MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: Google is causing “fear and paranoia” in the telecoms industry and telcos must learn to exploit the search and technology giant rather than be exploited, Ovum has warned.
A new report by the independent technology analyst states that Google poses a greater long-term threat to telecommunications firms and the broader telecoms ecosystem than any other company of its kind.
Ovum principal analyst Tony Cripps said: “Google’s ability and willingness to invest in whatever is necessary to achieve its aims – to place advertising in front of as many people as possible, wherever and whenever it can – is placing a growing strain on traditional telecoms industry players’ ability to roll out novel and profitable services to their subscriber bases. By targeting users of connected devices other than PCs, Google is also competing with telecoms players for the attention and loyalty of subscribers.”
To date, this has been a particular problem for mobile telecoms operators, but the same phenomenon also looks set to impact those whose primary point of customer contact is their living room – namely IPTV, cable, satellite, and other broadcasters. Google can be expected to make similar moves aimed at making its existing portfolio of web applications and content ubiquitous on TVs and other screens used to watch video.
“Google’s ability to leverage its cloud services core to infiltrate new screens marks it out as a competitive threat to even the most converged of today’s service providers, including Verizon in the US and Orange/France Telecom in France,” added Cripps.
In its report, Ovum has drawn up a series of recommendations for telecoms industry players, including thinking like a developer instead of platform, investing in core assets and looking for ways to complement Google.
Ovum believes telcos that are intent on playing Google at its own game must do it properly, with sufficient investment and commitment in systems, software and community-building (both in terms of users, and content and application partners), in order to give their offerings a competitive chance.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Mobile broadband modem sales to reach 200 million in 2014
BOSTON, USA: The sales of new devices with integrated mobile broadband connectivity, together with external USB modems, will top 100 million in 2010, as mobile broadband makes major inroads into the mass market, stimulated by new devices such as the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad and more aggressive tariffs from mobile operators.
According to a new Strategy Analytics Wireless Enterprise Strategies (WES) service report, “Untethering the User: Mobile Broadband Market Outlook on USB Modems, PC Cards & Embedded Cellular Connectivity,” the installed base of mobile broadband modems will have grown to a staggering 415 million devices by 2014, highlighting the need for true, ubiquitous mobility, that enables users to engage with their contacts and content whatever their location.
This report examines in detail the global market for embedded laptops, netbooks and USB modems. Strategy Analytics evaluates drivers behind carriers’ aggressive promotion of mobile broadband devices--such as cellular-based modems for notebooks, netbooks and numerous other industrial and consumer devices--from smart meters and advertising displays to EBook Readers, media tablets and even picture frames. The report also looks at factors that could disrupt the mobile broadband market, such as Wi-Fi, and reliance on smartphones and handset tethering.
“Decreasing module costs and greater variety of pre and post-pay tariff plans are making mobile broadband more accessible, allowing more people to access their content wherever and whenever they desire. Going forward, emerging markets and M2M will represent major opportunities for growth,” according to Andrew Brown, Director of Wireless Enterprise Strategies at Strategy Analytics and author of the report.
Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, Director, Mobile Broadband Opportunities (MBO), added: “Clearly we are at an inflection point in the mobile broadband market. New devices, such as the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad, as well as netbooks and notebooks, are helping to drive mobile broadband into the mass market.”
According to a new Strategy Analytics Wireless Enterprise Strategies (WES) service report, “Untethering the User: Mobile Broadband Market Outlook on USB Modems, PC Cards & Embedded Cellular Connectivity,” the installed base of mobile broadband modems will have grown to a staggering 415 million devices by 2014, highlighting the need for true, ubiquitous mobility, that enables users to engage with their contacts and content whatever their location.
