Test & Validate Mobile Content and Services Directly From Your Desktop with a Free Version of MITE (Mobile Interactive Testing Environment)
Free Access to Over 1,600 Device Profiles and 11,000 User Agent Strings
Keynote Also Announces an Advanced Version of MITE with Aircard Support for Connecting to Live Carrier Networks, Automated Script Testing and Advanced Technical Support
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Sony Ericsson says Android phone to take time
HELSINKI, April 17 (Reuters) - Sony Ericsson will take some time developing a phone using Google's Android operating system, its chief executive said on Friday, but declined to say when such a handset would be available.
Most handset vendors are rushing out phones using Android software, hoping to benefit from consumer demand, but Sony Ericsson said it would be some time before its own offering was launched.
"It does require a lot of evaluation, as well as a lot of testing, a lot of acceptance from a consumer viewpoint, and there is still some time to go," Chief Executive Hideki Komiyama told Reuters in an interview.
"Looking ahead I think that we see this as one of the important operating systems, there is no doubt," he said.
Loss-making Sony Ericsson, a joint venture of Japan's Sony Corp and Sweden's Ericsson, has decided to use three operating systems in its high-end phones -- Symbian, Android and Microsoft's Windows Mobile.
"Our focus is on how can we differentiate from the competitors using the same operating system," Komiyama said, adding the firm was focusing its investments on user experience and user interface.
Sony Ericsson reported earlier on Friday a deep loss for January-March and said it aims to cut some 20 percent of jobs as it looks to return to profit.
Most handset vendors are rushing out phones using Android software, hoping to benefit from consumer demand, but Sony Ericsson said it would be some time before its own offering was launched.
"It does require a lot of evaluation, as well as a lot of testing, a lot of acceptance from a consumer viewpoint, and there is still some time to go," Chief Executive Hideki Komiyama told Reuters in an interview.
"Looking ahead I think that we see this as one of the important operating systems, there is no doubt," he said.
Loss-making Sony Ericsson, a joint venture of Japan's Sony Corp and Sweden's Ericsson, has decided to use three operating systems in its high-end phones -- Symbian, Android and Microsoft's Windows Mobile.
"Our focus is on how can we differentiate from the competitors using the same operating system," Komiyama said, adding the firm was focusing its investments on user experience and user interface.
Sony Ericsson reported earlier on Friday a deep loss for January-March and said it aims to cut some 20 percent of jobs as it looks to return to profit.
Samsung has adopted the VIA Nano processor
Samsung has adopted the VIA Nano processor, made by Taiwan's VIA Technologies, in the new Samsung NC20 mini-notebook.
Combining the power efficiency of the 1.3+GHz VIA Nano processor with the VIA VX800 system media processor, the Samsung NC20 also features a 1280×800 12.1″ display in a portable device that weighs 1.52 kilograms.
Mobility is enhanced by 802.11b/g and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and a six-cell battery that provides up to 6.5 hours of use independent of any power supply, while storage options include either a solid state disk or a SATA hard disk drive.
Combining the power efficiency of the 1.3+GHz VIA Nano processor with the VIA VX800 system media processor, the Samsung NC20 also features a 1280×800 12.1″ display in a portable device that weighs 1.52 kilograms.
Mobility is enhanced by 802.11b/g and Bluetooth wireless connectivity, and a six-cell battery that provides up to 6.5 hours of use independent of any power supply, while storage options include either a solid state disk or a SATA hard disk drive.
Monday, April 20, 2009
JIL added Verizon
The development of mobile widgets has taken a giant step forward following the announcement that Verizon Wireless has joined the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL)--recently formed by China Mobile, Softbank and Vodafone--to focus on a single global platform for mobile widgets.
While the JIL has a broader remit than widget development, the group has decided to focus on this particular technology to encourage the expansion of new and innovative services. If successful, this move to a common platform should enable widgets and applications to run on different handsets and OSs across numerous mobile operators, while safeguarding customer security, data privacy and billing systems.
While this action will be seen as an attempt by four of the world's largest operators to put themselves in the driving seat in terms of mobile web apps, it will bring them into competition with the likes of Qualcomm, which is already pushing forward with its own widget application platform.
