SAN MATEO, USA: At the Qualcomm Uplinq conference, DeviceAnywhere, the industry leader in end-to-end mobile application testing, announced the results of this quarter’s DeviceAnywhere Metrics.
Originally launched at CTIA Spring 2010, this unique, quarterly report shares empirical data about what mobile Operating Systems and handsets are most commonly used by DeviceAnywhere customers when testing their mobile applications for quality assurance. The magnitude of the source data can be illustrated by the fact that more than 350,000 handset testing hours were logged in DeviceAnywhere Test Center by developers in 2009.
Key Findings from DeviceAnywhere Metrics
Android catches up with Microsoft Windows Mobile as #3 Most-Tested OS.
* For the first time, Android tied Windows Mobile as the third Most-Tested OS in the DeviceAnywhere Test Center -- both equaling 15.2 percent of total testing time.
* Year-over-year, Android testing has increased dramatically: growing from 3.3 percent of the total usage in the DeviceAnywhere Test Center in May 2009 to 15.2 percent in May 2010.
Android devices held the top spot in May 2010 for two mobile operators: T-Mobile and Verizon.
* For T-Mobile, HTC Android devices held the top three spots: the HTC G1, HTC touch 3GS and HTC Nexus One, respectively.
* For Verizon, the Motorola Droid held the #1 spot (up from #5 in January 2010).
BlackBerry Still Dominates as #1 Most-Tested platform, but their lead is slowly diminishing.
* Testing on BlackBerry devices accounted for 45.9 percent of total usage in May 2010, compared to 52 percent in May 2009.
* In May 2010, only 10 BlackBerry devices were on the “20 Most Used Handset” list, compared to 14 in January 2010.
* BlackBerry is the number one manufacturer tested in DeviceAnywhere Test Center, accounting for seven of the top ten devices tested and fourteen of the top 20 devices.
* The BlackBerry Bold 9000 -- which has been the most-used handset since we began producing this report in December 2009 -- was bumped to #2 in May 2010 (replaced by the iPhone 3G).
Although Blackberry OS still dominates as the #1 Most-Tested platform, developers are spending nearly equal time on Android on a per device basis.
* Blackberry OS has 35 devices in Test Center accounting for 45.9 percent of usage. That’s an average of 1.31 percent testing time spent on each device.
* Comparatively, Android has 12 devices in Test Center accounting for 15.2 percent of usage. That's an average of 1.26 percent testing time spent on each device.
* For additional comparison, Windows Mobile has 52 devices in Test Center accounting for 15.2 percent of usage. That’s an average of 0.29 percent testing time spent on each device.
Across all handsets, the percentage of testing on smartphones vs. feature phones increased significantly year-over-year (YoY). However, on a month-to-month basis, Sprint and Verizon saw a decrease.
* In May 2010, 53.8 percent of DeviceAnywhere usage was focused on smartphones. Compare that to 40.9 percent a year earlier in May 2009.
* However, there were minor, but notable swings -- between 1.8 to 5 percent -- in May 2010 from the month previous. AT&T and T-Mobile both saw increase in the percentage of testing on smartphones, while Sprint and Verizon saw decreases.
Friday, July 2, 2010
VMIX releases mobile SDK to simplify video app integration
SAN DIEGO, USA: VMIX, a leading online video platform provider, today announced the release of a new software-development kit designed to reduce the level of effort and time it takes developers to integrate video into mobile applications.
The VMIX Mobile Video SDK accelerates application development for the Apple iPad and iPhone by providing an open-source library that extends the Apple Media Framework APIs in the iOS SDK. VMIX also announced plans to support Google Android-based devices with an update to the VMIX Mobile Video SDK within the next month.
VMIX co-founder and CTO Greg Kostello said the new SDK places developers on the fast track to integrating video into the diverse types of mobile apps they are tasked with creating.
“Our SDK makes it easy for developers to add dynamic, streaming media and video sharing to just about any application. We believe simplifying integration will go a long way towards helping organizations unlock the immense potential that video holds for their mobile channels.
“Not only does the SDK contain the libraries needed to build out simple to complex mobile apps, but we’ve included code for both iPad and iPhone sample apps—with other devices following soon—that developers can modify to create their own branded applications with very little effort.”
Kostello added that the release of the SDK rounds out the company’s end-to-end mobile video solutions.
“With the VMIX platform, developers can get their apps running quicker than you can imagine—ingesting, processing, managing and delivering mobile and web video, and scaling easily both in terms of features and capacity to meet requirements as they change over time.”
VMIX offers mobile developers:
* A Mobile Video SDK, which reduces development time and effort.