This report examines in detail the global market for embedded laptops, netbooks and USB modems. Strategy Analytics evaluates drivers behind carriers’ aggressive promotion of mobile broadband devices--such as cellular-based modems for notebooks, netbooks and numerous other industrial and consumer devices--from smart meters and advertising displays to EBook Readers, media tablets and even picture frames. The report also looks at factors that could disrupt the mobile broadband market, such as Wi-Fi, and reliance on smartphones and handset tethering.
“Decreasing module costs and greater variety of pre and post-pay tariff plans are making mobile broadband more accessible, allowing more people to access their content wherever and whenever they desire. Going forward, emerging markets and M2M will represent major opportunities for growth,” according to Andrew Brown, Director of Wireless Enterprise Strategies at Strategy Analytics and author of the report.
Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, Director, Mobile Broadband Opportunities (MBO), added: “Clearly we are at an inflection point in the mobile broadband market. New devices, such as the Amazon Kindle and Apple iPad, as well as netbooks and notebooks, are helping to drive mobile broadband into the mass market.”
Sequans announces successful TD-LTE demo for China Mobile
PARIS, FRANCE & SHANGHAI, CHINA: 4G chipmaker Sequans announced that Sequans-powered TD-LTE USB dongles performed successfully as part of China Mobile’s end-to-end TD-LTE demonstration network that debuted at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, May 1.
China Mobile selected Sequans to provide TD-LTE chips and USB dongles for this revolutionary technology demonstration that was designed to show the world a real-life performance of a TD-LTE network.
China Mobile is covering several major pavilions at the Shanghai Expo with the TD-LTE service. During the demonstrations, Sequans’ small, commercial-sized TD-LTE USB dongle delivered high definition video for an audience of China Mobile executives, and high throughput for an audience of editors and analysts attending the debut event.
“We are very pleased and proud to collaborate with China Mobile on this major achievement,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. “The successful demonstration shows the great potential of TD-LTE technology and that it can certainly become a global technology standard.”
The USB dongles used for the demo are powered by Sequans’ SQN3010 baseband SOC. The chip is designed to comply with the 3GPP R8 standard, supporting UE category 3 throughput of 100 Mbps in a 20 MHz channel, and LTE band classes 38 and 40.
“We have taken an early lead in the development of LTE silicon and our participation in the world’s first TD-LTE demonstration network shows our commitment to becoming a valued supplier to China Mobile and the worldwide TD-LTE ecosystem,” said Karam.
China Mobile selected Sequans to provide TD-LTE chips and USB dongles for this revolutionary technology demonstration that was designed to show the world a real-life performance of a TD-LTE network.
China Mobile is covering several major pavilions at the Shanghai Expo with the TD-LTE service. During the demonstrations, Sequans’ small, commercial-sized TD-LTE USB dongle delivered high definition video for an audience of China Mobile executives, and high throughput for an audience of editors and analysts attending the debut event.
“We are very pleased and proud to collaborate with China Mobile on this major achievement,” said Georges Karam, Sequans CEO. “The successful demonstration shows the great potential of TD-LTE technology and that it can certainly become a global technology standard.”
The USB dongles used for the demo are powered by Sequans’ SQN3010 baseband SOC. The chip is designed to comply with the 3GPP R8 standard, supporting UE category 3 throughput of 100 Mbps in a 20 MHz channel, and LTE band classes 38 and 40.
“We have taken an early lead in the development of LTE silicon and our participation in the world’s first TD-LTE demonstration network shows our commitment to becoming a valued supplier to China Mobile and the worldwide TD-LTE ecosystem,” said Karam.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Tejas Networks wins national telecom award
NEW DeLHI, INDIA: Tejas Networks Ltd has won the INFOCOM CMAI National Telecom Award as the ‘Largest Exporter of Telecom Equipment’.
The award was presented by Thiru A Raja, Honorable Minister of Communications & IT, Government of India and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Karia Munda. The award seeks to recognize telecom companies for their contribution in building robust national telecom networks and providing effective means of communication.
