Coverage http://allthingsd.com/20130404/major-league-baseball-turns-to-qualcomm-to-improve-in-stadium-coverage/ http://allthingsd.com/20130404/major-league-baseball-turns-to-qualcomm-to-improve-in-stadium-coverage/#comments Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:30:19 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=309011 Major League Baseball is announcing on Thursday that it is working with Qualcomm to improve wireless coverage within the league’s ballparks.

Qualcomm+MLB-feature

Over the next two years, an engineering team from the San Diego-based tech company will help the league go stadium by stadium and assess the state of Wi-Fi and cellular coverage and help plan improvements.

“Collaborating with an industry leader such as Qualcomm is a critical step in understanding and executing on the engineering challenges to achieve scalable, reliable in-venue connectivity,” Major League Baseball Advanced Media CTO Joe Inzerillo said in a statement.

Baseball is also working with T-Mobile to modernize, among other things, the phones that connect the bullpens to the dugouts.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130404/major-league-baseball-turns-to-qualcomm-to-improve-in-stadium-coverage/feed/ 0 After FloTV Debacle, Qualcomm Finding New Use for Broadcast Know-How http://allthingsd.com/20130308/after-flotv-debacle-qualcomm-finding-new-use-for-broadcast-know-how/ http://allthingsd.com/20130308/after-flotv-debacle-qualcomm-finding-new-use-for-broadcast-know-how/#comments Fri, 08 Mar 2013 19:32:14 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=301770 When Qualcomm sold its FloTV spectrum to AT&T last year, many assumed that was the end of the chipmaker’s broadcast ambitions.

FloTV

The spectrum sale, for nearly $2 billion, appeared to mark the conclusion of an expensive, painful chapter for the company, in which it tried and failed to build a significant business around delivering mobile television to consumers.

And, while it is happy to be out of that business, Qualcomm thinks it may have a use for some of that broadcast knowledge.

It is now working with a bunch of other wireless heavyweights on a means for cellular networks to automatically broadcast content that is being used by a large number of customers.

The idea has natural appeal. For example, one can assume that when the Super Bowl is on, say, that multiple customers in a single cell tower are going to want to watch it. And if even five customers there are tuning in, it is more efficient to broadcast a high-quality signal than it is to send even a separate low-bandwidth video stream to each device.

“All you notice as a user is the quality goes up,” said Neville Meijers, who once served as a general manager in the Flo business and now is VP of business development for Qualcomm Labs. Meijers said the company has been working to adapt the broadcast technology since it made the decision to shut down the FloTV service.

Broadcast could also be used to deliver software updates, or even to deliver premium content overnight that a consumer could choose to view, or not, the next day.

Of course, the challenge is to create a system that can automatically detect when multiple users want the same content, and automatically and gracefully shift into a broadcast mode. Qualcomm executives, though, say they have demonstrated early progress, and are confident that the technology will find widespread use.

For now, Qualcomm is building support for LTE Broadcast, as the technology is known, into its Snapdragon processors. It is also creating the necessary middleware software to allow the broadcasts to be managed.

At January’s CES, Qualcomm demonstrated the technology along with Verizon and Ericsson.

In Barcelona last month, Qualcomm did another demonstration, and announced plans to work with Samsung and Korea Telecom on the technology.

The technology should get early public tests next year, as Verizon and Telstra have also said they plan to do trials; Korea Telecom has announced plans to use it commercially, though they didn’t give a time frame.

So, why will LTE Broadcast succeed where Flo flopped?

