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Nokia Announce Seven New Phones

Nokia Announce Seven New Phones In a veritable orgy of mobile manufacturing, Nokia has launched a grand total of seven new handsets, including a dual camera 3G device and their most feature-rich CDMA phone yet.

Four of the models use the ‘Matrix-style’ sliding design, which features a keyboard which slides out from under the display.

The phones are powered by the somewhat elderly Series 40 user interface, although the latest version of the O/S cranks up the eye candy, adds a new “Active Standby” home screen and bundles in support for applications written in Macromedia Flash Lite.

Nokia Announce Seven New Phones The 3G multimedia-tastic 6280 is a compact WCDMA/EDGE sliding handset sporting a 320 x 240 pixel screen, a 2 megapixel camera (with a VGA front camera for video calls), a removable mini-SD card and a built-in FM radio. It’s expected to appear on the shelves in the fourth quarter 2005 for EUR375.

Next up is the 6270, a quadband 2.5G slide phone with a 2-megapixel camera. The phone has similar specs to its more expensive cousin, with the same size screen, music playback and a built-in FM radio. Price is estimated at EUR300.

The 6265 is Nokia’s most feature-rich CDMA phone, with a 2 megapixel camera – complete with flash – and 176×144 pixel resolution video recording. The Nokia 6265 can play streaming video of up to 15 frames per second, and offers music layback, Bluetooth and miniSD memory storage (up to 1 gigabyte).

CDMA (code division multiple access) is the world’s second most common mobile phone technology after GSM and Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, Nokia’s executive VP and GM for mobile phones, said the company were committed to growing its CDMA mobile business, particularly in Asia Pacific and China

Nokia Announce Seven New Phones “The growth prospects on the CDMA front are extremely encouraging. The CDMA market is expected to grow at pace with the overall handset market and the global CDMA handset volume is expected to increase by 10 to 15 percent year-on-year in 2005,” he said.

Nokia Announce Seven New Phones The last of the slider phones is the 6111, which has more than a passing resemblance to the hugely successful i-mate JAM phone, although the screen is much smaller at 128×160 pixels. The camera contains a 1-megapixel camera and 6x digital zoom and retails for around EUR270.

All of the slider phones are expected to ship in the fourth quarter.

Nokia have also announced two entry-level CDMA designs, the folding 2255 and the compact 2125 (due to ship in the fourth the third quarters, respectively) and the Nokia 6060, a GSM clamshell model for basic voice functions.

Nokia

Sony Announce Four New Phones

Sony Announce Four New Phones On the same day that Nokia went forth and multiplied with seven new phones, rivals Sony Ericsson announced four new handsets, aimed at increasing its presence in the low end and mid-market sectors.

Sony Ericsson K608i The K608i 3G handset employs Sony Ericsson’s now-familiar dual use format, with the phone being used vertically for calls and horizontally for taking pictures.

The 1.3 megapixel camera includes an active lens cover for swift activation, with video calls taken care of via a dedicated video telephony button.

There’s a reasonably large 1.8 inch 262k colour TFT screen onboard, and the K608 comes bundled with the usual suite of business applications, PIM and PC-synchronisation tools (via USB or Bluetooth).

Gameloft’s Vijay Singh Pro Golf 2005 comes preloaded with the phone in the hope that customers’ chequebooks will form a yawning chasm in the direction of Sony Ericsson’s Fun & Downloads portals.

Sony Announce Four New Phones There’s 32MB of memory space on the phone for shunting on ringtones, wallpapers, still shots and video footage, with a built in music player and FM radio taking care of multimedia.

Sony Ericsson S600

The all-swivelling Sony Ericsson S600 phone is claimed to be “ready to party” with features “to enhance the lifestyles of those who live their lives to the fullest”.

Like an expensive marital aid, the phone also promises “maximum fun and excitement in an ultra stylish package” according to Sony Ericsson. It almost makes you wary of putting it next to your ear.

The tri-band phone employs the same ‘jack-knife’ mechanism seen in last year’s S700, although there’s no ‘Mean Streets’ spring-action on offer, which kind of spoils the effect.