However, the JIL has stated that leter this year it plans to launch a range of tools including a common mobile widgets specification, developer kits, an online repository, and distribution and payment mechanisms to ensure developers can roll out their products to customers in more than 70 countries across North America, Asia, Europe and Africa.
Mobile widgets are capable of boosting handset functionality as well as transforming the look and feel of a device to give customers quick and easy access to valued content. They are personalized, always-accessible mini applications that sit on a handset to retrieve relevant information from the Web such as weather reports, sports updates and travel timetables.
The JIL mobile widgets specification is set to enrich these services further by enabling developers to access both handset and network functionality such as the address book, camera, location information and billing in a secure environment.
While the JIL has a broader remit than widget development, the group has decided to focus on this particular technology to encourage the expansion of new and innovative services. If successful, this move to a common platform should enable widgets and applications to run on different handsets and OSs across numerous mobile operators, while safeguarding customer security, data privacy and billing systems.
While this action will be seen as an attempt by four of the world's largest operators to put themselves in the driving seat in terms of mobile web apps, it will bring them into competition with the likes of Qualcomm, which is already pushing forward with its own widget application platform.
However, the JIL has stated that leter this year it plans to launch a range of tools including a common mobile widgets specification, developer kits, an online repository, and distribution and payment mechanisms to ensure developers can roll out their products to customers in more than 70 countries across North America, Asia, Europe and Africa.
Mobile widgets are capable of boosting handset functionality as well as transforming the look and feel of a device to give customers quick and easy access to valued content. They are personalized, always-accessible mini applications that sit on a handset to retrieve relevant information from the Web such as weather reports, sports updates and travel timetables.
The JIL mobile widgets specification is set to enrich these services further by enabling developers to access both handset and network functionality such as the address book, camera, location information and billing in a secure environment.
Making iPhone Apps Pay
Elizabeth Woyke, 04.17.09, 06:00 PM EDT
Analytics firm says developers should promote other apps, solicit reviews and send viral invites to make money.
As the iPhone App Store swells to more than 30,000 applications, mobile app analytics firm Flurry has some advice for iPhone developers: treat applications like songs.
Like a song, a standout mobile app needs a good artist, a good producer, a strong distributor and plenty of promotion, says Flurry President and Chief Executive Simon Khalaf.
On the iPhone, Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) ably fills the role of distributor. The developer is, of course, the artist. The other two roles--production and promotion--often get skipped as an app rushes to market. But Khalaf argues that expert guidance from firms like Flurry can make or break an app, much the way a seasoned A&R team guides the launch of a new musical act. The payoff is potentially huge. Khalaf says a developer with two best-selling apps can make as much as $10 million to $15 million over the life of the apps if they are well-marketed.
There are plenty of start-ups focused on making iPhone apps pay. Flurry differs from others in a few key ways. A former developer itself, it is smaller than rivals like AdMob and Pinch Media. Unlike those two firms, Flurry does not connect developers with advertisers. Instead, it focuses on "deep analytics" for apps. Khalaf, who likens the firm to a Google ( GOOG - news - people ) Analytics or Omniture ( OMTR - news - people ) for mobile content, says, "We enable developers to build better apps by helping them understand how people are using them."
So far, about 5,000 developers, representing 3,000 apps and several mobile platforms (iPhone, Google Android, BlackBerry and JavaME) have signed on. Flurry's main focus is the iPhone, as most of the applications it supports (about 72%) are iPhone-related.
Like songs on iTunes, sales in the App Store are hit-driven. Rapid turnover--around 130 new apps a day--means the average iPhone app or game sells strongly for just three months, often peaking four to six weeks after launch.
Flurry's job is to push that abbreviated "sales curve" up and out with its software, which is free and embeds easily into existing applications. "People mistakenly think of the App Store as a marketing machine because it's a virtual store," says Khalaf. "But just like in a store, consumers get fatigued and lose interest."
Reaching out to consumers is one way to increase sales. Flurry helps by telling developers when to contact their users to yield the best results. The developer of a free game could program a message to pop up at a certain point that would encourage players to purchase one of its paid games. Flurry's software assists by tracking when most users stop playing a particular game--on level 5 in a 10-level game, for instance. Developers can use that information to serve up an invitation at the appropriate moment. Flurry says some developers, including a videogame publisher with a casual puzzle game, have already adopted this tactic. Flurry estimates that a well-timed invitation could increase weekly revenue for a particular app by as much as 40%.
