Qualcomm Labs unveils three tech startups

USA: Qualcomm Labs Inc., announced the set of companies that EvoNexus admitted into the QualcommLabs@EvoNexus incubator program. Arynga Inc., FatSkunk Inc., and Breadcrumbs Inc., are the three companies admitted by EvoNexus which have been selected by Qualcomm Labs to receive seed funding.

Launched in May 2012, QualcommLabs@EvoNexus is a Qualcomm Labs sponsored incubation program operating within the walls of the CommNexus incubator, EvoNexus. The program brings together Qualcomm Labs' commitment to innovation with EvoNexus' forward-thinking, pro-bono community incubation model and opens up opportunities to further technology development, advancing the wireless industry.

After evaluating more than 100 submissions from startup companies and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector, EvoNexus admitted its eleventh round of companies to the incubator including Arynga, FatSkunk and Breadcrumbs. In parallel, Qualcomm Labs executed funding agreements with these companies.

Arynga: Headquartered in San Diego, Arynga is a software solutions and services company focused on the management of connected assets in transportation, travel, hospitality, and energy and consumer electronics. The company delivers over-the-air remote configuration management and real-time location solutions. Arynga will receive $250,000 in funding.

FatSkunk: Founded in Silicon Valley and establishing headquarters in San Diego, FatSkunk offers a new software solution for mobile malware detection that uses physics, instead of conventional heuristics or signatures. The result is battery-efficient, true zero day malware detection capability, with no need for OTA signature updates from carriers. FatSkunk will receive $250,000 in funding.

Breadcrumbs: Headquartered in San Diego, Breadcrumbs is a mobile app for Android and iOS that provides an automatic timeline of a user's day, using the phone's built-in sensors. Breadcrumbs will receive $50,000 in funding.

"We are thrilled to welcome Arynga, FatSkunk and Breadcrumbs into the EvoNexus incubator program as we believe they all provide solutions that address important technology needs," said Rory Moore, CEO, CommNexus. "The combination of EvoNexus' proven results and Qualcomm Labs' expertise in technology innovation will get these companies off to a great start. We look forward to supporting their future growth and success."

In addition to QualcommLabs@EvoNexus seed funding, Arynga, FatSkunk and Breadcrumbs will receive free accommodation within EvoNexus' fully furnished Downtown San Diego or La Jolla office locations. During their residency, which can be up to two years, these companies, along with several other selected incubator companies, will work on developing their products and technologies into viable businesses. They will have the chance to work with experienced employees designated by Qualcomm Labs who will serve as mentors and will have access to a broad network of industry experts and investment professionals who participate with EvoNexus.

"Qualcomm Labs' roots in technology innovation combined with our continuous commitment to move the wireless industry forward, puts us in a unique position to support entrepreneurs to transform their ideas into businesses," said Liz Gasser, VP, Qualcomm Labs. "Twenty seven years ago, Qualcomm itself was a startup. We're looking forward to seeing how these innovations will positively impact San Diego and the world via our Qualcomm Labs subsidiary."

M2M market to reach 114.7mn connections by 2016

USA: Compass Intelligence released its latest forecast of the M2M market. The cellular M2M market will reach 33.3 million connections in the US in 2012 and grow to 114.7 million connections by 2016 with a CAGR of over 36 percent. These findings, along with breakdowns by application and vertical market are part of Compass Intelligence's Connected Worlds subscription service.

"Compass Intelligence was excited to launch its M2M practice last year because of the hype surrounding M2M and conflicting numbers being floated in the industry," explains James Brehm, Senior Strategist at Compass Intelligence. "While there are many companies providing annual data on the M2M market, most analyst firms make assumptions that are not grounded in reality. The majority of firms do not take availability of components, migration paths from 2G to 3G to 4G LTE, end-user behavior, socio-economic factors, and so on into consideration when building forecasts."

Compass Intelligence's forecast leans heavily on external and internal factors and is an aggregation of demand and supply-side information collected through in-depth interviews with vendors, service providers, and end users. The forecast is validated with key vendors and service providers at all levels of the M2M ecosystem, lending credibility to its high-level of accuracy.