“I think the networks need it more now,” Qualcomm Executive VP Peggy Johnson said on Friday at a breakfast meeting with reporters.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130308/after-flotv-debacle-qualcomm-finding-new-use-for-broadcast-know-how/feed/ 0 Qualcomm Names Yoler SVP of Business Development (And Silicon Valley Point Person) http://allthingsd.com/20130306/qualcomm-names-yoler-svp-of-business-development-and-silicon-valley-point-person/ http://allthingsd.com/20130306/qualcomm-names-yoler-svp-of-business-development-and-silicon-valley-point-person/#comments Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:30:48 +0000 Kara Swisher http://allthingsd.com/?p=300798 Qualcomm, the powerful mobile chipmaker, has hired well-known Silicon Valley investor Laurie Yoler as SVP of business development. The San Diego-based company said that Yoler will be “responsible for augmenting existing business relationships in Silicon Valley, as well as developing new strategic business opportunities for Qualcomm in the region;” she will report to Peggy Johnson, EVP at its Qualcomm Technologies unit. Yoler has most recently been a longtime partner and managing director at GrowthPoint Technology Partners, an investment bank in the area, working with a range of companies and startups.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130306/qualcomm-names-yoler-svp-of-business-development-and-silicon-valley-point-person/feed/ 0 Intel Still Nibbling Around the Edges in Mobile http://allthingsd.com/20130224/intel-still-nibbling-around-the-edges-in-mobile/ http://allthingsd.com/20130224/intel-still-nibbling-around-the-edges-in-mobile/#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2013 05:01:57 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=297756 Intel’s announcements at Mobile World Congress say as much about where the chipmaker is not as about where the company has managed to land its chips.

mike_bell_intel

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130224/intel-still-nibbling-around-the-edges-in-mobile/feed/ 0 Qualcomm Settles Disclosure Suit With New York http://allthingsd.com/20130222/qualcomm-settles-disclosure-suit-with-new-york/ http://allthingsd.com/20130222/qualcomm-settles-disclosure-suit-with-new-york/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:06:46 +0000 Dan Strumpf http://allthingsd.com/?p=297504 Qualcomm Inc. has agreed to provide investors with additional information about how it spends money on political causes as part of an agreement reached with New York’s public pension fund.

The agreement brings an end to an unusual lawsuit brought last month by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli on behalf of the New York State Common Retirement Fund. The lawsuit sought to force the wireless-technology company to disclose what it spends on political causes.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130222/qualcomm-settles-disclosure-suit-with-new-york/feed/ 0 What to Expect When You Are Expecting a Lot of News Out of Barcelona http://allthingsd.com/20130222/what-to-expect-when-you-are-expecting-a-lot-of-news-out-of-barcelona/ http://allthingsd.com/20130222/what-to-expect-when-you-are-expecting-a-lot-of-news-out-of-barcelona/#comments Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:00:04 +0000 Ina Fried and Bonnie Cha http://allthingsd.com/?p=296375 Mobile World Congress doesn’t really get going until the weekend.

What-to-Expect-When-Youre-Expecting

But here at AllThingsD we want you to have a pretty good idea what to expect even before things kick off in Barcelona. We’ve been noodling around to find out what all the big companies have planned for next week. And, as we noted yesterday, plenty of companies aren’t waiting to spill the beans.

So here’s a company-by-company look at what to expect. And this is just the start of our Mobile World Congress reporting. Ina Fried and Bonnie Cha will be in Espana to put things into context and dig around for more dirt.

Apple

As usual, the Cupertino-based company will be the talk of the town and yet nowhere to be found.

AT&T

AT&T is using the stage in Barcelona to talk about its progress in moving mobile beyond the phone. On the business side, Ma Bell now has a half-billion-dollar business helping companies add mobile products such as rugged devices and embedded cellular technology. At the show, AT&T is working with OnAsset to embed cellular modules for high-value package tracking.

Google

Google never made any huge announcements at Mobile World Congress, but its circus-like booth was always a big attraction. Alas, there will be no free smoothies, trips down the slide or pin-trading this year.

HTC

The Taiwanese phone maker made its big news earlier this week in New York, but is expected to have its usual presence at the show, though it won’t have a huge news conference.

Immersion

The haptics company is showing off new ways of adding touch feedback into mobile devices, including the ability for phone makers to more deeply integrate feel into their user interface.

Intel

Intel is showing off its dual-core processor, and is also expected to announce some new phone designs and tout its work in emerging markets.

LG

Similar to last year, LG is making a slew of announcements just ahead of the show. Over the past couple of weeks, the Korean manufacturer has debuted the LG Optimus G Pro, Optimus L Series II, Optimus F5 and Optimus F7. Still, the company might have a thing or two left up its sleeve. A press conference is scheduled for Monday morning.