Developers with only one app could use the same tactics to promote other people's apps, for mutual benefit. In June, Flurry plans to add a feature to its service called AppCircle that would launch a menu of agreed-upon apps within the original app for this purpose.
Established publishers like ngmoco, Digital Chocolate and Gameloft ( GLOFF.PK - news - people ) do these kinds of cross promotions already. But small and mid-sized developers traditionally haven't had the resources to do this. Flurry also plans to provide its developers with additional data, such as which apps garner the most interest from users, even if they ultimately don't purchase them.
Flurry's second rule for success: get as many users as possible to rate and review apps. Currently, iPhone users are prompted to do so (by the App Store) only if they are deleting an app from their handsets. Peter Farago, Flurry's vice president of marketing, says developers should solicit feedback well before that point. Even a negative review, he says, is better than no review, reasoning, "You want to seem popular." (Another Flurry observation: most apps in the App Store are rated, overall, three out of five stars, with paid apps garnering slightly higher ratings than free apps.) Similar to the games invitation, Flurry's software will be able to help developers pinpoint the optimal time to ask users to write a review. The idea is to catch them in a good mood--after they finish a game level or complete a scheduled task, for instance.
Under the same philosophy--that getting noticed is the most important step--Flurry also plans to support viral invitations by June. Farago says developers could design apps that give users points or other incentives for inviting people to download and try the same app. Or they could just build in prompts, with Flurry directing where to insert them. Such tactics are rare now, but in the new, multi-tasking version of the iPhone operating system (3.0), slated for official release this summer, e-mailing friends from within an application will be easier than ever.
The iPhone's 3.0 upgrade will also enable developers to sell subscriptions to their apps. Farago says Flurry will help developers decide whether to offer subscriptions by measuring the size and loyalty of their audiences.
Flurry plans to support all these services with its analytics data, which measures everything from the number of times consumers use an app to how long they use it, and their location (by country). Several features go deeper, tracking how users navigate apps, logging each move they make in sequence while keeping the data anonymous.
Khalaf says Flurry's combination of data and recommended actions benefits developers (who stand to make more money), Apple (who will sell more applications) and Flurry itself (which plans to charge for data and research reports outside its basic analytics). But some of Flurry's competitors say the firm's service isn't complete without some type of advertising partnership. Says Greg Yardley, co-founder of Pinch Media: "If I didn't touch the ad world, I wouldn't be doing my job as an analytics provider."
Analytics firm says developers should promote other apps, solicit reviews and send viral invites to make money.
As the iPhone App Store swells to more than 30,000 applications, mobile app analytics firm Flurry has some advice for iPhone developers: treat applications like songs.
Like a song, a standout mobile app needs a good artist, a good producer, a strong distributor and plenty of promotion, says Flurry President and Chief Executive Simon Khalaf.
On the iPhone, Apple ( AAPL - news - people ) ably fills the role of distributor. The developer is, of course, the artist. The other two roles--production and promotion--often get skipped as an app rushes to market. But Khalaf argues that expert guidance from firms like Flurry can make or break an app, much the way a seasoned A&R team guides the launch of a new musical act. The payoff is potentially huge. Khalaf says a developer with two best-selling apps can make as much as $10 million to $15 million over the life of the apps if they are well-marketed.
There are plenty of start-ups focused on making iPhone apps pay. Flurry differs from others in a few key ways. A former developer itself, it is smaller than rivals like AdMob and Pinch Media. Unlike those two firms, Flurry does not connect developers with advertisers. Instead, it focuses on "deep analytics" for apps. Khalaf, who likens the firm to a Google ( GOOG - news - people ) Analytics or Omniture ( OMTR - news - people ) for mobile content, says, "We enable developers to build better apps by helping them understand how people are using them."
So far, about 5,000 developers, representing 3,000 apps and several mobile platforms (iPhone, Google Android, BlackBerry and JavaME) have signed on. Flurry's main focus is the iPhone, as most of the applications it supports (about 72%) are iPhone-related.