Key findings of our most recent M2M research include the following:
* The largest B2B vertical market is the transportation vertical, with over 40 percent market share.
* Growth will come from areas where there is a demonstrable ROI, cloud computing and cookie cutter hosted applications will drive M2M adoption.
* Industry consolidation will occur rapidly over the next two to three years.
* By 2015 more than 40 percent of M2M connections in the U.S. could be running on 3G/3.5G/4G networks.

Lending to Compass Intelligence's understanding of the M2M market place is Brehm's participation as co-chair of M2M Evolution, a leading industry trade show.

"Our participation with TMC and Crossfire Media provides unique access to members of the M2M Ecosystem many other companies simply do not have. Leading up to the recent M2M Evolution conference in Austin, I was able to spend countless hours with nearly a hundred of the top participants in the marketplace," said Brehm.

Over 40 percent smartphone owners would give up TV time than mobile devices

INDIA: For decades, television has been the centre of attention for everyone seeking entertainment at home, or catching up with news at work. But things are changing. A Google - IPSOS report shows that India is not only competing, but leading the race in adopting smartphones, over televisions, for entertainment purposes.

While the calling, texting, and emailing are now standard activities on any smartphone, smartphone users in India are ready to do more on these sleek devices. The survey, conducted across 40 nations, shows that in comparison to mature smartphone markets including the US, UK and Germany where less than 27 percent people are willing to give up the time they spend watching television for smartphones, in India, a whopping 49 percent smartphone owners are ready to give up the TV rather than their phones.

This surprising shift it attributable to the combination of communication and entertainment options that the smartphone brings to users. The study showcases that 56 percent of Indians find their smartphones more entertaining than the television. In comparison, countries like the US (21 percent) and the UK (18 percent), or even neighbouring nations come nowhere close to India’s enthusiasm.

While the overall penetration of smartphones is higher amongst males in India, it is women who are leading the usage of smartphones over TV sets. The usage and loyalty behavior of the users revealed that 58 percent women found their smartphones more entertaining than the television.

But do not be mistaken! They are not just watching shows online to entertain themselves; rather, they are using smartphones to find information on where to hangout with friends, connect with them over social networks, and shop online. Indian smartphone owners in the male category, are not far behind when it comes to using the smartphone over the television; but more than 55 percent of them are glued to watching videos on their devices.

According to Lalitesh Katragadda, country head, India Products, Google India: “This is a truly astonishing trend among India's first wave of smartphone users, caused by high quality online video content and superb apps. Although penetration is behind many developed nations, the importance of these multi-purpose gadgets in the lives of Indian smartphone users is much higher in comparison to their global counterparts. We expect this momentum and affinity to cascade into an inflection in India's smartphone adoption, driven by significant price reduction of high quality devices over the next two years.”

Evernote launches mobile integration with Tencent’s ONE browser

INDIA: Evernote, the company that is helping the world remember everything, and Tencent, a leading integrated internet services company in China, has announced an integration of the Evernote application with Tencent’s ONE Browser for Android mobile users in India and across the region. ONE Browser is a compact browser for mobile devices with approximately 40 million downloads worldwide.

Evernote is the award-winning, remember everything application that allows users to remember all aspects of their lives by creating notes, snapping images, recording audio, saving files and having everything synchronize across all devices and platforms, including phones, tablets and computers. There are more than 40 million Evernote users worldwide, with more than 650,000 users in India.

ONE Browser is a fast mobile browser that aims to provide the smartest Internet browsing experience. Designed by Tencent to serve global emerging markets where mobile user growth is increasing rapidly and 3G connections are becoming popular, ONE Browser’s advance compression technology cuts download times and can reduce data costs by up to 85 percent. ONE Browser with Evernote integration is available for download on Google Play.

The integration of Evernote with ONE Browser for Android allows mobile users to clip a webpage directly to their Evernote account with just one click. All information collected and saved via mobile phones is synchronized across other devices using Evernote, giving users access to their data, anytime, anyplace.

SingTel partners with iPass to offer Wi-Fi services for enterprises

SINGAPORE: iPass Inc. has announced its partnership with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd  (SingTel) through which the leading Asia-Pac communications provider will offer Wi-Fi roaming services for enterprises in Singapore and across Asia.