* REST-based, mobile-ready APIs.
* Online support, demo apps and documentation.
* An upload service that accepts video and images from any device or format.
* Targeted encoding to optimize the viewer experience.
* Flexible content-management tools to automate syndication.
* Progressive, dynamic and encrypted streaming options for fast, reliable delivery.
* Visual, flexible, easy-to-share analytics.
* 24x7 online support and live content moderation.
* Usage-based, flexible pricing options.
“We encourage developers to sign up for a free VMIX trial account and try out the new mobile SDK,” said Kostello. “I think organizations will be surprised to see just how quickly and economically they can put video to work.”
The VMIX Mobile Video SDK accelerates application development for the Apple iPad and iPhone by providing an open-source library that extends the Apple Media Framework APIs in the iOS SDK. VMIX also announced plans to support Google Android-based devices with an update to the VMIX Mobile Video SDK within the next month.
VMIX co-founder and CTO Greg Kostello said the new SDK places developers on the fast track to integrating video into the diverse types of mobile apps they are tasked with creating.
“Our SDK makes it easy for developers to add dynamic, streaming media and video sharing to just about any application. We believe simplifying integration will go a long way towards helping organizations unlock the immense potential that video holds for their mobile channels.
“Not only does the SDK contain the libraries needed to build out simple to complex mobile apps, but we’ve included code for both iPad and iPhone sample apps—with other devices following soon—that developers can modify to create their own branded applications with very little effort.”
Kostello added that the release of the SDK rounds out the company’s end-to-end mobile video solutions.
“With the VMIX platform, developers can get their apps running quicker than you can imagine—ingesting, processing, managing and delivering mobile and web video, and scaling easily both in terms of features and capacity to meet requirements as they change over time.”
VMIX offers mobile developers:
* A Mobile Video SDK, which reduces development time and effort.
* REST-based, mobile-ready APIs.
* Online support, demo apps and documentation.
* An upload service that accepts video and images from any device or format.
* Targeted encoding to optimize the viewer experience.
* Flexible content-management tools to automate syndication.
* Progressive, dynamic and encrypted streaming options for fast, reliable delivery.
* Visual, flexible, easy-to-share analytics.
* 24x7 online support and live content moderation.
* Usage-based, flexible pricing options.
“We encourage developers to sign up for a free VMIX trial account and try out the new mobile SDK,” said Kostello. “I think organizations will be surprised to see just how quickly and economically they can put video to work.”
Global number of traffic info users to exceed 370 million by 2015
LONDON, UK: Traffic Information maintains its position as the most important feature of navigation services with the global number of traffic information users expected to grow from 57 million in 2010 to more than 370 million in 2015, according to the latest market data from ABI Research.
Telematics and Navigation practice director Dominique Bonte comments: “Navigation users continue to appreciate the value of traffic information allowing calculation of the fastest routes and accurate Estimated Times of Arrival (ETA) predictions. The emergence of historic speed profiles and predictive traffic information has extended the use case to trip planning.”
The surge in handset navigation (increasingly available for free) is resulting in GPS probe data becoming more widely available, improving quality as well as spatial and temporal granularity. That boosts adoption of high speed cellular connectivity technologies, replacing broadcast technologies such as RDS-TMC and satellite.
While TomTom, IntelliOne, AirSage, and Cellint use cellular probe data as the main source for their traffic solutions, the lack of accuracy continues to be a major issue. Likewise, the importance of fixed road sensors is decreasing, reduced to key junctions and highways.
Major navigation brands such as Nokia (NAVTEQ) and Google leverage probe data from their customer bases to offer traffic information as part of their free navigation services. Smaller navigation vendors are shifting to lifetime traffic offers bundled with the navigation device or software.
This puts pressure on independent traffic information vendors such as INRIX, TrafficCast, and ITIS to lower their prices and increase data quality. For these players the high margin automotive and government segments will become key markets, compensating declining revenues in the competitive mobile and consumer electronics markets. At the low end of the traffic ecosystem, pure crowd sourcing startups such as Waze and Aha Mobile have entered the market with traffic information based on passive and/or active community feedback.
Telematics and Navigation practice director Dominique Bonte comments: “Navigation users continue to appreciate the value of traffic information allowing calculation of the fastest routes and accurate Estimated Times of Arrival (ETA) predictions. The emergence of historic speed profiles and predictive traffic information has extended the use case to trip planning.”
The surge in handset navigation (increasingly available for free) is resulting in GPS probe data becoming more widely available, improving quality as well as spatial and temporal granularity. That boosts adoption of high speed cellular connectivity technologies, replacing broadcast technologies such as RDS-TMC and satellite.