Like songs on iTunes, sales in the App Store are hit-driven. Rapid turnover--around 130 new apps a day--means the average iPhone app or game sells strongly for just three months, often peaking four to six weeks after launch.
Flurry's job is to push that abbreviated "sales curve" up and out with its software, which is free and embeds easily into existing applications. "People mistakenly think of the App Store as a marketing machine because it's a virtual store," says Khalaf. "But just like in a store, consumers get fatigued and lose interest."
Reaching out to consumers is one way to increase sales. Flurry helps by telling developers when to contact their users to yield the best results. The developer of a free game could program a message to pop up at a certain point that would encourage players to purchase one of its paid games. Flurry's software assists by tracking when most users stop playing a particular game--on level 5 in a 10-level game, for instance. Developers can use that information to serve up an invitation at the appropriate moment. Flurry says some developers, including a videogame publisher with a casual puzzle game, have already adopted this tactic. Flurry estimates that a well-timed invitation could increase weekly revenue for a particular app by as much as 40%.
Developers with only one app could use the same tactics to promote other people's apps, for mutual benefit. In June, Flurry plans to add a feature to its service called AppCircle that would launch a menu of agreed-upon apps within the original app for this purpose.
Established publishers like ngmoco, Digital Chocolate and Gameloft ( GLOFF.PK - news - people ) do these kinds of cross promotions already. But small and mid-sized developers traditionally haven't had the resources to do this. Flurry also plans to provide its developers with additional data, such as which apps garner the most interest from users, even if they ultimately don't purchase them.
Flurry's second rule for success: get as many users as possible to rate and review apps. Currently, iPhone users are prompted to do so (by the App Store) only if they are deleting an app from their handsets. Peter Farago, Flurry's vice president of marketing, says developers should solicit feedback well before that point. Even a negative review, he says, is better than no review, reasoning, "You want to seem popular." (Another Flurry observation: most apps in the App Store are rated, overall, three out of five stars, with paid apps garnering slightly higher ratings than free apps.) Similar to the games invitation, Flurry's software will be able to help developers pinpoint the optimal time to ask users to write a review. The idea is to catch them in a good mood--after they finish a game level or complete a scheduled task, for instance.
Under the same philosophy--that getting noticed is the most important step--Flurry also plans to support viral invitations by June. Farago says developers could design apps that give users points or other incentives for inviting people to download and try the same app. Or they could just build in prompts, with Flurry directing where to insert them. Such tactics are rare now, but in the new, multi-tasking version of the iPhone operating system (3.0), slated for official release this summer, e-mailing friends from within an application will be easier than ever.
The iPhone's 3.0 upgrade will also enable developers to sell subscriptions to their apps. Farago says Flurry will help developers decide whether to offer subscriptions by measuring the size and loyalty of their audiences.
Flurry plans to support all these services with its analytics data, which measures everything from the number of times consumers use an app to how long they use it, and their location (by country). Several features go deeper, tracking how users navigate apps, logging each move they make in sequence while keeping the data anonymous.
Khalaf says Flurry's combination of data and recommended actions benefits developers (who stand to make more money), Apple (who will sell more applications) and Flurry itself (which plans to charge for data and research reports outside its basic analytics). But some of Flurry's competitors say the firm's service isn't complete without some type of advertising partnership. Says Greg Yardley, co-founder of Pinch Media: "If I didn't touch the ad world, I wouldn't be doing my job as an analytics provider."
Friday, April 17, 2009
IPhone changes dynamics of game software industry
Electronic Arts is releasing 14 iPhone titles this year.
After years of building large, graphics-intensive blockbusters, developers are starting to make shorter, less expensive games for the iPhone and its phone-less sibling, the iPod Touch.
Only a few years ago, bigger guns, badder enemies and louder explosives mattered most in video games. Now, small is beautiful, and Apple Inc.'s iPhone is largely responsible.
iPhone and its phone-less sibling, the iPod Touch, as hand-held game consoles has started to change the dynamics of the $40-billion game software industry.
