Showing posts with label Nokia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nokia. Show all posts

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Apple, Samsung Verdict: Implications?


Will Samsung appeal? Will there be judicial review of the amount? There was when the jury awarded billions to Oracle in its fight with SAP.

Will the appeal last a long time? How long?

This is Google's loss more than Samsung's. If Android came before the iOS, why is Android losing legal battles?

Samsung has to take this decision through the appeal process.

If an injunction were to take effect, how exactly would you apply it? Do we see empty stores? How does that work? It feels Soviet.

I can easily see conflicting verdicts on the same tussle around the world.

Samsung Galaxy S III is a superior phone to the iPhone 4. Will not iPhone 5 have copied the Samsung Galaxy S III? Because, when you copy, you can only hope to be as good, if that.

Samsung is not a clear loser. But Google is. For simply not fighting back hard enough.

A Verdict That Alters an Industry
Samsung .. lost on almost every count ..... Google, which makes the Android software that runs at the core of Samsung phones, will clearly feel an impact .... Most popular smartphones today are a slab of glass and metal controlled through a touch-screen full of icons arrayed on the screen. .... the user interface — the icons and other features that users see and touch — of the Nokia Windows phones look distinctly different from the iPhone. Nokia, a longtime maker of phones, also has a thick portfolio of patents to protect itself. .... Android phones are the most common smartphones on the market today. Samsung is the world’s largest maker of smartphones and it has been quickly gaining market share. Collectively, the various Android phones from Samsung and other makers easily outsell Apple’s iPhones. .... While Google is not involved in this case, Apple was clearly going after Android all along .... “It’s not good news for Google ..... Apple’s real target is the Android ecosystem, the Android world, everything having to do with Androids. That’s really what they are targeting here.”
Jury Awards $1 Billion to Apple in Samsung Patent Case
That is not a big financial blow to Samsung ..... Consumers could end up with some welcome diversity in phone and tablet design — or they may be stuck with devices that manufacturers have clumsily revamped to avoid crossing Apple. ...... Samsung said it would ask the court to overturn the verdict and, if that is unsuccessful, appeal to a higher court. ..... Because Samsung was found to have willfully infringed Apple patents, the judge in the case could grant an Apple request to triple the damages Samsung is required to pay, though lawyers said the size of the initial award made this less likely. ....... the eye-popping award, one of the largest ever in a patent case .... Apple’s suit against Samsung, the world’s largest maker of smartphones, has partly been viewed as a proxy war against Google ..... Apple is expected to ask the judge in the Samsung case for an injunction preventing Samsung from shipping products that infringe on Apple’s patents. The verdict could also bolster Apple’s legal attacks on Android devices from other companies. ..... the iPhone inspired a major effort by the Korean manufacturer to overhaul its mobile phones. .... The verdict in the trial hardly concludes the legal battles over patents among companies in the mobile business. There are dozens of such cases winding their way through the courts; Samsung and Apple have also been battling in Germany, Australia and elsewhere. Even so, Samsung remains a major supplier of components for Apple products. ..... Samsung said in a statement that the decision was a “loss for the American consumer.” ...... “It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices,” the company said. “This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple’s claims.”
Counterintuitive: Did Samsung emerge a winner?
Samsung may have come out ahead even with the court loss. ..... Samsung also sells an array of products that Apple doesn’t and setting up the comparison with Apple worked out well for the entire company ..... “It only cost $1 billion to become the #2 most profitable mobile company. Remember how much Microsoft paid for Skype? $8 billion. So, for 1/8th of a Skype Samsung took RIM’s place and kicked HTC’s behind…I bet that RIM wishes it had copied the iPhone a lot sooner than it did. So does Nokia, I bet. Samsung is a much healthier company than any of those BECAUSE it copied the iPhone” ....... Samsung does $1 billion in revenue every 2.4 days. .... PR win: Any phone Samsung launches will be super hyped — and compared to Apple ..... could actually help cement Samsung’s place atop the global smartphone market. As a “fast executioner”, Samsung should be able to churn out new devices that don’t infringe on Apple patents and avoid any potential ban. ..... more than a dozen pending cases elsewhere around the globe, the Samsung brand has gained recognition — as an equal to Apple rather than merely a supplier.
Samsung’s exposure: It can survive the Apple hit
Samsung is much more than a phone maker, but its smartphone business has been a growth juggernaut in recent years as its Galaxy line has emerged as the flagship brand for Android phones and the iPhone’s one legitimate challenger in the smartphone wars. ...... If Apple’s patents are held to be valid, Samsung could be forced to redesign its phones and their user interfaces. It’s found a recipe for success in the Galaxy line, but now it may have to change up the ingredients.