While TomTom, IntelliOne, AirSage, and Cellint use cellular probe data as the main source for their traffic solutions, the lack of accuracy continues to be a major issue. Likewise, the importance of fixed road sensors is decreasing, reduced to key junctions and highways.
Major navigation brands such as Nokia (NAVTEQ) and Google leverage probe data from their customer bases to offer traffic information as part of their free navigation services. Smaller navigation vendors are shifting to lifetime traffic offers bundled with the navigation device or software.
This puts pressure on independent traffic information vendors such as INRIX, TrafficCast, and ITIS to lower their prices and increase data quality. For these players the high margin automotive and government segments will become key markets, compensating declining revenues in the competitive mobile and consumer electronics markets. At the low end of the traffic ecosystem, pure crowd sourcing startups such as Waze and Aha Mobile have entered the market with traffic information based on passive and/or active community feedback.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
In-Flight broadband revenue to increase 1,357 percent
SCOTTSDALE, USA: Wi-Fi airplane deployments have skyrocketed from a couple dozen in 2008 to an expected 2,000 planes by end of year 2010. While availability is approaching a critical mass, paid usage generated from in-flight broadband service has been extremely low, says In-Stat.
In-flight broadband is now at the stage of market development where it must prove its sustainability through the ability to generate revenues.
“Revenues from in-flight broadband will reach $95 million in 2010, up from just under $7 million in 2009, according to Frank Dickson, VP Research. “However, the fee per connect is expected to deteriorate as lower connect fees are negotiated for roaming and billing partner subscribers.”
Additional data points impacting revenue include:
* Connect fees are projected to decline 24 percent from 2010 to 2014.
* In-flight broadband connects will exceed 76 million in 2012.
* In an effort to bolster Internet revenues, providers are beginning to explore the opportunity to provide video, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) and Internet-based video. DBS revenues promise to be over 3x the size of Internet video in 2014.
* Aircell is currently the in-flight broadband provider market leader with announced airline partners including Air Canada, Air Tran, Alaska Airways, American Airlines, Continental Airways, Delta Airways, Frontier Airways, United Airlines, US Airways, and Virgin America.
In-flight broadband is now at the stage of market development where it must prove its sustainability through the ability to generate revenues.
“Revenues from in-flight broadband will reach $95 million in 2010, up from just under $7 million in 2009, according to Frank Dickson, VP Research. “However, the fee per connect is expected to deteriorate as lower connect fees are negotiated for roaming and billing partner subscribers.”
Additional data points impacting revenue include:
* Connect fees are projected to decline 24 percent from 2010 to 2014.
* In-flight broadband connects will exceed 76 million in 2012.
* In an effort to bolster Internet revenues, providers are beginning to explore the opportunity to provide video, Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) and Internet-based video. DBS revenues promise to be over 3x the size of Internet video in 2014.
* Aircell is currently the in-flight broadband provider market leader with announced airline partners including Air Canada, Air Tran, Alaska Airways, American Airlines, Continental Airways, Delta Airways, Frontier Airways, United Airlines, US Airways, and Virgin America.
HP completes Palm acquisition
PALO ALTO, USA: HP has completed its acquisition of Palm Inc. at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash.
The combination gives HP significant headway into one of technology’s fastest-growth segments with Palm’s innovative webOS platform and family of smartphones, plus a rich portfolio of intellectual property from the smartphone pioneer.
HP’s global scale and financial strength plus Palm’s award-winning webOS experience, as well as its acclaimed Pre and Pixi smartphone product lines, enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the highly profitable, $100 billion smartphone and connected mobile device markets.
“With webOS, HP will deliver its customers a unique and compelling experience across smartphones and other mobility products,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “This allows us the opportunity to fully engage in growing our smartphone family offering and the footprint of webOS.”
Under Jon Rubinstein, former Palm chairman and chief executive officer, the Palm global business unit will report to Bradley. Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.
“With HP’s full backing and global strengths, I’m confident that webOS will be able to reach its full potential,” said Rubinstein. ”This agreement will accelerate the development of this incredible platform with new resources, scale and support from a world-respected brand.”
The combination gives HP significant headway into one of technology’s fastest-growth segments with Palm’s innovative webOS platform and family of smartphones, plus a rich portfolio of intellectual property from the smartphone pioneer.
HP’s global scale and financial strength plus Palm’s award-winning webOS experience, as well as its acclaimed Pre and Pixi smartphone product lines, enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the highly profitable, $100 billion smartphone and connected mobile device markets.