Motorola

Mobile World Congress has never been a big show for Motorola, and that’s not going to change this year. So, for those of you who were hoping for your first sighting of the Google-Motorola X Phone, sorry to disappoint.

Nokia

With its flagship Lumia 920 still in the process of being introduced around the world, expect Nokia to concentrate its efforts around expanding its Windows Phone lineup to better combat the threat of low-end Android. That also means beefing up the company’s Asha mobile phone business, which has been seeking to evolve from feature phone to an entry-level smartphone. The Finnish phone maker has a press conference set for Monday morning.

Nvidia

The chipmaker plans to show off the Phoenix, a reference-design phone built around the Tegra 4i, the company’s first processor with LTE capabilities built in.

Orange

France Telecom’s wireless unit is debuting several new devices under its own brand, including the Lumo — the first Orange-branded LTE phone — and the San Remo, a large-screen 4.7-inch smartphone. A third phone, the Orange Nivo, targets younger buyers and first-time smartphone buyers.

Qualcomm

The Snapdragon 800 chip was announced at CES in January, but Qualcomm will use Mobile World Congress to show off some previously undisclosed abilities of the chip, including always-on voice control and even faster device charging.

Samsung

Samsung used to put on over-the-top press conferences at Mobile World Congress (think aerial acrobats and dance troupes). But the company started to scale back last year, preferring instead to launch flagship products like the Samsung Galaxy S III on its own. The case will be the same for the much-anticipated Galaxy S IV, but it’s rumored that Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet in Barcelona.

Sony

Sony introduced its latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia Z, at CES in January, so the chances of seeing another high-end handset are slim. That said, the company does have an event planned for Monday morning. It’s quite possible that Sony may use that time to reveal additional markets and availability for the Xperia Tablet Z, which has currently only been announced for Japan.

Visa

Visa is announcing a new “Visa Ready” program on Friday, designed to turn potential technology rivals into partners. The program will see Visa certify payment hardware and NFC devices to work with Visa’s infrastructure. Expect more specific partner announcements in Barcelona.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130222/what-to-expect-when-you-are-expecting-a-lot-of-news-out-of-barcelona/feed/ 0 Mobile World Congress: The Event You Don't Want to Miss -- Or Launch a Product At http://allthingsd.com/20130221/mobile-world-congress-the-event-you-dont-want-to-miss-or-launch-a-product-at/ http://allthingsd.com/20130221/mobile-world-congress-the-event-you-dont-want-to-miss-or-launch-a-product-at/#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:12:03 +0000 Ina Fried and Bonnie Cha http://allthingsd.com/?p=296639 barcelona_mwc_venueThere’s no question that Mobile World Congress is the biggest show in wireless and growing bigger every year.

But, as often happens as trade shows grow, that also means it is harder and harder to be heard through the noise, prompting many companies to avoid making their biggest announcements during the event. Between that and the expense, lots of companies are looking for other venues for their product launches.

HTC, for example, chose to launch its new One phone earlier this week in New York. Samsung hasn’t said when it will launch its next Galaxy S IV (though it’s rumored to be in March) but it for sure won’t come in Barcelona.

For its part, HTC said it will have a roughly similar presence in Barcelona. It will still have a big booth and approximately the same number of people attending the show, said Americas head Mike Woodward. However, it wanted its HTC One not to be just one of many products lost in the crush of news.

Google, meanwhile, is scaling back its massive booth presence, which in past years featured a giant slide, pin giveaways and a rotating sushi bar of Android devices. Also, for the first time in three years, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, will not deliver a keynote address at the show.

Similarly, Microsoft, which had previously used Mobile World Congress to unveil major products like Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7, does not have a major press conference planned.

Even many companies that are debuting products at the event are making announcements ahead of time. The major cellphone chip makers have all recently unveiled new products they will demo in Barcelona.

The strategy isn’t totally new. Last year, for example, LG seemed to announce a new phone each day ahead of the show — a practice the company is continuing this year. In the past couple of weeks, LG has already revealed the Optimus G Pro and Optimus L Series II.

But that’s not to say there won’t be tons of new products. Nokia, LG and Sony all have media events and are expected to launch new hardware.