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Thursday, August 02, 2012

RIM's Options



"Getting it" is not enough. It is said the top people at Sony all "get it." They all know exactly what needs to be done. But the dysfunctional corporate culture gets in the way. When a company is on a downswing much damage gets done to its corporate culture. A turnaround is not just about "getting it."

I don't have any particular insight into where RIM's corporate culture stands today. But as for vision, there seem to be a few options.

The obvious one is to claw back into the smartphone space. How do you do that? Do you get rid of the physical keyboard? What do you do? How do you compete with the iPhone? Do you ditch the keyboard a-n-d jump onto the Android bandwagon? And become a hardware company? I don't think that is in the cards. RIM wants to continue doing both hardware and software. Well, first, it wants to survive.

Is there room? Is there room in the smartphone space for a Nokia? A Microsoft? A RIM? How do you differentiate? Those are hard questions I don't have answers for.

Another option would be to take RIM's resources and go into something else. Do a fundamental rethink and become a company that produces something else. Or break the company into a hundred different startups.

When Steve Jobs went back to Apple he did not try to win the PC war. He instead created the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. There is always that next big thing.


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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The $100 Price Point For The Smartphone

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 11:  A person holds a new  ...Image by Getty Images via @daylife$200 does not feel right. Microsoft and Nokia will have a huge advantage that they seem to want to enter the market at the $100 price point.

Microsoft Finally Cracked The Phone

A $200 price point is actually a $600 price point. Only they don't charge you up front. You pay month after month for two years.

BGR: AT&T’s Q1 2012 roadmap: Nokia Lumia 900 to launch March 18th for $99.99
That price point would make this sleek smartphone an absolute game-changer for Windows Phone ..... Nokia could easily have a hit on its hands when this handset launches later this quarter.
If Android is free why are the good Android phones the same price as the iPhone?

The real stickler though is the monthly price. There Republic Wireless has nailed it. Only they are not a reality in the market yet. $19 a month is a good price point there.

Republic Wireless, Galaxy Nexus And Tardiness

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Robert Scoble And The Windows Phone

While Apple has not listened to my complaints ...Image via WikipediaBusiness Insider: Here's Why Robert Scoble And The Rest Of The Pundits Are Wrong: Windows Phone Will Be A Success
Robert Scoble, for example, dismisses any study that predicts the success of Windows Phone and its eventual triumph over iOS in market share. "It is missing 450,000 apps" is Scoble’s primary argument. That and, "None of my friends are talking about it." ..... the majority of the tech press is already rooting for Windows Phone, especially after CES..... Windows Phone has 50,000 compared to iOS’ 500,000 and Android’s 400,000...... Windows Phone Marketplace was the fastest growing app store with over 400% growth. ...... the development tools/environment of Windows Phone is easier and more efficient than Android by leaps and bounds...... Nokia is busy selling a million devices a day in places people have never even heard of the iPhone ..... Oh, and that very same model of selling mobile phones in volume at a small margin? Yeah, Nokia and Microsoft are bringing that model to the U.S market now...... no one makes a phone like Nokia does. The Lumia 900 and its siblings just set the bar for mobile hardware extremely high. Good luck, Samsung....... the most unique UI of any mobile OS since the first iPhone was introduced. The live tiles give you quick access to your information, and the whole Metro UI just works....... We like to think of this tech and mobile industry as a “Game over” situation with Android and iOS as the clear winners but the truth is, this space is in its diapers and what the market looks like now will in no way resemble the mobile market of 2015
Robert Scoble: What +Hillel Fuld doesn't know about Windows Phone and its chances in the market
I had dinner with Skype's CEO on Thursday night. He told me that Skype won't support the current version of Windows Phone. This gets to the heart of my "apps matter."
I happen to think the Windows Phone has a shot at emerging the third player in the smartphone space. But it might take longer than Microsoft thinks. We will likely have a better picture by the end of the year.