Inside, there’s 176×220 pixel, 1.8″ wide, 262 K colour TFT screen with two stereo loudspeakers and a MegaBass function enhancing the sound.

Sony Announce Four New Phones The S600 comes with 64MB of onboard memory, but sadly, there’s no memory card on offer – presumably it’s been left off so as to not compete with the higher spec’ed K750 model.

Gamers might be enticed by the S600’s widescreen mode which enables games to be played horizontally on screen. There’s also support for multi-player peer-2-peer gaming via Bluetooth.

Finishing off the package is Bluetooth and USB 2.0 connectivity, a 1.3 megapixel camera, NetFront web browser, 40-tone polyphonic alert and a RDS FM radio.

Sony Ericsson Z520

Described as possessing “cool curves in a smooth shell”, the Sony Ericsson Z520 is a compact quad-band phone “for the fashion conscious.”

With worrying sexual undertones, Sony Ericsson’s announcement salivates over the “smooth sleek body” of the clamshell which, apparently, creates “a small and inviting handset” with the added bonus of an illuminated “rim of blue lights” (stop tittering at the back).

“The new Z520 is specifically designed for the stylish younger generation, particularly young women, who want to carry an attractive accessory just as much as a mobile communications device,” purred Jan Wareby, Corporate Executive, Vice President and Head of Sales and Marketing of Sony Ericsson.

Sony Announce Four New Phones Flipped open, the twin-display phone offers a 1.8″ 128 x 160 pixel, 65k colour, TFT main screen, supported by a 101 x 80 pixel, colour secondary display on the outside.

The phone supports Bluetooth, music playback, SMS, e-mail, video/photo MMS and web browsing.

In keeping with its intended audience, the Z520 can be accessorised with covers in Pale Blue, Sandy Grey, Ceramic White, Espresso Brown, Peach, Mint, Pale Yellow and Pale Pink. But no Death Metal Black.

Sony Ericsson J210

Last and, quite frankly, least is the J210, a no-frills, bargain basement handset, aimed at “practical phoners who value simplicity and reliability” according to Jan Wareby, Sony Ericsson’s Corporate Executive Vice President & Head of Sales and Marketing.

The tri-band handset offers a basic set of features with a near-microscopic 600KB of user memory onboard.

Sony Ericsson

OfCom Response To DCMS Green Paper on BBC Royal Charter: Comment

OfCom Response To DCMS Green Paper on BBC Royal Charter: Comment Ofcom’s press release accompanying their response to the DCMS green paper on BBC Royal charter was my first point for comment. It initially indicated to me Ofcom were sticking to:

* An institutional model of PSB (BBC fully-funded, cornerstone of PSB, key role in digital switchover, all things to all people, etc.);

* The much-derided PSP concept; and

* ‘The BBC is independent’ myth (Note the irony – this statement is otherwise contained in a document related to how the government will establish the funding, governance and remit of the BBC).

I wondered if I was being a little too hard on Ofcom. If there was original, evidence-based thinking in the document?

Once I’d had the opportunity of read through the whole document, combined with the benefit of reflection, my views changed slightly, leading me to the following conclusions.

1. Ofcom have produced more original thinking than I gave them credit for, initially, perhaps because the introduction and summary to the document are not as robust as its contents. Read on…

2. That being said, Ofcom in its response still embarrassingly clings to the discredited notion that PSB must be fostered by significant and prolonged state intervention in the form of subsidy. I agree with the Financial Times on that point. Will there always be a need for a multi-billion pound state subsidy to this sector?

3. Much of Ofcom’s thinking stems from a very questionable line of logic. Ofcom posit that PSB is in danger of becoming a BBC monopoly because the ‘implicit’ subsidy given to ITV and Channel Five is disappearing as the move to digital is underway. This line of argument is contained in Sections 2.4 through 2.11 of Ofcom’s response. I’ve never been convinced by this argument for two reasons: (i) recent empirical research by the Satellite and Cable Broadcasters Group (SCBG) demonstrated that PSB is being provided in abundance in the digital world without any subsidy and (ii) Channel 4 provides PSB and makes money. Ofcom’s statements–actually they are more like predictions–on this point have simply been unconvincing.