Mobile World Congress remains a key place to see and be seen, especially for companies that are trying to make the case they are serious about mobile — chipmakers like Broadcom and Intel and device makers such as Huawei and ZTE.

The show officially kicks off on Monday, Feb. 25, and both of us will be there to report on all the action, so stay tuned for more.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130221/mobile-world-congress-the-event-you-dont-want-to-miss-or-launch-a-product-at/feed/ 0 Qualcomm Aims at New Mobile-Chip Segment, Roiling Rivals http://allthingsd.com/20130221/qualcomm-aims-at-new-mobile-chip-segment-roiling-rivals/ http://allthingsd.com/20130221/qualcomm-aims-at-new-mobile-chip-segment-roiling-rivals/#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2013 21:35:18 +0000 Don Clark http://allthingsd.com/?p=297189 Qualcomm is already the biggest player in chips for mobile phones, with annual revenues topping $19 billion. Now it is invading another major chunk of the market, spooking investors in several other companies.

The San Diego-based company is best known for baseband processors, which manage the overall chore of communicating over cellular networks. These are digital chips, handling data in the form of ones and zeros.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130221/qualcomm-aims-at-new-mobile-chip-segment-roiling-rivals/feed/ 0 Via Licensing Adds Two More to LTE Patent Pool, but Big Names Still Missing http://allthingsd.com/20130221/via-licensing-adds-two-more-to-lte-patent-pool-but-big-names-still-missing/ http://allthingsd.com/20130221/via-licensing-adds-two-more-to-lte-patent-pool-but-big-names-still-missing/#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:00:18 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=296658 Patent firm Via Licensing is announcing Thursday that two more companies — China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom — have agreed to contribute their LTE intellectual property to a patent-licensing pool.

patent_art

The company’s strategy is to gather enough intellectual property around LTE in one pool that device makers can go to to license technology for their products.

However, many big names — and important LTE patent holders — still aren’t on the list. Some key holders, folks such as Ericsson and Qualcomm, are unlikely to join, since licensing is an integral part of their business.

But Via hopes to get enough of the rest of the big patent holders to make its pool attractive to device makers.

Via won’t say if any companies have actually yet licensed the patents.

Although China Mobile and Deutsche Telekom aren’t seen as among the top holders of LTE-related patents, Via hopes they could inspire others to sign up.

Via Licensing CEO Roger Ross said that he is hopeful that companies such as Huawei, LG or Apple might decide to join the patent-licensing pool.

“I don’t want to be overly optimistic,” he said, but added, “I think we are going to get some of those very large patent holders.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130221/via-licensing-adds-two-more-to-lte-patent-pool-but-big-names-still-missing/feed/ 0 Qualcomm's New Snapdragon Processor Packs Two More Surprises http://allthingsd.com/20130220/qualcomms-new-snapdragon-processor-packs-two-more-surprises/ http://allthingsd.com/20130220/qualcomms-new-snapdragon-processor-packs-two-more-surprises/#comments Wed, 20 Feb 2013 17:00:10 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=296367 At January’s CES event, Qualcomm announced an impressive array of specifications for the Snapdragon 800 — a quad-core processor, Ultra HD video, etc.

snapdragon

And at Mobile World Congress next week, the chipmaker is showing off two more features of the forthcoming processor.

First off, it will have an integrated voice-processing capability that sets the stage for devices that can always be activated via a command. The catchphrase, which can be customized by the phone maker, requires no press of a button, and can even wake a phone that is in standby or airplane mode.

Secondly, Qualcomm is introducing the second generation of its rapid-charging capability. The initial version, included in 70 devices, allowed phones and tablets to charge up to 40 percent faster. The 2.0 version of the technology will allow devices to charge up to 75 percent faster, meaning that tablets that normally take more than seven hours to charge can fully charge in less than three hours.

The chipmaker says there are more than 55 phones and tablets in development using the Snapdragon 800, with the initial ones due in the second half of 2013.