Microsoft Finally Cracked The Phone

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Microsoft Finally Cracked The Phone

The Start screen of Windows PhoneImage via WikipediaIt is like Google finally cracked social with Google Plus. Microsoft, long ridiculed, might finally have something to offer in the phone space. And because of its alliance with Nokia, that has global implications. As in, they could scale fast. Watch out. There is a third player in the game now.

The New York Times: The Critics Rave ... for Microsoft?
While the likes of Apple have captured our imaginations with nifty products like the iPhone, Microsoft has produced a long list of flops, from smart wristwatches to the Zune music player to the Kin phones....... Unlike other handset makers creating devices with Microsoft’s software, Nokia is not also developing Android phones. ..... The next major version of software for PC’s, Windows 8, will look a lot like Windows Phone, which Microsoft hopes will help it work better on tablet devices. A Windows Phone-like makeover was also part of the new software update for Xbox, which along with Kinect is one of Microsoft’s few consumer hits. ....... The tale of how Microsoft created Windows Phone starts with the introduction of the iPhone, in 2007...... Windows Mobile had a complex array of on-screen menus, including a start button for applications that was borrowed from Windows PCs. The software ran on sluggish devices that had physical keyboards and, in some cases, styluses. ....... Once the iPhone exploded into the marketplace, Microsoft executives knew that their software, as designed, could never compete. ....... The decision was to start from scratch, a move that had serious consequences. Not only did it delay a Windows phone, it gave Google an opening to woo Microsoft handset partners to Android. ......... the Zune HD came out years too late, well after the iPod had cemented its lead. ...... Microsoft gave its handset partners detailed specifications of the types of technical innards required, including processors with certain amounts of power and screen technologies. Handset makers grumbled about the rules, but the result was phones that ran better. ........ “The company is being somewhat bold and saying what worked for them in 1992 won’t work now.” ....... this year is crucial; it will show whether a respected product is enough to help Microsoft make up for lost time. Even if it feels good to be a favorite of tech critics for a change, Microsoft needs a blockbuster in the mobile business, not a cult hit.
I think Microsoft finally has a mainstream product in the space. That would be a first.

Engadget: Nokia Lumia 900 coming to AT&T, further details expected on Monday
The Nokia Blog: NYT: Nokia Lumia 900 Going Official January 9th, Sleek & Metallic

BusinessWeek: Nokia Said to Announce Plans for First Microsoft Phone for AT&T
..... the device may sell for $249 with a two-year contract ....
The Verge: NYT confirms Nokia Lumia 900, headed to AT&T
..... if the rumors hold, we're looking at a 4.3-inch WVGA display, 512MB of RAM, and 8-megapixel camera, all running Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Microsoft's Alliances And Acquisitions

Image representing Steve Ballmer as depicted i...Image via CrunchBase
Forbes: Nokia’s Smartphone Chief On Microsoft Alliance, Future Windows Devices: the Finnish giant’s transition from its homegrown Symbian platform to Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system ....... The future of Nokia and, to a certain extent, of Microsoft’s mobile ambitions largely hinges on the success of the two companies’ alliance. ..... several Nokia devices were already running Mango, the latest version of Windows Phone software. ...... the first batch of Nokia Windows Phones will be a “small portfolio” of multiple devices. ...... Nokia was an early advocate for NFC, which enables phones to wirelessly exchange data such as payment information, mobile tickets, business card contacts and website links. ...... Early Nokia Windows Phones may also include a China-specific device.
Microsoft allied with Nokia, the number one name in mobile phone hardware. Nokia was struggling under the onslaught of smartphones and it looked like Android was about to take over the world. And Microsoft was largely missing in action. The Windows phone was widely considered a joke.