“With webOS, HP will deliver its customers a unique and compelling experience across smartphones and other mobility products,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “This allows us the opportunity to fully engage in growing our smartphone family offering and the footprint of webOS.”
Under Jon Rubinstein, former Palm chairman and chief executive officer, the Palm global business unit will report to Bradley. Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.
“With HP’s full backing and global strengths, I’m confident that webOS will be able to reach its full potential,” said Rubinstein. ”This agreement will accelerate the development of this incredible platform with new resources, scale and support from a world-respected brand.”
WiMAX Forum urges Indian operators to deploy broadband now
PORTLAND, USA: The WiMAX Forum applauds the Indian government for its recent auction of BWA spectrum, a strong step towards providing broadband access and all its benefits to India’s 1.2 billion citizens.
“WiMAX is ready for Indian operators to deploy now,” said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum. “Only 9 million citizens throughout India have access to broadband, but within six months WiMAX networks and services could be deployed and commercially available – helping the Indian government to pursue an accelerated path to achieve and exceed their goal of connecting more than 100 million broadband users by 2014.”
WiMAX operators with 2.3 GHz spectrum holdings are among the fastest growing sector in the WiMAX ecosystem. Globally, the WiMAX Forum has tracked more than 50 commercial deployments in this spectrum band and 593 total WiMAX deployments in 149 countries as of June 30, 2010.
Additionally, 2.5 GHz remains a critically important band among WiMAX operators. The large and ever-increasing deployments in 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz will serve Indian operators and consumers well as they tap into the volume pricing benefits and rich ecosystem of devices.
Earlier last month, the WiMAX Forum announced that the first 2.3 GHz products gained WiMAX Forum Certified status. The availability of certified products today in both the predominant India frequency allocations of 2.3 and 2.5 GHz ensures a faster time-to-market and enables advantages such as global roaming capabilities. 2.3 and 2.5 GHz base stations and end-user products are all commercially available today and are already deployed in markets across the globe.
“We’ve enjoyed considerable success with 2.3 GHz WiMAX,” said Michael Lai, Chief Executive Officer of Packet One Networks, a subsidiary of Green Packet and a member of the WiMAX Forum Board of Directors.
“In fact, we’re the leading WIMAX operator in Malaysia. With over 170,000 subscribers in the span of less than two years and the country’s fastest growing wireless network, P1 is a showcase of how WiMAX is the perfect broadband enabler for India and the region. P1 WiMAX now covers over 40% of the West Malaysia population. We are the second largest 2.3 GHz network in the world and are on track to deliver our promise of ‘Broadband for All’ to Malaysians. WiMAX also is supported by a mature ecosystem. It is quite simple, this 4G WiMAX technology today is ready to meet the needs of a nation that is thirsty for broadband, a nation like India.”
The WiMAX ecosystem is supported by the world’s leading technology and telecom companies spanning the entire Internet value chain from silicon to content. The WiMAX Forum urges Indian operators to take advantage of this mature, tested technology and powerful ecosystem to bring the benefits of broadband to India through WiMAX as soon as possible.
According to Caroline Gabriel, Research Director at Rethink Technology Research: “The [Indian government’s broadband] plan is badly needed – to give India a communications infrastructure that matches her vast economic potential, and to stimulate social change. The World Bank has identified a strong correlation between broadband adoption rate and GDP, with a 10 percent rise in the former resulting in a 1.4 percent rise in the latter, on average, in developing economies.
“This impact is higher than for non-broadband mobile services. Conversely, for every percentage point of broadband coverage – at prices that spur real adoption – that does not materialize in 2010 to 2012, India’s growth could be held back, with implications for its social structure and its global position.”
“WiMAX is ready for Indian operators to deploy now,” said Ron Resnick, president and chairman of the WiMAX Forum. “Only 9 million citizens throughout India have access to broadband, but within six months WiMAX networks and services could be deployed and commercially available – helping the Indian government to pursue an accelerated path to achieve and exceed their goal of connecting more than 100 million broadband users by 2014.”
WiMAX operators with 2.3 GHz spectrum holdings are among the fastest growing sector in the WiMAX ecosystem. Globally, the WiMAX Forum has tracked more than 50 commercial deployments in this spectrum band and 593 total WiMAX deployments in 149 countries as of June 30, 2010.
Additionally, 2.5 GHz remains a critically important band among WiMAX operators. The large and ever-increasing deployments in 2.3 GHz and 2.5 GHz will serve Indian operators and consumers well as they tap into the volume pricing benefits and rich ecosystem of devices.
