Posts Tagged: smartphone

Mobile phone memory card market set for significant growth as more music, images, video and data stored





There were 592 million slotted phones shipped worldwide in 2007, representing 53 per cent of all mobile phone shipments, according to a survey by Strategy Analytics.
It reports that, with nearly 57 per cent of slotted phone shipments in 2007, the microSD (including microSDHC) slot format is now more popular than the MMC format.
The microSD format is expected to hit peak penetration of 86 per cent in 2011, after which it will face competition from other, new, high capacity systems, such as the Universal Flash Storage (UFS).
Steve Entwistle, vice president of the Strategic Technologies within Strategy Analytics, said penetration of slotted phones was already over 85 per cent in many developed countries.

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Payments made via mobile phone for goods and services will exceed US$300bn globally by 2013






The value of payments made using mobile phones for everything from music, tickets and games to gifts will increase five-fold over the next five years.
This is one of the forecasts made by Juniper Research in a region by region analysis which explores how the mobile phone is developing into a payment tool that will be used by more and more people, more and more often in future.
Not surprisingly, the report concludes that there is a significant opportunity for mobile payment services, systems, software and supporting services to underpin the processing of the spiralling value of payment transactions by 2013.
Howard Wilcox , the report’s author, noted that retailers need to move quickly to exploit the opportunity presented, and ensure that they maintain ease of use for their customers who are already familiar with web shopping from their PCs.

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Brightpoint to implement cost-cutting in Europe after predicting slowdown in handset sales






The mobile phone distributor, Brightpoint, is to take cost-cutting measures across its global operations over fears of a slowdown in handset sales.
The company said it now expects the global handset market to reach 1.25-1.30 billion units this year, down from a previous estimate of 1.25-1.35 billion.
Second-quarter sell-in units are expected to be “flat to slightly up” compared to the first three months of the year.
This contrasts with a previous forecast for 3-5 per cent growth by the distributor.
The cost-cutting will come mainly in Europe, at the former Dangaard operations.
Brightpoint is cutting 50-75 jobs at its European head office in Denmark, and eliminating another 225-250 positions across its other European operations.
This is expected to result in annual cost savings of US$25-30 million.

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Apple's earnings from iPhone could be higher than first estimated






As pricing details continue to emerge about the new iPhone, one analyst estimates that Apple stands to make more from each device than previously thought.
Gene Munster, of investment bank Piper Jaffray, said that AT&T’s complete official pricing for iPhone 3G units suggests Apple is making more from the reportedly abundant iPhone stock than estimated in the past.
Although the US$199 starting price is much lower for the customers themselves, the US$599 pay-as-you-go price suggests that the carrier subsidy cuts much deeper.
If so, then this hides potentially greater profits for Apple, which could be asking US$500 for each iPhone versus an earlier estimate of US$425.
“This discrepancy leads us to believe our [average selling price] is conservative,” said Munster.
The analyst said that a change of this level would boost Apple’s revenue for 2009 by eight per cent.

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Boost for mobile broadband as T-Mobile UK improves photo and video upload speeds


Mobile operator T-Mobile UK has deployed HSUPA technology on a nationwide basis to improve upload speeds for users.
The operator has promised the change will result in an improvement of to fivefold in the time it takes to upload photos and videos to web sites at speeds of up to 1.4Mbps.
T-Mobile claims it is the first UK carrier to have committed to the data access protocol.
The company said it is also upgrading the download capability of its HSDPA 3G network to 7.2Mbps, initially within the M25 zone encircling London but rolling out to other major cities during the second half of the year.

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Smartphones and low-cost mobile phones set to see most significant growth at expense of mid-tier handsets


The top and bottom ends of the wireless handset markets are to enjoy the best growth rates over the next five years, according to researchers.
This will be at the expense of mid-range models, commonly called “enhanced” phones. The enhanced phone sector is currently the largest in terms of shipments, with 854 million units shipped in 2007.
But it will be overtaken by both other classes in 2013, with just 441 million shipping.
Kevin Burden, a director of ABI Research and author of the report “Mobile devices annual market overview”, said: “As we see more user sophistication and demand for high-end features, handset manufacturers will continue to push functions of high-level smartphone operating systems further down their product lines.
“Their smartphone portfolios will grow, and with them, the entire smartphone market.”
The report said this was seen as desireable by operators as well, who wanted more smartphone users because of the higher average revenue per user (ARPU) they generated.

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Mobile software set for rapid growth as inexpensive smartphones ring changes


The mobile software market will be worth an estimated US$ 67.3 billion in 2013 – up from US$ 17.9 in 2007 – as the number of mobile devices grows and minutes of use increases steadily.
This revenue growth will be fuelled by mobile carriers’ willingness to carry data apart from voice and the introduction of third-generation (3G) smartphones.
That’s the conclusion of analysts at Frost & Sullivan in their report “World Next-Generation Mobile Software Market”.
They say that with the expansion of memory, an increase in processor speed and the availability of better networks that allow for faster data transfer, mobile software is in for exponential growth.

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European callers become more mobile as landlines increasingly shunned


Almost a quarter of European households have given up fixed landlines for mobile phones and online calling, according to a European Union survey.
The poll, carried out in November and December, found that 24 per cent of European households now eschew fixed landlines in favour of mobile phones, up from 22 per cent in a survey two years earlier.
The Czech Republic, Finland and Lithuania had the lowest number of landlines in use across the 27-nation bloc.
The results chime with the growing interest in the use of mobile VoIP services – either via GSM/GPRS wireless standards or through WiFi – and the widespread installation of internet calling software on smartphones.

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Vodafone to launch "world first" converged solution of services and equipment in Australia


A three-way initiative between Vodafone Australia, Cisco and Research In Motion (RIM) is to launch an integrated business communications services in Australia known as Vodafone Business One.
Starting later this year, it will combine all telecommunication services – fixed and mobile, voice and data, services and equipment – into one managed service with single-point accountability on installation, technical support and fleet management and one monthly invoice.
The service will be focusing primarily on small-medium sized businesses of between 10 to 100 employees.
By using Wi-Fi-enabled BlackBerry smartphones along with Cisco Wi-Fi and IP-PBX in the office, Vodafone Business One customers will be able to make calls within the office zone at fixed-line rates, while making calls outside the office via the Vodafone mobile network.

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iPhone 3G costs US$ 173 to make – 23 per cent less than predecessor


The new iPhone is expected to carry an initial hardware Bill Of Materials (BOM) and manufacturing cost of US$ 173, according to a preliminary “virtual teardown” analysis conducted by iSuppli Corp.
If correct, the second-generation iPhone could be even more profitable for Apple than either the original iPone or the iPod.
Dr Jagdish Rebello, director and principal analyst for iSuppli, said that at a hardware BOM and manufacturing cost of US$ 173, the new iPhone is significantly less expensive to produce than the first-generation product.
He said this was despite major improvements in the product’s functionality and unique usability, due to the addition of 3G communications.
“The original 8Gbyte iPhone carried a cost of US $226 after component price reductions, giving the new product a 23 per cent hardware cost reduction due to component price declines,” he said.
Last week, a survey revealed that nearly a quarter of US consumers questioned in a survey highlighted price as the main reason why they were not considering buying an Apple iPhone 3G.

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