Qualcomm is, of course, not the only processor maker hoping to make news in Barcelona. Rival Nvidia is using next week’s show to detail its first LTE-integrated processor, while Intel plans to show its dual-core processor and new efforts aimed at emerging markets.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130220/qualcomms-new-snapdragon-processor-packs-two-more-surprises/feed/ 0 Nvidia Readies Its First Chip With LTE Built In http://allthingsd.com/20130219/nvidia-readies-its-first-chip-with-lte-built-in/ http://allthingsd.com/20130219/nvidia-readies-its-first-chip-with-lte-built-in/#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2013 14:00:13 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=296065 Qualcomm has a little more competition in the market for chips that can power the latest smartphones.

Tegra 4i_die_shot

Nvidia is announcing on Tuesday the Tegra 4i, its first chip to integrate a modem that can support LTE network capabilities. The chip is now sampling, with a few phones using the chip expected in the fourth quarter, and more in the first quarter of 2014.

The chip packs a quad-core processor based on ARM’s Cortex A9 design, along with a fifth core for low-power operation and as a graphics processor engine with 60 cores and the LTE modem.

Nvidia plans to show a reference-design phone, code-named Phoenix, at the Mobile World Congess event that runs next week in Barcelona.

Broadcom announced its LTE plans last week, with a high-end chip expected to ship next year.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130219/nvidia-readies-its-first-chip-with-lte-built-in/feed/ 0 Broadcom Readying Its First LTE Chip, Which It Claims Will Be Smaller Than Rivals' http://allthingsd.com/20130212/broadcom-readying-its-first-lte-chip-which-it-claims-will-be-smaller-than-rivals/ http://allthingsd.com/20130212/broadcom-readying-its-first-lte-chip-which-it-claims-will-be-smaller-than-rivals/#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2013 13:00:03 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=293663 broadcom McGregor

After being stuck in 3G land for a while now, Broadcom said it is getting closer to having a modem chip that supports faster LTE networks.

The chip, which it is sampling now and is set for volume production next year, is said to be a third smaller than many rival chips, while supporting all the key standards and technologies. Among its features is support for voice calls over LTE, as well as a feature to bond together different frequencies that a carrier has into one faster pipeline onto the Internet.

“We think it is going to be a winner,” Broadcom CEO Scott McGregor said in an interview.

Thus far, Qualcomm has dominated the LTE market with its chips, though other chipmakers are starting to enter the market.

“Other people have announced some chips that maybe nibble away at the low end of the market,” McGregor said.

By contrast, Broadcom’s goal is to have a product that can go in the highest-end products.

“The real goal here is to create a product that really is a world chip for the flagship smartphones and tablets,” he said.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130212/broadcom-readying-its-first-lte-chip-which-it-claims-will-be-smaller-than-rivals/feed/ 0 Qualcomm Q1 Net Up 36 Percent on Strong Smartphone Demand http://allthingsd.com/20130130/qualcomm-q1-net-up-36-percent-on-strong-smartphone-demand/ http://allthingsd.com/20130130/qualcomm-q1-net-up-36-percent-on-strong-smartphone-demand/#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:25:40 +0000 Kristin Jones http://allthingsd.com/?p=290343 Qualcomm Inc.’s fiscal first-quarter profit rose 36 percent as the chip maker continued to benefit from strong demand for smartphones.

The company also raised its full-year guidance, now seeing per-share earnings of $4.25 to $4.45 on revenue of $23.4 billion to $24.4 billion. Qualcomm in November projected per-share earnings of $4.12 to $4.32 a share on revenue of $23 billion to $24 billion.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130130/qualcomm-q1-net-up-36-percent-on-strong-smartphone-demand/feed/ 0 At CES, Chipmakers Go All In on Mobile http://allthingsd.com/20130110/at-ces-chipmakers-push-all-in-on-mobile/ http://allthingsd.com/20130110/at-ces-chipmakers-push-all-in-on-mobile/#comments Thu, 10 Jan 2013 13:00:34 +0000 Mike Isaac http://allthingsd.com/?p=283821 chips1I’ve been in Las Vegas for CES nearly a week now, and I keep getting asked what the most noteworthy product launches have been. In the recent past, each year had a theme — tablets, Android phones, 3-D TVs — so I half expected another wave of something similar. Smart TVs, perhaps, or maybe a connected home peripheral.