Bing - But It's Not Google - used to be an industry joke as well. Search was best left to Google.

Windows and Office looked passe. Chrome was coming. Google Apps were all over the place. The smart crowd was into Google Apps.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Apple Refuses To Get Categorized

Image representing Nokia as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBaseInstagram Wave
TechCrunch: Before It Even Begins, Apple Wins SXSW: Apple will be opening a temporary store in downtown Austin for two weeks beginning on yes, Friday, March 11. This will be in the Scarbrough Building on Congress Avenue ...... Work began on the 5,000 square-foot space on Wednesday, and they’ll undoubtedly be working around the clock to get the space done in time. ..... to sell a metric ton of iPad 2s. ...... If there’s one thing SXSW is good for, it’s for flash mobs and hive-think. Once a few people see others with iPad 2s in their hands, everyone is going to want one. This temporary Apple Store is probably going to be the hottest venue in Austin for the week. ..... I just hope the temporary store has the rock-solid free WiFi that regular stores do.
What is Apple? Is it a PC company? Is it a post-PC company? Is it a smartphone company? Is it a hardware company? Is it a software company? Apple refuses to get categorized. In that it reminds me of Nokia.

Friday, February 04, 2011

Smartphones: Cheap Is Good

Image representing Android as depicted in Crun...Image via CrunchBaseThe idea is to get the phone out to as many people as possible. If almost everybody has a smartphone then we are talking. Then we got critical mass. And the way to get there is through super cheap smartphones. I am glad we are headed that way.

GigaOm: The Future of Cheap Androids Begins Now
we’ll need to see unsubsidized handsets priced at or under $100 that can be used on a month-to-month basis ..... in Europe and elsewhere, it’s not uncommon to buy a phone, then purchase a SIM card from whichever carrier is currently offering the cheapest voice and data rates ..... By 2013, we expect 1 GHz smartphones to be available for $100. ..... By the end of this year, I expect to see no-contract Android devices costing $99 or less, paired with reasonably priced pre-paid plans.
The worst idea the smartphone industry ever came up with has been the two year contract. Phones go stale in six months, a year max.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Offshoring The Wind Harvesting: Google Wind

Vestas wind turbine, Dithmarschen.Image via Wikipedia
Christian Science Monitor: Will Google wind power project harm wildlife? Depends on location.: The mid-Atlantic venture would position wind turbines at least 12 to 15 miles offshore, which means they would not be easily visible from land. ..... 6,000 megawatts .... equivalent to five nuclear power plants .... “It is so much better than each of the wind generators building their own transmission lines all over the seabed.”
Nokia did not start out a cellphone company. Nokia as a company has gone through many incarnations, in fact so many that its founders will not be able to recognize the Nokia of today. Google might have started out as a search engine, but these forays far and wide are welcome. This not only makes corporate sense, but this is also Google being a good citizen. This is Google turning Don't Be Evil into an active verb.
Wall Street Journal: Google’s Wind Project Got Lift From Vail Ski Trip: a planned giant wind farm designed to run 350 miles along the Eastern seaboard .... laying undersea cables to connect the wind turbines to electrical grids on land ..... 1,200 to 2,000 wind turbines
Google Earth. Google TV. Google Car. Google Wind. I say bring it on.
Google Blog: The wind cries transmission: offers a solid financial return ..... both good business and good for the environment ..... equivalent to 60% of the wind energy that was installed in the entire country last year ..... superhighway for clean energy. .... stronger and steadier winds offshore. .... Mid-Atlantic region ..... offers more than 60,000 MW of offshore wind potential in relatively shallow waters that extend miles out to sea. .....

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Friday, September 03, 2010

A Fragmenting Web?

www,domain,internet,web,netImage via Wikipedia

The web is not dying, (Dead Web?) and it is not fragmenting in an alarming way. What is happening can be compared to biological evolution over long periods of time. The end result is a richer ecosystem. The same is happening to the web. (Is The Mobile Web In A Category Of Its Own?)

The iPhone apps do not take away from the web. They might be these little, walled gardens but those little, walled gardens - most of them - do interact with the web in limited ways if not fully.