4. Someone should actually listen to what the SCBG has to say. These providers don’t receive scarce spectrum, don’t have must-carry status, and don’t receive public funds. Yet SCBG say their members produce 14,000 hours of PSB programming per month—more than all the terrestrial channels combined. The SCBG say:

[I]n the majority of programme genres that Ofcom defines as “public service broadcasting”, channels other than the BBC’s now provide most of the UK output: more than 60% of news and current affairs, more than 90% of documentaries, more than 80% of arts and music programmes. It follows that publicly funded broadcasting should now be limited to services, or to a quality of service, that the private economy cannot provide or would not provide in the absence of competing public subsidy.

This reflects the EU rules governing the use of State Aid, which require that publicly funded services such as the BBC’s must complement rather than substitute or duplicate provision by the market. Furthermore, where market developments supersede publicly funded provision, the BBC should withdraw from those services or activities and re-direct its valuable public resources to areas of activity where there is a proven market failure. While market failure should not be the only test applied to BBC services, it should provide the underpinning for all publicly funded BBC services. The absence of a market failure analysis raises significant questions as to the compatibility of the BBC’s publicly funded status with European State Aid rules.

5. Give Ofcom some credit – if the SCBG is wrong and instead Ofcom’s thinking is correct and PSB does require massive public subsidy, at least they have it right that the public subsidy should not all go to the BBC. Ofcom also propose a responsible structure to apportion that subsidy.

6. Give Ofcom more credit – they are keen to point out that the BBC’s role in the digital switchover process should not mean a government preference for Freeview over other digital platforms. Ofcom say the switchover should be platform neutral. Amen. Freeview stinks – I recently heard an influential observer charitably call it a ‘transitional technology’, and that’s really about the best you can say for it. Its capacity is limited; it’s not two-way; it has no worthwhile gaming applications, etc.

7. One more area where Ofcom deserve credit – suggesting to DCMS that it consider moving the review date for PSB funding to 2010 instead of post-digital switchover. Ofcom rightly realise that this is a fast-changing area and an earlier review will serve the public interest.

8. Finally, Ofcom say they want an ‘enhanced’ license fee for British viewers. An ‘enhanced fee’ – that can’t be a good thing, right? How much more will that cost us?

Russ Taylor is a co-founder of ofcomwatch.

Review of the BBC’s Royal Charter – Ofcom response to the Green Paper
Ofcom publishes response to Government Green Paper on BBC Royal Charter Press Release
BBC Charter Review

Freeview Breaks 5m Barrier. UK Digital TV Now ~62%

Freeview Breaks 5m Barrier. UK Digital TV Now ~62% Ofcom has today reported its quarterly figures on the rate of take-up of digital TV in the UK.

The number of homes that are connected to a digital TV service through some means has increased 2.5% to just short of 62% (61.9%). No big surprise there as this has been gradually increasing over the previous quarters.

The bigger news, we feel, is Freeview, the UK’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service reaching 5,059,350 homes – breaking the significant barrier of five million homes.

Freeview Breaks 5m Barrier. UK Digital TV Now ~62% This is bad news for Sky, as it’s starting to get close to the around 7.5m homes that they have. What’s worse news for them is in the detail of the report. Sky’s all-important ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) has dropped from £386 in Q4 2004 to £382 in Q1 2005. This might not sound huge, but for an organisation that is trying to constantly increase their ARPU, it’s not encouraging. Another figure of note is their rate of churn, that’s up to 11.1% form 9.6% in the previous quarter.

Xmas has previously been a strong time for Sky as people with little imagination and less conversation buy in Sky to keep them happy over the Turkey dinner.

Freeview Breaks 5m Barrier. UK Digital TV Now ~62% The growth of aerial-delivered Freeview has been gaining more momentum of late, still spearheaded by the BBC using the Freeview channels to first-show a lot of its content.