Thing is, the biggest debuts haven’t been the stuff you’ll find on Best Buy shelves. It’s the stuff powering the stuff on those shelves. That is to say, it’s the processor guys’ day in the sun, as some of the largest names in the components industry are pushing more powerful chips in the new year, with sights set directly on mobile devices.

It’s telling of a sea change when Qualcomm — hardly a premier consumer electronics company by any stretch — takes over the keynote reins from Microsoft, the longstanding CES headliner of the past 12 years. That brought Qualcomm’s big debut of the night, the new Snapdragon 800 and 600 series of quad-core mobile chips, which will see a boost in graphics and general performance upwards of 75 percent compared to its current chip line.

More-powerful, less-energy-sucking chipsets: It’s the exact direction the chip industry is headed, brought on by the influx of smartphones, tablets, netbooks and Ultrabooks over the past five years. These days, consumers expect a high-performance smartphone capable of running the latest graphics-heavy apps while still delivering a battery charge longer than a handful of hours.

samsung_exynos_5_octaNvidia, a California-based chipmaker long known for its graphical processing prowess, has done well for itself in the low-power consumption arena in recent years. The company’s Tegra 3 chips are found in a number of high-end Android smartphones currently on the market, and on Sunday, Nvidia unveiled the Tegra 4 line of chips, which aims at even more power and lower energy consumption than its predecessor line.

Nvidia, Qualcomm and others have used the past few years to get the jump on Intel — the veritable Goliath of the chip industry — by licensing chipset architectures from the British ARM Holdings company, which specializes in low-power chipset designs. Samsung, too, uses the ARM-based architecture, and on Wednesday it unveiled the Exynos 5 Octa line, an eight-core mobile chip, again aimed at mobile devices.

Intel’s problem: The company has long specialized in producing the latest and greatest in powerhouse processors, and has dominated the desktop market doing so. But as we slowly transition from a desktop-centric world to a mobile-centric one, Intel has struggled to adapt as quickly as some of its competitors.

Of course, Intel wants to escape that image and regain share. That’s the impetus behind Intel’s mobile-centric Atom series in recent times, and the new “Lexington” and “Bay Trail” chips that debuted at CES on Monday.

Don’t get too excited quite yet, components nerds. As is the case at most every CES, all the stuff we’re seeing unveiled is still rather vaporous, not hitting the market until the second half of 2013 at the earliest.

For now, we’ll have to make do with current-gen power expectations and performance, and see which chip giants actually make good on their promises come next Christmas.

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130110/at-ces-chipmakers-push-all-in-on-mobile/feed/ 0 Ballmer's CES Keynote, Courtesy of Qualcomm (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20130108/ballmers-ces-keynote-courtesy-of-qualcomm-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20130108/ballmers-ces-keynote-courtesy-of-qualcomm-video/#comments Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:43:46 +0000 Mike Isaac http://allthingsd.com/?p=283435 ballmerhowyalikemenow380The scorecards were at the ready. Tech pundits were poised to poke fun. All were waiting to grade Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs’s performance as the CES keynote speaker on Monday evening. It’s the first year since Microsoft, the longstanding headliner and keynote company, pulled out of the conference entirely.

And then Steve Ballmer showed up.

The Microsoft CEO couldn’t stay away from the evening’s big event, after leading the charge for the past 12 years. About 20 minutes into the event, Jacobs brought Ballmer onstage to talk about all the “cool stuff” Microsoft is doing, running on Qualcomm’s chipsets.

But despite being onstage for only about five minutes, Ballmer stole the show. It turned into a pitch for Microsoft, as the CEO showed off a slew of smartphones running Windows Phone software and the latest tablets running Windows 8.

Sure, Qualcomm debuted some new chip lines and touted a few videos with a cutesy CGI dragon. But that took a back seat to Ballmer hawking his Windows gear.

I assume that inside the Qualcomm strategy team’s planning meetings, the idea went something like “let’s make this a ‘passing of the torch’ sort of thing!”

Too bad for Qualcomm it didn’t play out that way. Even in a post-Microsoft CES, Ballmer still owned the night.

Check out the video below — courtesy of Geekwire — for Ballmer’s stage time:

RELATED POSTS:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130108/ballmers-ces-keynote-courtesy-of-qualcomm-video/feed/ 11