The birth of the web was like the Big Bang. There is no going back. I am not worried.
The Economist: The Future Of The Internet: A Virtual Counter-Revolution: The internet was a wide-open space, a new frontier. For the first time, anyone could communicate electronically with anyone else—globally and essentially free of charge. Anyone was able to create a website or an online shop, which could be reached from anywhere in the world using a simple piece of software called a browser, without asking anyone else for permission. The control of information, opinion and commerce by governments—or big companies, for that matter—indeed appeared to be a thing of the past. ........ the “cloud” is code for all kinds of digital services generated in warehouses packed with computers, called data centres, and distributed over the internet. ...... Only Apple’s latest iSomethings seem to inspire religious fervour ...... it appears to be balkanising, torn apart by three separate, but related forces. ..... governments are increasingly reasserting their sovereignty ...... big IT companies are building their own digital territories, where they set the rules and control or limit connections to other parts of the internet ...... network owners would like to treat different types of traffic differently, in effect creating faster and slower lanes on the internet. ...... Before the internet and the world wide web came along, this balkanised model was also the norm online. For a long time, for instance, AOL and CompuServe would not even exchange e-mails. ..... had telecoms firms, for instance, suspected how big it would become, they might have tried earlier to change its rules ...... Individuals have access to more information than ever, communicate more freely and form groups of like-minded people more easily. ...... In a more closed and controlled environment, an Amazon, a Facebook or a Google would probably never have blossomed as it did. ...... China’s “great firewall”. The Chinese authorities are using the same technology that companies use to stop employees accessing particular websites and online services. ........ allowed domain names entirely in other scripts. This makes things easier for people in, say, China, Japan or Russia, but marks another step towards the renationalisation of the internet. ...... Try viewing a television show on Hulu, a popular American video service, from Europe and it will tell you: “We’re sorry, currently our video library can only be streamed within the United States.” ..... “net neutrality”..... one of the internet’s founding principles: that every packet of data, regardless of its contents, should be treated the same way, and the best effort should always be made to forward it...... “the Tony Soprano vision of networking”... If operators were allowed to charge for better service, they could extort protection money from every website. ..... large internet firms like Amazon and Google have long redirected traffic onto private fast lanes that bypass the public internet to speed up access to their websites. ....... net neutrality has become far more politically controversial in America than it has elsewhere. This is a reflection of the relative lack of competition in America’s broadband market. .....“A technology is invented, it spreads, a thousand flowers bloom, and then someone finds a way to own it, locking out others.” ...... Android, Google’s smart-phone platform, which is less closed than Apple’s, is growing rapidly and gained more subscribers in America than the iPhone in the first half of this year. Intel and Nokia, the world’s biggest chipmaker and the biggest manufacturer of telephone handsets, are pushing an even more open platform called MeeGo. And as mobile devices and networks improve, a standards-based browser could become the dominant access software on the wireless internet as well.... There is just too much value in universal connectivity .... just as world trade can collapse if there is too much protectionism.
This article just tells me why Android is so important and why net neutrality is worth fighting for.

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Saturday, July 17, 2010

News: July 17

Image representing ReadWriteWeb as depicted in...Image via CrunchBase
ReadWriteWeb

The New Digg: What It Means For Power Users & Publishers
10 Inspiring TED Talks for Startups
Ben & Jerry's: How a Big Brand Explores Augmented Reality
Google Launches App to Let Users Share Open Parking Spots
Twitter Launching Analytics Product Soon
The Future of Tech According to Kids: Immersive, Intuitive and Surprisingly Down-to-Earth
Augmented Reality Becoming More Like the Read/Write Web
How Steve Ballmer Ruined the Cloud and the World Cup
RFID Helps Indian Company Trap Ghost Workers
Google Makes Major Semantic Web Play, Acquires Freebase Operators Metaweb
3 Deadly Mistakes made by SaaS Providers
Apple: Free Cases for All