For the fact spotters, a minor point of interest is the number of old ITV Digital STB’s that are in use in the UK. This is in steadily decline since they went bust and is now running at 290,000, down 60,000 from 350,000 in the previous quarter.

I actually run one of these and have increasingly found problems with it as the ‘digital rust’ sets in – box freezes, etc. (I’m not looking for sympathy. The problems with the box are significantly offset by the fact that I paid the princely sum of 1p for it, timing its purchase, as I did, during the week of uncertainly before ITV Digital went bust).

Freeview Breaks 5m Barrier. UK Digital TV Now ~62% The breakdown of the figures is as follows

Sky Subscribers – 7,349,000 Freeview & free satellite – 5,504,350 Digital cable – ~2,500,00

Ofcom Digital Television Update – Q1 2005

V600i 3G UMTS Phone From Sony Ericsson and Vodafone

V600i 3G UMTS Phone From Sony Ericsson and Vodafone Rather immodestly self-declared as ‘beautifully designed’, Sony Ericsson and Vodafone have announced their new V600i 3G phone.

Designed to take advantage of Vodafone’s live content streaming, the none-more-black phone ships with a veritable bucketload of multimedia features to keep even the most attention-deficient consumers entertained.

The phone sports a ‘direct video telephony button’ for quick access to the movie/video calling applications, with the 1.8 inch – 262.000 colour TFD screen acting as a viewfinder.

Naturally, there’s a camera on board, with Sony Ericsson bolting on a 1.3 MegaPixel jobbie with an active lens cover for quick snapping and protection

The V600i offers full 3G functionality, with Vodafone hoping that users will form a crack-like addiction to downloading the audio, video, gaming and other lucrative mobile wares for sale on the Vodafone live! portal.

V600i 3G UMTS Phone From Sony Ericsson and Vodafone Subscribers can also take advantage of the content streamed from the Vodafone live! site, including live sports and music videos.

As is de rigeur these days, the phone can be customised with downloadable wallpapers, with the 32MB internal memory capable of storing a whole symphony of irritating ‘individual’ ring tones.

There’s also a built in FM radio with a 3D Java gaming engine offering multiplayer gaming via Bluetooth.

But – hey! – life’s not all about fun and games for time-poor, cash rich execs, so there’s a suite of business applications onboard which can be synchronised with PCs via USB.

V600i 3G UMTS Phone From Sony Ericsson and Vodafone Cutting edge office hipsters keen to perfect that Nathan Barely look can also take advantage of the V600i’s Bluetooth support and strap one – or, what the heck, maybe even two – daft Bluetooth hands-free units to their ears.

The V600i will be available in Vodafone stores from early Q3 2005 onwards.

Sony Ericsson
Vodafone

TalkTalk Attacks BT Landline Market

TalkTalk Challenges BT Landline Market There’s a big battle going on for your landline, with the Carphone Warehouse limbering up to get in some telling punches into BT’s sector dominance.

TalkTalk UK – Carphone’s fixed line subsidiary – is looking to snaffle ten per cent of the UK’s fixed line market within the next three years, after recording what they describe as an “outstanding year”.

The company has soared into profit in only its second year of operation, despite hefty investment and marketing costs, with more than 920,000 fixed line users generating revenues of £123.6m (~US$225m~€183m).

Heady on success, sharp suited TalkTalk execs have sent the flipcharts flapping and come up with an ambitious target of signing up two million residential consumers by March 2008 – that’s one in ten of the UK’s fixed line market.

TalkTalk also plans to simplify the process for customers paying their call charges and line rental on a single bill – or “terminating the billing relationship with BT” as they like to call it.

TalkTalk Challenges BT Landline Market Chief exec Charles Dunstone was ready with a quote: “We are now well on the way to developing a broad-based telecoms group, providing mobile and fixed line services to individuals and businesses across ten countries.”

“We have now proved that TalkTalk has all the ingredients to become the major alternative force in UK residential communications, and further regulatory change over the next year should allow us to move to the next level in both scale and range of service.”