Neil Young, a game developer who last year left one of the industry's largest publishers, Electronic Arts Inc., to found Ngmoco, a San Francisco maker of iPhone games.
device
online marketplace
25,000 software applications
thousands of publishers
multitouch screens
accelerometers
Web connections
six to eight of the 10 bestselling apps are games.
shoppers submit their credit card information once at Apple's online iTunes store, they can start buying apps through a computer or directly on their devices with a single click.
Video games that cost less than $10 are a big change.
a console or PC typically sells for $30 to $60.
hand-held games on Nintendo Co.'s DS, games cost $20 to $35.
Nintendo recently announced that owners of its DSi hand-held console will be able buy downloadable games for as little as $2.
Nintendo executives said their pricing strategy was formed independently from the App Store, and they were quick to point out how their business was different from Apple's
Nintendo is definitely paying attention
more than 17 million iPhones and 13 million iPod Touches in the market
They're seeing that small shops with one or two people can make a hit game
IPhone has taught them that small bets can pay off big
The iPhone is also giving developers reasons to rethink their creative approach to designing games
Instead of spending two years and more than $25 million to develop a title, some developers are looking at releasing multiple episodes over time.
The idea of smaller, cheaper, faster game development isn't entirely new.
Decades ago, the Sims, from EA, pioneered the notion of selling expansion packs that contained several dozen virtual items such as outfits, pets and furniture, said Bing Gordon, partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture firm in Menlo Park, Calif.And sped-up game development has its roots in the mid- 1990s with Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University who taught his students to make lots of quick prototypes of their ideas, rather than trying to hone one perfect project."The real breakthrough is iTunes and the App Store," a section within iTunes, Gordon said. "It suddenly opens the floodgates" for consumers to buy smaller games in massive quantities.Lorne Lanning, president of Oddworld Inhabitants, a game developer in San Luis Obispo, said he liked
the iPhone's ability to reach millions of players who can give feedback on a game's features.
Developers can either take that information and refine current versions with software updates or build it into their next installment."As we head to the future, we need to start really small," Lanning said. "Get it out there, and let people help shape it. Learn from your audience."
After years of building large, graphics-intensive blockbusters, developers are starting to make shorter, less expensive games for the iPhone and its phone-less sibling, the iPod Touch.
Only a few years ago, bigger guns, badder enemies and louder explosives mattered most in video games. Now, small is beautiful, and Apple Inc.'s iPhone is largely responsible.
iPhone and its phone-less sibling, the iPod Touch, as hand-held game consoles has started to change the dynamics of the $40-billion game software industry.
Neil Young, a game developer who last year left one of the industry's largest publishers, Electronic Arts Inc., to found Ngmoco, a San Francisco maker of iPhone games.
device
online marketplace
25,000 software applications
thousands of publishers
multitouch screens
accelerometers
Web connections
six to eight of the 10 bestselling apps are games.
shoppers submit their credit card information once at Apple's online iTunes store, they can start buying apps through a computer or directly on their devices with a single click.
Video games that cost less than $10 are a big change.
a console or PC typically sells for $30 to $60.
hand-held games on Nintendo Co.'s DS, games cost $20 to $35.
Nintendo recently announced that owners of its DSi hand-held console will be able buy downloadable games for as little as $2.
Nintendo executives said their pricing strategy was formed independently from the App Store, and they were quick to point out how their business was different from Apple's
Nintendo is definitely paying attention
more than 17 million iPhones and 13 million iPod Touches in the market
They're seeing that small shops with one or two people can make a hit game
IPhone has taught them that small bets can pay off big
The iPhone is also giving developers reasons to rethink their creative approach to designing games
Instead of spending two years and more than $25 million to develop a title, some developers are looking at releasing multiple episodes over time.
The idea of smaller, cheaper, faster game development isn't entirely new.
Decades ago, the Sims, from EA, pioneered the notion of selling expansion packs that contained several dozen virtual items such as outfits, pets and furniture, said Bing Gordon, partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a venture firm in Menlo Park, Calif.And sped-up game development has its roots in the mid- 1990s with Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University who taught his students to make lots of quick prototypes of their ideas, rather than trying to hone one perfect project."The real breakthrough is iTunes and the App Store," a section within iTunes, Gordon said. "It suddenly opens the floodgates" for consumers to buy smaller games in massive quantities.Lorne Lanning, president of Oddworld Inhabitants, a game developer in San Luis Obispo, said he liked
the iPhone's ability to reach millions of players who can give feedback on a game's features.