Sanjay Nayak, CEO and MD, said: "We are delighted to have won the National Telecom Award. This is a great recognition for Tejas Networks, which is one of the first technology product companies from India in the telecom sector and the optical networking leader in the highly competitive Indian telecom market. Our consistent growth over the past many years is a result of our execution strategy of aggressively investing in R&D to build world-class products and our innovative sales model that gives us access to global markets using a partnership approach.
"We have seen significant international success and our products are deployed in over 50 countries around the world. Our global success is a strong endorsement of our technology-leading products, world-class quality and competitive prices. We are truly honored that we have been selected as the telecom equipment exporter of the year by a prestigious industry body like CMAI."
The award was presented by Thiru A Raja, Honorable Minister of Communications & IT, Government of India and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Karia Munda. The award seeks to recognize telecom companies for their contribution in building robust national telecom networks and providing effective means of communication.
Sanjay Nayak, CEO and MD, said: "We are delighted to have won the National Telecom Award. This is a great recognition for Tejas Networks, which is one of the first technology product companies from India in the telecom sector and the optical networking leader in the highly competitive Indian telecom market. Our consistent growth over the past many years is a result of our execution strategy of aggressively investing in R&D to build world-class products and our innovative sales model that gives us access to global markets using a partnership approach.
"We have seen significant international success and our products are deployed in over 50 countries around the world. Our global success is a strong endorsement of our technology-leading products, world-class quality and competitive prices. We are truly honored that we have been selected as the telecom equipment exporter of the year by a prestigious industry body like CMAI."
Worldwide mobile phone sales grew 17 percent in Q1 2010
EGHAM, UK: Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totalled 314.7 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 17 per cent increase from the same period in 2009, according to Gartner Inc.
Smarpthone sales to end users reached 54.3 million units, an increase of 48.7 per cent from the first quarter of 2009. Among the most successful vendors were those that controlled an integrated set of operating system (OS), hardware and services.
"In the first quarter of 2010, smartphone sales to end users saw their strongest year-on-year increase since 2006," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. “This quarter saw RIM, a pure smartphone player, make its debut in the top five mobile devices manufacturers, and saw Apple increase its market share by 1.2 percentage points. Android’s momentum continued into the first quarter of 2010, particularly in North America, where sales of Android-based phones increased 707 per cent year-on-year.
Growth in the mobile devices market was driven by double-digit growth of smartphone sales in mature markets, helped by wider product availability as well as mass market price tags. “Increasing sales of white-box products in some emerging regions, in particular India, also drove sales of mobile phones upward. We expect sales of white-box products to remain very healthy for the remainder of 2010, especially outside of China,” said Ms Milanesi.
The first quarter also saw some movement outside the top five mobile handset vendor rankings (see Table 1), Hong Kong-based manufacturer G-Five made its debut into the top 10, grabbing 1.4 per cent of market share in the first quarter of 2010.
The rise of white-box manufacturers from Asia has also helped the "others" section, as a proportion of overall sales, increase its market share to 19.20 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, up 2.7 percentage points. “This is having a profound effect on the top five mobile handset manufacturers’ combined share that dropped from 73.3 in the first quarter of 2009 to 70.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2010,” said Ms Milanesi.
Table 1
Worldwide Mobile Terminal Sales to End Users in 1Q10 (Thousands of Units)
Source: Gartner (May 2010).
In the first quarter of 2010, Nokia's mobile phone sales to end users reached 110.1 million units, a 1.2 per cent decline in market share year-on-year. Although Nokia's midtier products sold well, Nokia lacks a high-volume driver in the high-end.
“MeeGo based devices and other high-end products will not rejuvenate Nokia's premium portfolio until the end of the third quarter of 2010 at the earliest, and Nokia will continue to feel pressure on its average selling price (ASP) from vendors such as HTC, RIM and Samsung,” said Ms Milanesi.
The reorganisation announced last week demonstrated that Nokia is trying to streamline the reporting process to deliver results quickly, which we believe shows its recognition of the pressure it faces from investors.