SingTel will provide iPass Open Mobile to enterprises to enable their customers to be connected to the world’s largest commercial Wi-Fi hotspot network with over one million venues worldwide.

“SingTel is leading and shaping the digital communications space in the Asia-Pacific region. Our partnership with SingTel validates the value of iPass Open Mobile for managing the mobility needs of enterprises worldwide,” said Christophe Culine, senior VP and GM, iPass Enterprise. “iPass Open Mobile helps mobile operators meet the evolving demands of their customers by offering a complementary Wi-Fi data roaming service that advances new revenue streams for the growing numbers of smartphone and tablets Wi-Fi devices.”

The SingTel Group is Asia’s leading communications group. SingTel Group Enterprise provides innovative and comprehensive ICT solutions to the Group’s enterprise customers across geographical boundaries. To serve the needs of multi-national corporations, SingTel also has a vast network of offices throughout Asia Pacific, Europe and the United States. These offices enable SingTel to deliver innovative end-to-end ‘one-stop shop’ ICT experience with telecommunications, ICT consultancy, international data and managed services, business software and cloud solutions.

Mindspeed delivers base station solution for China Mobile's 3G small cell roll out

USA: Mindspeed Technologies Inc. announced that its baseband system-on-a-chip (SoC) is being used in TD-SCDMA small cells deployed by China Mobile Group (CMCC), Jiangsu Co. Ltd, Suzhou branch to deliver improved wireless access for residential and enterprise customers across their 10 million subscriber base in Suzhou.

The Mindspeed SoC solution provides all processing for the physical layer, MAC and layer 3 needed to realize a fully functional residential or enterprise small cell system. Mindspeed also provides the physical layer software while the upper layer software is provided by system OEMs such as Bravo Tech, Inc., or Femtel, who are now delivering systems to China Mobile.

CMCC Suzhou Branch, is the leader in small cell commercial deployments in China. They pioneered the deployment model and successfully completed field trials earlier this year.

"We recognized the need for small cells as an enhancement to our macro network with the objective of providing a cost effective and significantly better wireless broadband access experience for our huge subscriber base in Suzhou. We have achieved our deployment target set in February much faster than originally planned," said Ms. Chen Wei, GM of the Suzhou Branch.

"Customer service is foremost in our mind so enhancing our network with small cells to improve 3G Customer experience is a key to our success. Mindspeed provides the only commercially deployable SoC solution on the market that meets China's TD-SCDMA standard.” Ms. Chen added.

"We are pleased to enable the TD-SCDMA small cell roll out at CMCC," said Naser Adas, GM of wireless business unit at Mindspeed. Dr. Adas added: "Mindspeed is continuing and enhancing the former Picochip product line in accordance with the strategy we announced at the time of the acquisition: our integrated 3G technology enables us to fulfill our promise of providing the only concurrent dual mode (3G/4G) product on the market. What is more, we are the only small cell company with TD-SCDMA support, and the only one to support both LTE FDD and LTE-TDD."

Eighteen new members for Open IPTV Forum

EUROPE: Following a successful IBC, the Open IPTV Forum (OIPF) is pleased to welcome set top box vendor ABox42, application developer Axonista, testing businesses BluFocus and Digital TV Labs, and technology companies DCC Labs and mistserver.org as new members. These new important contributors increase the breadth of industry support and give OIPF’s open specifications for Connected TV wider relevance within the IPTV eco-system.

All intend to participate in the Forum’s on-going work to shape the future of a global mass-market for Internet Connected TV through development of the Forum’s free-to-use, open, interoperable specifications for Connected TV services and devices. Specifications written by the OIPF have already been incorporated into the work of the HbbTV Consortium.

Dr Nilo Mitra, OIPF president, announced the new members in advance of the forthcoming OIPF Plenary, to be hosted by Sony Corp. in Tokyo, Japan.

Welcoming the new members, he notes: “We believe these new members, who are choosing to join and participate in the go-to-market work of the Forum now, as well as those companies and regional standards bodies like HbbTV who are adopting the OIPF specifications, are the most significant and visible sign of increased industry confidence in OIPF as the single body to organize and standardize Connected TV technologies. We all agree that open standards and interoperability are key to the future of a viable, successful, mass-market Connected TV Industry that meets long term consumer expectations.”