Developers can either take that information and refine current versions with software updates or build it into their next installment."As we head to the future, we need to start really small," Lanning said. "Get it out there, and let people help shape it. Learn from your audience."
Thursday, April 16, 2009
PLEYO Web-enabler for CE devices
PLEYO is an independent software editor, specialized on multi-device* end-to-end Web-based solutions.PLEYO is a Web-enabler for CE devices, providing an embedded web-browser and Web-services.
*Set Top Boxes (iTV decoders, PVR’s Mediacenters), Personal Multimedia Players, Mobile phones, wireless devices (GPS, ...), TV-sets, homegateways, etc...
http://www.pleyo.com/index.html
*Set Top Boxes (iTV decoders, PVR’s Mediacenters), Personal Multimedia Players, Mobile phones, wireless devices (GPS, ...), TV-sets, homegateways, etc...
http://www.pleyo.com/index.html
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Motorola Evoke QA4
With a 2.8-inch full touchscreen, a widget-based user interface, and a full HTML browser, the Motorola Evoke QA4 has some pretty impressive specs for a handset that doesn't qualify as a smartphone. The Evoke comes preloaded with seven widgets--
MySpace Mobile,
Follow Me Weather,
Google Quicksearch,
Google Picasa,
RSS Reader,
USA Today Mobile, and
YouTube--each of which has its own panel.
You can flip through the panels with a swipe of your finger.
Coverity® Unveils Industry’s First Software Integrity Center
“Coverity’s software integrity strategy is ambitious, unique, and forward thinking. The strategy complements existing application lifecycle management solutions and helps to identify the problems in software brought on by increasing complexity.“
Monday, April 6, 2009
Alcatel-Lucent won 3G-WCDMA for China Unicom
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) today announced that it has been selected by China Unicom, a leading fixed and mobile service provider in China, to deploy 3G W-CDMA networks in 14 Chinese provinces. This major contract, secured through Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell (ASB), Alcatel-Lucent’s flagship company in China, will enable the operator to provide its end users with new, advanced 3G mobile services including media streaming, ring back tones, video sharing and high-speed internet access.
Initial network deployments in the cities of Tianjin, Baoding, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Guiyang and Guilin are expected to be completed in May, 2009.
Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its end-to-end industry-leading and future proof 3G/W-CDMA solutions, including about 11000 Node B (Base stations), Home Location Register (HLR) data base system as well network maintenance and optimization in 14 provinces -- Hebei, Fujian Guangxi, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Guangdong, Hunan, Shandong and Xinjiang.
By achieving a strategic breakthrough in the four provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Heilongjiang, and Jiangsu, Alcatel-Lucent has substantially expanded its position with China Unicom, adding 4 new 3G markets in addition to its existing 2G GSM base.
All the equipments supplied are ready to sustain the rapid increase of voice and data traffic and to smoothly evolve towards 3G/HSPA+ and 4G/LTE. Thanks to Alcatel-Lucent's multi-standard radio access solutions China Unicom will be able to significantly reduce the total cost of ownership of its networks. Furthermore, Alcatel-Lucent’s converged radio access solution will help China Unicom evolve rapidly from 2G to 3G networks and offer new generation services.
“China Unicom’s selection of our solutions in 14 provinces further highlights Alcatel-Lucent’s leadership in the W-CDMA market”, said Olivia Qiu, head of Alcatel-Lucent in East Asia and President of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell. “Alcatel-Lucent is committed to partner with China Unicom and worldwide operators to deploy leading-edge next generation networks enabling advanced multimedia and Web services.”
With 56 commercial networks worldwide in 37 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a leading player in the W-CDMA infrastructure market. Known for its excellent reliability and quality, Alcatel-Lucent serves one out of every four networks worldwide, covering all regions and deployed in a wide variety of markets. The company is also a world leader in the provision of sophisticated project management, consulting and design services, applications and software integration and the design, deployment and maintenance of next-generation networks.
Initial network deployments in the cities of Tianjin, Baoding, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Guiyang and Guilin are expected to be completed in May, 2009.