Samsung sold 64.9 million devices in the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 26.3 per cent year-on-year. Samsung was one of the five vendors in the top10 vendors ranking to grow its market share, which increased by 1.5 percentage points year-on-year. Samsung saw healthy margins in the first quarter of 2010 and was also able to grow its presence in developing markets such as India and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
RIM’s mobile phone sales reached 10.6 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 45.9 per cent increase year-on-year. RIM is making its debut into the top five worldwide mobile handset manufacturers ranking. RIM's focus this quarter was centred on its ecosystem strategy, its tightly integrated control of store, OS and device played to RIM’s strengths.
Sony Ericsson sold enough units to remain in the top five mobile handset manufacturers, but its market share declined 2.3 percentage points in the first quarter of 2010. The channel held some inventory for Sony Ericsson in the first quarter of 2010 as some new products reached the channel late into the quarter.
One of Sony Ericsson's most important future differentiators is its relationship with its parent company, Sony. This partnership, combined with Sony Ericsson’s ownership of the strongest portfolio it has had since 2007, place it well to lead the trend toward increasingly connected consumer devices.
The first quarter of 2010 was Apple’s strongest quarter yet, which placed the company in the No. 7 position with a 112.2 per cent increase in mobile devices sales. “Growth came partly from new communication service providers in established markets, such as the UK, and stronger sales in new markets such as China and South Korea,” said Ms Milanesi.
“The second quarter of 2010 will be a very important one for Apple. We expect that Apple will present its new iPhone in June during its Worldwide Developer Conference, which will be the first to feature the latest release of the iPhone OS that includes welcome improvements for developers and users, such as multitasking.”
In the smartphone OS market, Android and Apple were the winners in the first quarter of 2010 (see Table 2). Android moved to the No. 4 position displacing Microsoft Windows Mobile for the first time. Both Android and Apple were the only two OSs vendors among the top five to increase market share year-on-year. Symbian remained in the No. 1 position but continued to lose as Nokia remains weak in the high-end portfolio.
Smartphones accounted for 17.3 per cent of all mobile handset sales in the first quarter of 2010, up from 13.6 per cent in the same period in 2009.
As seen with the iPad and web books based on Google's Android platform, mobile OS ecosystems are developing and will move beyond smartphones to continue to deliver consumer value and a rich user experience,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.
Table 2
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 1Q10 (Thousands of Units)
Source: Gartner (May 2010).
Smarpthone sales to end users reached 54.3 million units, an increase of 48.7 per cent from the first quarter of 2009. Among the most successful vendors were those that controlled an integrated set of operating system (OS), hardware and services.
"In the first quarter of 2010, smartphone sales to end users saw their strongest year-on-year increase since 2006," said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner. “This quarter saw RIM, a pure smartphone player, make its debut in the top five mobile devices manufacturers, and saw Apple increase its market share by 1.2 percentage points. Android’s momentum continued into the first quarter of 2010, particularly in North America, where sales of Android-based phones increased 707 per cent year-on-year.
Growth in the mobile devices market was driven by double-digit growth of smartphone sales in mature markets, helped by wider product availability as well as mass market price tags. “Increasing sales of white-box products in some emerging regions, in particular India, also drove sales of mobile phones upward. We expect sales of white-box products to remain very healthy for the remainder of 2010, especially outside of China,” said Ms Milanesi.
The first quarter also saw some movement outside the top five mobile handset vendor rankings (see Table 1), Hong Kong-based manufacturer G-Five made its debut into the top 10, grabbing 1.4 per cent of market share in the first quarter of 2010.
The rise of white-box manufacturers from Asia has also helped the "others" section, as a proportion of overall sales, increase its market share to 19.20 per cent in the first quarter of 2010, up 2.7 percentage points. “This is having a profound effect on the top five mobile handset manufacturers’ combined share that dropped from 73.3 in the first quarter of 2009 to 70.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2010,” said Ms Milanesi.