AllThingsD

Facebook Will Announce 500 Million Users Next Week With “Facebook Stories”
Gizmodo to Cooperate With Probe Into Lost iPhone Prototype
Justin Bieber’s “Baby” the Most-Watched YouTube Video Ever, So Far
Jobs Feels Like He’s Been Through a Tear-Down
Jobs: Nobody’s Perfect (But We’re Very Close)
AMD: After Hours Gains Gone; Focus Turns To Processor Delay
Shhh! Google Buys Metaweb to Boost Search Results
Apple’s iPhone 4 Solution: Free Cases For Everyone!
Hey! Did You Know a Lot of People Used Twitter During the World Cup?
The Only Problem With Droid X Reception? Too Darn Warm.
Apple’s “Just Encase” Answer to iPhone 4 Complaints
Japanese Author Skirts Publishers With iPad Novel
The Facebook Movie Is a Money Maker for Twitter
Venture Capitalist’s New Frontier: Where Cellphones Meet Retailing
AMD Posts Sharply Higher Sales
Paul Allen, Microsoft Co-Founder, Pledges Fortune to Philanthropy

Engadget

iPhone 4 proximity sensor fix in the works
RIM co-CEOs pull no punches responding to Apple's antenna statements
Jobs: 'no one's going to buy' a big phone
iPhone 4 coming to Canada and 16 other countries July 30th
Apple: iPhone 4 drops 'less than one additional call per 100 than the 3GS'
iPhone 4 proximity sensor fix in the works
iPhone 4 sales: 3 million and counting, 1.7 percent returned
Apple affirms: no software fix for iPhone 4 antenna issue
Xbox 360 sales increase 88 percent in June, give it US console crown for the month
Google halting Nexus One official store sales after current inventory depleted
Nokia: 'we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict'
2011 Subaru Outback gains in-car WiFi option, strange Maine birds not included
Toyota and Tesla plan to bring electric RAV4 to market in 2012
Sony Alpha A390 and A290 DSLRs hands-on
Boxee's first production Box gets shown off to the world (video)

ArsTechnica

iPhone 4 antenna: unanswered questions, unearned trust
Mercury flyby maps new territory
4G data caps: not here yet, but likely to come
Ocean bacteria may create as much methane as they destroy
What happens when we run out of oil and coal?
Grades don't drop for college Facebook fiends
Funding overhaul aims at fast broadband for rural healthcare
Electric vehicle, battery makers get charge out of stimulus
Droid X first impressions: nice hardware, Motorola
iOS 4.0.1 tweaks bar display, doesn't fix signal drop
Clear Channel: Internet means we get to buy more radio stations
Users of location services worried about robberies, stalking

VentureBeat

Boxee shows off final version of its video streaming Boxee Box (video)
Facebook co-founder Moskovitz says movie has more sex, booze
Nokia kicks Apple while it’s down, says it prioritizes antenna performance over looks
Apple does have a sense of humor with “antennagate” (video)
Even during iPhone 4 damage control, Steve Jobs is a skillful onstage presenter (video)
Intel snags former Palm and Apple VP Mike Bell for smartphone plans
Google acquires MetaWeb, says Freebase will become “more open”
New report: VC investing bouncing back in Q2
Samsung strategist Omar Khan talks superphones (video)
Roundup: Firefox comes to the iPhone, MySpace gets a makeover and more
SGN launches Skies of Glory as the first cross-platform Android-iPhone game
Apple won’t recall iPhone 4 despite reception problems, WSJ says
California sues Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for blocking green energy initiative

GigaOm

Is the Difference Between MySpace and Facebook Black and White?
Four Business Tips From Apple's Steve Jobs
Why Google Launched App Inventor
The State of Open Source for the Smart Grid
Hulu Plus on the PS3: Less Content Than on the Web
Google Gets Semantic: Buys Metaweb
Surprise: World Cup Final Fails to Set Another Peak Tweeting Record
The Email Signature: From Efficient to Overkill
Google’s App Inventor: Escalating the Mobile Ad War?
Google Bows to Criticism, Changes Google News Design
When it Comes to Broadband, UK Still A Laggard
Seed-Stage Investments Jump Sharply in Q2 2010
Video: Chris Sacca Helps Founders Cash Out Shares Early
Esquire Misses the Point on Twitter and the World Cup
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