Under the terms of the contract, Alcatel-Lucent will provide its end-to-end industry-leading and future proof 3G/W-CDMA solutions, including about 11000 Node B (Base stations), Home Location Register (HLR) data base system as well network maintenance and optimization in 14 provinces -- Hebei, Fujian Guangxi, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Guangdong, Hunan, Shandong and Xinjiang.
By achieving a strategic breakthrough in the four provinces of Fujian, Jiangxi, Heilongjiang, and Jiangsu, Alcatel-Lucent has substantially expanded its position with China Unicom, adding 4 new 3G markets in addition to its existing 2G GSM base.
All the equipments supplied are ready to sustain the rapid increase of voice and data traffic and to smoothly evolve towards 3G/HSPA+ and 4G/LTE. Thanks to Alcatel-Lucent's multi-standard radio access solutions China Unicom will be able to significantly reduce the total cost of ownership of its networks. Furthermore, Alcatel-Lucent’s converged radio access solution will help China Unicom evolve rapidly from 2G to 3G networks and offer new generation services.
“China Unicom’s selection of our solutions in 14 provinces further highlights Alcatel-Lucent’s leadership in the W-CDMA market”, said Olivia Qiu, head of Alcatel-Lucent in East Asia and President of Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell. “Alcatel-Lucent is committed to partner with China Unicom and worldwide operators to deploy leading-edge next generation networks enabling advanced multimedia and Web services.”
With 56 commercial networks worldwide in 37 countries, Alcatel-Lucent is a leading player in the W-CDMA infrastructure market. Known for its excellent reliability and quality, Alcatel-Lucent serves one out of every four networks worldwide, covering all regions and deployed in a wide variety of markets. The company is also a world leader in the provision of sophisticated project management, consulting and design services, applications and software integration and the design, deployment and maintenance of next-generation networks.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
H-P tests Google software for netbook PCs
By Justin Scheck and Nick Wingfield, The Wall Street Journal
Wednesday 01 April 2009
PC makers keen to evaluate Android operating system for use in small computers.
Hewlett-Packard Co. and other PC makers are considering using free software developed by Google Inc. to run some small computers, a move that would open a new front in the battle between the Internet giant and Microsoft Corp.
PC makers are testing Google's Android operating system-which has so far been used to power mobile phones-for use in new models of so-called netbooks, inexpensive laptops that have become the fastest-growing segment of the PC industry.
Google, which dominates Internet search, already challenges Microsoft on other fronts, including with its free word-processing and spreadsheet software, neither of which has succeeded in denting Microsoft's Office suite. The effort to move Android to netbooks targets Windows, which generated more than 60% of Microsoft's operating profit in its last fiscal year.
Moving Android to netbooks will be an uphill effort because the software does not run popular PC programs. That is one reason that Windows now runs on the majority of the low-end laptops, even though early models used the Linux operating system.
But H-P, the largest maker of PCs and a major Windows partner, has programmers testing Android for a potential netbook, said people briefed on the matter, though they said the company hasn't decided yet whether to move ahead with the project.
"We want to assess the capability Android may have for the computer and communications industries, and so we are studying it," said Satjiv Chahil, a vice president of H-P's PC division.
Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc., which is the leading seller of netbooks by units, has also said it is considering making an Android-based version. An Asustek spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Dell Inc. has been customizing Android software for a range of devices it may introduce in the coming year, including a cellphone and pocket-sized computers called mobile Internet devices, said people familiar with the matter. A Dell spokesman declined to comment.
PC makers' interest in Android is partly driven by the desire to maximize income on netbooks, which usually sell for less than $500. Companies like H-P can spend $15 or more per netbook for Windows, cutting into already-thin margins. Another driver is the possibility of offering netbooks at lower prices; industry executives predict that hardware without Microsoft's software could sell for less than $200.
In contrast to Windows, Google doesn't charge for each copy of Android. The Internet giant hopes to justify its development effort by driving more Web use from mobile devices.
A Google spokeswoman said Android was designed to be used in small gadgets like phones and bigger devices like the mini-laptops."We look forward to seeing what contributions are made and how an open platform spurs innovation," she said.
Market research firm NPD Group Inc. estimates that Windows comes on more than 90% of new netbooks. Microsoft said consumers returned Linux netbooks after discovering the PCs didn't easily work with popular programs and peripherals like printers-a challenge that could also be faced by Android, which is based on the core of Linux.