Table 1
Worldwide Mobile Terminal Sales to End Users in 1Q10 (Thousands of Units)
Source: Gartner (May 2010).In the first quarter of 2010, Nokia's mobile phone sales to end users reached 110.1 million units, a 1.2 per cent decline in market share year-on-year. Although Nokia's midtier products sold well, Nokia lacks a high-volume driver in the high-end.
“MeeGo based devices and other high-end products will not rejuvenate Nokia's premium portfolio until the end of the third quarter of 2010 at the earliest, and Nokia will continue to feel pressure on its average selling price (ASP) from vendors such as HTC, RIM and Samsung,” said Ms Milanesi.
The reorganisation announced last week demonstrated that Nokia is trying to streamline the reporting process to deliver results quickly, which we believe shows its recognition of the pressure it faces from investors.
Samsung sold 64.9 million devices in the first quarter of 2010, an increase of 26.3 per cent year-on-year. Samsung was one of the five vendors in the top10 vendors ranking to grow its market share, which increased by 1.5 percentage points year-on-year. Samsung saw healthy margins in the first quarter of 2010 and was also able to grow its presence in developing markets such as India and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
RIM’s mobile phone sales reached 10.6 million units in the first quarter of 2010, a 45.9 per cent increase year-on-year. RIM is making its debut into the top five worldwide mobile handset manufacturers ranking. RIM's focus this quarter was centred on its ecosystem strategy, its tightly integrated control of store, OS and device played to RIM’s strengths.
Sony Ericsson sold enough units to remain in the top five mobile handset manufacturers, but its market share declined 2.3 percentage points in the first quarter of 2010. The channel held some inventory for Sony Ericsson in the first quarter of 2010 as some new products reached the channel late into the quarter.
One of Sony Ericsson's most important future differentiators is its relationship with its parent company, Sony. This partnership, combined with Sony Ericsson’s ownership of the strongest portfolio it has had since 2007, place it well to lead the trend toward increasingly connected consumer devices.
The first quarter of 2010 was Apple’s strongest quarter yet, which placed the company in the No. 7 position with a 112.2 per cent increase in mobile devices sales. “Growth came partly from new communication service providers in established markets, such as the UK, and stronger sales in new markets such as China and South Korea,” said Ms Milanesi.
“The second quarter of 2010 will be a very important one for Apple. We expect that Apple will present its new iPhone in June during its Worldwide Developer Conference, which will be the first to feature the latest release of the iPhone OS that includes welcome improvements for developers and users, such as multitasking.”
In the smartphone OS market, Android and Apple were the winners in the first quarter of 2010 (see Table 2). Android moved to the No. 4 position displacing Microsoft Windows Mobile for the first time. Both Android and Apple were the only two OSs vendors among the top five to increase market share year-on-year. Symbian remained in the No. 1 position but continued to lose as Nokia remains weak in the high-end portfolio.
Smartphones accounted for 17.3 per cent of all mobile handset sales in the first quarter of 2010, up from 13.6 per cent in the same period in 2009.
As seen with the iPad and web books based on Google's Android platform, mobile OS ecosystems are developing and will move beyond smartphones to continue to deliver consumer value and a rich user experience,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.
Table 2
Worldwide Smartphone Sales to End Users by Operating System in 1Q10 (Thousands of Units)
Source: Gartner (May 2010).
Mobile application developers seek cross-platform standards
BOSTON, USA: Difficulties in porting applications across platforms and ensuring applications work across all devices within certain platforms cause frustration for developers of applications on mobile devices.
Developers would embrace the creation of standards to address this issue, according to a recent Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Lab report, “Mobile Application Developers Call for Standards.”
This report summarizes interviews conducted with application developers in North America and Western Europe designed to assess the keys to making compelling experiences on applications and the barriers developers face.