Earlier last month, the WiMAX Forum announced that the first 2.3 GHz products gained WiMAX Forum Certified status. The availability of certified products today in both the predominant India frequency allocations of 2.3 and 2.5 GHz ensures a faster time-to-market and enables advantages such as global roaming capabilities. 2.3 and 2.5 GHz base stations and end-user products are all commercially available today and are already deployed in markets across the globe.
“We’ve enjoyed considerable success with 2.3 GHz WiMAX,” said Michael Lai, Chief Executive Officer of Packet One Networks, a subsidiary of Green Packet and a member of the WiMAX Forum Board of Directors.
“In fact, we’re the leading WIMAX operator in Malaysia. With over 170,000 subscribers in the span of less than two years and the country’s fastest growing wireless network, P1 is a showcase of how WiMAX is the perfect broadband enabler for India and the region. P1 WiMAX now covers over 40% of the West Malaysia population. We are the second largest 2.3 GHz network in the world and are on track to deliver our promise of ‘Broadband for All’ to Malaysians. WiMAX also is supported by a mature ecosystem. It is quite simple, this 4G WiMAX technology today is ready to meet the needs of a nation that is thirsty for broadband, a nation like India.”
The WiMAX ecosystem is supported by the world’s leading technology and telecom companies spanning the entire Internet value chain from silicon to content. The WiMAX Forum urges Indian operators to take advantage of this mature, tested technology and powerful ecosystem to bring the benefits of broadband to India through WiMAX as soon as possible.
According to Caroline Gabriel, Research Director at Rethink Technology Research: “The [Indian government’s broadband] plan is badly needed – to give India a communications infrastructure that matches her vast economic potential, and to stimulate social change. The World Bank has identified a strong correlation between broadband adoption rate and GDP, with a 10 percent rise in the former resulting in a 1.4 percent rise in the latter, on average, in developing economies.
“This impact is higher than for non-broadband mobile services. Conversely, for every percentage point of broadband coverage – at prices that spur real adoption – that does not materialize in 2010 to 2012, India’s growth could be held back, with implications for its social structure and its global position.”
First LTE TDD trials in India
NEW DELHI, INDIA: Consumers in India have taken a step closer to super-fast mobile broadband. Ericsson has unveiled its LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology trial showcase in India.
By conducting the first trials of LTE TDD in India, Ericsson offered the possibility to experience the fastest mobile broadband speed and to better understand the potential of LTE in the Indian market. The first data call was successfully performed at the Experience Centre, Ericsson Forum, in Gurgaon, India, using the 2.3GHz band.
The objective of the LTE trial is to showcase the potency of the network capability to industry players such as mobile operators, application developers, content providers and game developers to help them create breakthrough products and services for the Indian market.
Further trials will now continue, demonstrating network capabilities using broadband applications such as High Definition TV and video conferencing over LTE TDD.
Gowton Achaibar, head of Ericsson India said: “The trial in India reflects Ericsson’s technology leadership in the LTE domain. This trial gives a glimpse of what the future can offer our customers in the mobile broadband space. LTE will transform the mobile-broadband user experience, providing the ultra-high data speeds needed for services such as internet TV, mobile video-blogging, online video games and the mobile office-environment”.
The LTE trial is a milestone-achievement for Ericsson India and an evolutionary step for the Indian telecom market. LTE will revolutionize Indian wireless broadband access, providing a wider audience with access to the internet and unleash the huge business potential to provide a plethora of services and applications.
By conducting the first trials of LTE TDD in India, Ericsson offered the possibility to experience the fastest mobile broadband speed and to better understand the potential of LTE in the Indian market. The first data call was successfully performed at the Experience Centre, Ericsson Forum, in Gurgaon, India, using the 2.3GHz band.
The objective of the LTE trial is to showcase the potency of the network capability to industry players such as mobile operators, application developers, content providers and game developers to help them create breakthrough products and services for the Indian market.
Further trials will now continue, demonstrating network capabilities using broadband applications such as High Definition TV and video conferencing over LTE TDD.
Gowton Achaibar, head of Ericsson India said: “The trial in India reflects Ericsson’s technology leadership in the LTE domain. This trial gives a glimpse of what the future can offer our customers in the mobile broadband space. LTE will transform the mobile-broadband user experience, providing the ultra-high data speeds needed for services such as internet TV, mobile video-blogging, online video games and the mobile office-environment”.
The LTE trial is a milestone-achievement for Ericsson India and an evolutionary step for the Indian telecom market. LTE will revolutionize Indian wireless broadband access, providing a wider audience with access to the internet and unleash the huge business potential to provide a plethora of services and applications.
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