The parent company, Carphone Warehouse, have also released bumper figures, reporting a 33.8% rise in pre-tax profits to £102.1 million (~US$185m ~€151m) in the 12 months to the end of March, against £76.3 million (~US$138m ~€113m) for the same period a year ago.

Turnover hopped, skipped and jumped up 27% per cent to £2.35 billion, operating profit soared up 45% to £107 million (~US$195m ~€158m), with Carphone Warehouse signing up 6.5 million new customers to mobile and fixed-line telephone services during the period (21.6 per cent higher than new connections for the previous year).

TalkTalk Challenges BT Landline Market Crucially, revenues from telecoms services were up 45% to £804 million (~US$1,462m ~€1,190m), with operating profit flying up 50% to £22.5 million (~US$41m ~€33m).

“Our year-to-date connections growth of 20 per cent is particularly encouraging, especially in the context of a weaker consumer environment in the UK,” purred Charles Dunstone. “We remain confident of the outlook,” he added, before announcing that he was selling his first tranche of 6 million shares, or 2 percent, in the company.

Talk Talk UK
Carphone Warehouse

Apple To Use Intel Chips

Apple To Use Intel Chips The rumours have been floating around the Internet for weeks, but it now seems certain that Apple will announce later today that it will be switching its computers to Intel’s.

The move, certain to get some Mac diehards crying into their single button mouses, means the end of Apple’s partnership with IBM, whose PowerPC processors have powered Macs since 1994.

Insiders report that there will be a phased transition to Intel’s chips, with Apple planning to move lower-end computers like the Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 with beefier models like the Power Mac moving over in mid-2007.

The story first surfaced last month in the Wall Street Journal, but many analysts laughed it off saying that the move would be both difficult and risky.

But the rumours persisted, fuelled by comments by Anand Chandrasekher, VP and GM of Intel’s Mobile Platforms Group at the Computex trade show in Taipei last week.

Apple To Use Intel Chips When asked about the deal he said that the company has long pursued a deal with Apple, adding, “We always talk to Apple. Apple is a design win that we’ve coveted for 20 years and we continue to covet them as a design win. We will never give up on Apple.”

This isn’t the first time that Apple have shifted processors, with the company successfully changing over from Motorola’s 680×0 line of processors to the Power line (jointly made by IBM and Motorola) in the 1990s.

The switch seems to be have been prompted by several factors. IBM had previously been publicly slapped down by Apple for their chip delivery problems, and Apple’s plans for a wide variety of PowerPC processors wasn’t going down well with the Big Blue, who harboured doubts about the profitability of a low-volume business.

Although the loss of the Mac businesses is something of a slap in the face with a wet fish to IBM, shareholders can be consoled by the fact that the Power family processors will be used in future gaming consoles from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo.

Intel remains the Big Cheese of the PC processor business, hogging an 81.7 percent market share in the first quarter of 2005, compared with 16.9 percent for Advanced Micro Devices, according to recent research.

PowerPC processors aren’t included in these numbers, but Apple only have around 1.8 percent of the worldwide PC market.

Steve Jobs will be making his announcement at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference later today.

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference
Apple
Intel

Broadband Beats Dial-Up In The UK

Broadband Overtakes Dial Up In The UK Research from BT shows that the number of users connecting to the Internet via broadband has overtaken dial-up subscriptions for the first time, with 7.4 million broadband customers (including cable) now online.

The figures, released by the BT Group, reveal that it has taken just over three years for broadband connections to overtake dial-up, with millions bidding farewell to “KKKKK-ER-ZRRRR-WEEIR!” modem dial up sounds for the silent, swift appeal of always-on broadband.

The speed of uptake has been accelerated by the intense competition from a host of high-speed Internet service providers, all offering customer-tempting speedier connections and services at ever-falling prices.

Initially, broadband availability was geographically limited, but according to Ben Verwaayen, the chief executive of BT, connections are now available to 99.6 per cent of the UK population, “equivalent to the proportion with running water.”

Businesses have been quick to take advantage of broadband’s ability to handle significantly more data than dial-up, with always-on connectivity delivering commercial advantages in the global markets.