“App developers not only have difficulty porting their applications from one platform to another, developers also have difficulty across different devices in the same platform,” commented Chris Schreiner, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics. “On Blackberry devices in particular, differences in screen size, resolution, input methods and available features make each device seem built on different platforms.”
Kevin Nolan, Vice President of the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice, added, “Developers also want a more consistent purchase experience for consumers, as well as more flexible pricing options, including subscription-based models.”
Developers would embrace the creation of standards to address this issue, according to a recent Strategy Analytics Wireless Device Lab report, “Mobile Application Developers Call for Standards.”
This report summarizes interviews conducted with application developers in North America and Western Europe designed to assess the keys to making compelling experiences on applications and the barriers developers face.
“App developers not only have difficulty porting their applications from one platform to another, developers also have difficulty across different devices in the same platform,” commented Chris Schreiner, Senior Analyst at Strategy Analytics. “On Blackberry devices in particular, differences in screen size, resolution, input methods and available features make each device seem built on different platforms.”
Kevin Nolan, Vice President of the Strategy Analytics User Experience Practice, added, “Developers also want a more consistent purchase experience for consumers, as well as more flexible pricing options, including subscription-based models.”
Mobile local search users to reach almost 1.5bn by 2014 as GPS migrates into mass market handsets
HAMPSHIRE, UK: A continuing surge in mobile Internet usage, allied to the increasing penetration of integrated GPS receivers within both smartphones and featurephones, will see location-based local search and information services used by nearly 1.5 billion mobile users by 2014, according to a new report from Juniper Research.
The mobile location report found that while technical advances in handset screens, user interfaces, processors, memory and graphics handling technologies had previously contributed to the launch of a rash of high spec, but relatively high cost, mobile devices from leading vendors, their features – including GPS – were gradually migrating into mass market devices. At the same time, GPS unit prices and form factors had improved considerably making integrated GPS much more cost effective and design friendly.
Meanwhile, the attendant growth in mobile Internet adoption – itself in part a corollary of improved handset form factors and affordable data bundles – is expected to provide further impetus to the adoption of browser-based local search services.
According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “The sharing culture of Web 2.0 is increasingly shaping the way many location based services and location enabled apps develop. Social networking application usage has continued to grow at an explosive rate, while mobile driven apps such as Loopt and Brightkite have extended the Web 2.0 concept further with the introduction of geotagged content”.
Additionally, the Juniper report found that while browser-based services will dominate the local search market, applications purchased via app stores will take a growing portion of the information services market, particularly template apps providing city guides and entertainment guides.
Other findings from the Juniper report include:
• Total revenues from all mobile location-based services are expected to reach $12.7 billion by 2014.
• While advertising will comprise an increasing proportion of total market value, some concerns remain regarding its large-scale viability as a primary revenue stream.
The mobile location report found that while technical advances in handset screens, user interfaces, processors, memory and graphics handling technologies had previously contributed to the launch of a rash of high spec, but relatively high cost, mobile devices from leading vendors, their features – including GPS – were gradually migrating into mass market devices. At the same time, GPS unit prices and form factors had improved considerably making integrated GPS much more cost effective and design friendly.
Meanwhile, the attendant growth in mobile Internet adoption – itself in part a corollary of improved handset form factors and affordable data bundles – is expected to provide further impetus to the adoption of browser-based local search services.
According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “The sharing culture of Web 2.0 is increasingly shaping the way many location based services and location enabled apps develop. Social networking application usage has continued to grow at an explosive rate, while mobile driven apps such as Loopt and Brightkite have extended the Web 2.0 concept further with the introduction of geotagged content”.
Additionally, the Juniper report found that while browser-based services will dominate the local search market, applications purchased via app stores will take a growing portion of the information services market, particularly template apps providing city guides and entertainment guides.
Other findings from the Juniper report include:
• Total revenues from all mobile location-based services are expected to reach $12.7 billion by 2014.
• While advertising will comprise an increasing proportion of total market value, some concerns remain regarding its large-scale viability as a primary revenue stream.
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