"With a Linux machine, it's a crapshoot each and every time," said Brad Brooks, a corporate vice president, for Windows consumer product marketing.
People familiar with PC makers' Android projects say they hope that netbooks that use the software would be embraced by cellular carriers, which already use Android for phones. Dell and H-P already sell some netbooks through the carriers, which subsidize them for customers who buy a long-term data plan.
David Young, the president of international business at Borqs Beijing Ltd., a Chinese programming company that customizes Android for phone makers, says he expects Android to make its way into larger devices. He says there is a "convergence" between smart phones and mini-PCs.
The notion of Android-based netbooks also could have sizeable repercussions for chip makers. Intel Corp., which helped popularize the term netbooks, has dominated the category with a microprocessor called Atom that can run software designed for PCs. Android, by contrast, is designed
Wednesday 01 April 2009
PC makers keen to evaluate Android operating system for use in small computers.
Hewlett-Packard Co. and other PC makers are considering using free software developed by Google Inc. to run some small computers, a move that would open a new front in the battle between the Internet giant and Microsoft Corp.
PC makers are testing Google's Android operating system-which has so far been used to power mobile phones-for use in new models of so-called netbooks, inexpensive laptops that have become the fastest-growing segment of the PC industry.
Google, which dominates Internet search, already challenges Microsoft on other fronts, including with its free word-processing and spreadsheet software, neither of which has succeeded in denting Microsoft's Office suite. The effort to move Android to netbooks targets Windows, which generated more than 60% of Microsoft's operating profit in its last fiscal year.
Moving Android to netbooks will be an uphill effort because the software does not run popular PC programs. That is one reason that Windows now runs on the majority of the low-end laptops, even though early models used the Linux operating system.
But H-P, the largest maker of PCs and a major Windows partner, has programmers testing Android for a potential netbook, said people briefed on the matter, though they said the company hasn't decided yet whether to move ahead with the project.
"We want to assess the capability Android may have for the computer and communications industries, and so we are studying it," said Satjiv Chahil, a vice president of H-P's PC division.
Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc., which is the leading seller of netbooks by units, has also said it is considering making an Android-based version. An Asustek spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment.
Dell Inc. has been customizing Android software for a range of devices it may introduce in the coming year, including a cellphone and pocket-sized computers called mobile Internet devices, said people familiar with the matter. A Dell spokesman declined to comment.
PC makers' interest in Android is partly driven by the desire to maximize income on netbooks, which usually sell for less than $500. Companies like H-P can spend $15 or more per netbook for Windows, cutting into already-thin margins. Another driver is the possibility of offering netbooks at lower prices; industry executives predict that hardware without Microsoft's software could sell for less than $200.
In contrast to Windows, Google doesn't charge for each copy of Android. The Internet giant hopes to justify its development effort by driving more Web use from mobile devices.
A Google spokeswoman said Android was designed to be used in small gadgets like phones and bigger devices like the mini-laptops."We look forward to seeing what contributions are made and how an open platform spurs innovation," she said.
Market research firm NPD Group Inc. estimates that Windows comes on more than 90% of new netbooks. Microsoft said consumers returned Linux netbooks after discovering the PCs didn't easily work with popular programs and peripherals like printers-a challenge that could also be faced by Android, which is based on the core of Linux.
"With a Linux machine, it's a crapshoot each and every time," said Brad Brooks, a corporate vice president, for Windows consumer product marketing.
People familiar with PC makers' Android projects say they hope that netbooks that use the software would be embraced by cellular carriers, which already use Android for phones. Dell and H-P already sell some netbooks through the carriers, which subsidize them for customers who buy a long-term data plan.
David Young, the president of international business at Borqs Beijing Ltd., a Chinese programming company that customizes Android for phone makers, says he expects Android to make its way into larger devices. He says there is a "convergence" between smart phones and mini-PCs.
The notion of Android-based netbooks also could have sizeable repercussions for chip makers. Intel Corp., which helped popularize the term netbooks, has dominated the category with a microprocessor called Atom that can run software designed for PCs. Android, by contrast, is designed
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