Broadband Overtakes Dial Up In The UK High speed connections are also good news to those selling goods and services online, with an explosive growth in the consumer market for buying media online, such as films, music and television.

Mr Verwaayen said: “I know people’s memories are short but I don’t think that anybody three years ago had even the faintest hope this would happen. I remember when I came into BT [April 2002] it was not in anyone’s imagination.”

Cash is still rolling into broadband investment, with Cable & Wireless announcing last week that it would be shelling out another £70m (~US$127m ~€m)to expand its Bulldog broadband brand.

Bulldog is currently handling 14,000 customer orders a month after launching last year at a cost of £41m (~US$74m, ~€103m).

BT remains the Big Cheese of the broadband world in the UK, boasting 1.7 million broadband subscribers of its own, with its network supplying a further 3.7 million broadband connections for other Internet service providers.

Broadband Overtakes Dial Up In The UK Two million cable customers now enjoy broadband connectivity through NTL and Telewest.

Mr Verwaayen wrapped things up: “We have to take the internet out of the domain of the geek and into the normal world. That’s the journey we are on. After that you can increase the multiplier effect of broadband in the economy. “It’s great to have overtaken dial-up, that’s another step, but it’s still in its early days.”

BT Group
Bulldog Broadband

Vodafone 7100v: Upgrading Its Software And Syncing With PocketMac Blackberry

Vodafone 7100v: Upgrading Its Software And Syncing With PocketMac Blackberry Following on from my recent detailed review of the Vodafone 7100v Blackberry, I thought it would be worth passing on a few tips I’d learnt over the process. One attempting to reassure readers through the scary process of upgrading the operating system on the 7100 Blackberry; the other, a solution for syncing your information with an Apple Mac – not something that is natively supported by RIM or Vodafone.

Upgrading the software on a Vodafone 7100v Blackberry
Before properly using the Blackberry, I paid a visit to the Blackberry Web site and downloaded the latest software update for my handheld. This is one of the things with advanced devices such as this: they get to be so much like computers that they have new software upgrades available on a regular basis.

Upgrading the software on the handset was quite a daunting experience, because my 7100v refused to connect correctly. I would get repeated error messages, saying it wasn’t connected properly, and the only way to get it connected was to unplug and then reconnect the cable from the handset.

Updating the software on the Blackberry essentially wipes everything off the device before putting new software on, there were a few occasions when I thought, “oh dash, I’ve broken it” because nothing seemed to be responding. These worries proved to be unfounded, as after a few minutes I was greeted by the Vodafone logo appearing on-screen signaling success of the upgrade process.

Syncing (with a Mac)
After updating the software, which by the way you need a Windows computer for, I set about syncing the Blackberry with my Mac. My existing phone, the Sony Ericsson P910i, works correctly out of the box with Mac OS X’s iSync application, syncing wirelessly over Bluetooth within a few seconds.

The 7100v, although it has Bluetooth, doesn’t have a Bluetooth synchronization profile, which in my mind is something the Blackberry developers should have thought about, as it would have been a relatively easy software fix. As a result of this, the Blackberry wouldn’t sync with iSync and the cable wouldn’t work either, as iSync had no drivers for it.

A little research on the Internet revealed a company by the name of PocketMac who make Mac/Blackberry sync software. Upon request, they kindly sent me a free license key for their software, which then allowed me to seamlessly sync my address book and calendar from my Mac to my Blackberry.

PocketMac Blackberry in operation
I did have one or two issues with it initially, but these were to do with using Apple’s new released operating system update, Tiger, which has a new version of iCal, a calendar application, which initially refused to work with PocketMac.

Some lateral thinking was needed – by getting iCal to sync to Entourage, the Mac equivalent of Outlook on Windows, and then telling PocketMac to sync calendars from Entourage, I got it working.

Despite the Tiger problem, that they tell me will be fixed soon, I was impressed with PocketMac Blackberry. It fills a large gap left by RIM’s lack of Mac support.

PocketMac Blackberry
Vodafone 7100v Blackberry