If you have app stores, you have astroturfing – this age-old rule has been valid ever since the first ESD opened its store and added a rating system.
Unfortunately, the recent FCC rules for online news services also affect astroturfers. The New York Times (a questionable source for mobile, but usually OK on legal matters) now reports that the FCC has settled a case against a PR firm which openly admitted to writing reviews for its clients:
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The Federal Trade Commission said on Thursday that a California marketing company had settled charges that it engaged in deceptive advertising by having its employees write and post positive reviews of clients’ games in the Apple iTunes Store, without disclosing that they were being paid to do so.
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Even though small-scale cases of astroturfing are unlikely to be noticed, better move your server to Panama if you plan larger campaigns…
We have heard about Microsoft’s plans for a large-scale marketing campaign for Windows Phone 7 before – so far, all we knew was that Microsoft planned to spend 500 million USD on ads and PR.
… billions of dollars will be spent on the promotion of WP7. We know that the direct marketing of WP7 in the USA will require $400 million and $100 million will be spent in the rest of the world. $500 million will go to developers and partners during the launch (guaranteed payment to developers if the sales do not reach a particular level; development costs for vendors and so on). This significant amount will be predominantly spent in the US
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Given that carriers can spend up to 200 million USD on a single device launch, the numbers sound sane – even though I would be extremely interested to hear more on these guaranteed payments…
E-Paper is not a new technology – devices using it (think Kindle) have sold hundreds of thousands of times in the last years.
So far, these screens were immovable and monochrome. According to PCWorld, the mass production of (transformable) color e-paper devices will start very soon:
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The company expects to begin mass producing 9.7-inch color and 19-inch flexible e-paper, according to an SEC filing it made on Friday. E-paper, or electronic paper, is a display used in e-readers on which text appears as it would on printed paper.
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So far, the slow response time has made the display technology useful onbly for e-readers (see a sample device in action here) – let’s see what hardware designers will cook up next…
Microsoft has invested a lot of money into Windows Phone 7 – it was released in February, and has seen a nice bit of developer promotion activity ever since.
Microsoft’s early announcement of Windows Phone 7 (without available hardware) has made the OS vendor especially vulnerable for rumors about partners “giving up”. While HP has already thrown the towel publicly, recent rumors state that Dell would be the next to go.
The company has now sent out the statement below:
Any reports, or speculation, that report Dell will not support Windows Phone 7 are false… Microsoft announced Dell as a supporting partner at this year’s Mobile World Congress and nothing’s changed. We are excited to collaborate with Microsoft on Windows Phone 7, and are looking forward to bringing customers amazing mobile experiences.
Given the strong link between Dell and Microsoft (OS licensing fees), Dell would face actions similar to what Samsung got over its Omnia HD the moment it gives up on Windows Mobile – we will definitely see a few devices from them.
IMHO, the “arena” where all of this will be decided is different – it will be a question of which device/platform gets how much support. And, judging by the recent leaks, this has already been answered…
A video feed called RGBFilter recently sat down with a Microsoft manager willing to talk gaming – their video contained a lot of information on Windows Phone 7 gaming.
The rep confirmed that real time phone to Console gaming was coming over WIFI to Windows Phone 7 in the near future. He also revealed that games were coming where mini-games on the phone will unlock functionality in games on the console.
Of interest was the price range suggested by Greg in the $1.99 to $2.99 range, …
I personally wonder how Microsoft wants to bridge the “interaction hardware gap” between consoles and mobile devices – but the idea definitely sounds promising for some game types.
In Austria, mock drawings which show the personality of a person are called character heads. If you would draw a character head of the current state of Windows Phone 7, it would look a lot like the image below:
This device is HTC’s T8788, and has a slide-out speaker(!!!):
When it comes to Windows Phone 7 applications, Microsoft slowly but surely starts to understand that breaking downward compatibility wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do.
Even though they have not released a “Classic” environment as of this writing, they are very loud when it comes to announcing all kinds of small milestones. The latest are below for your convenience:
300 000 copies of SDK downloaded
First of all, Microsoft has just managed to pass the 300 000 copy limit – this means that 300 000 copies of the SDK installer files have been downloaded from their servers.
Gold version ships on September 16th
The second, and more interesting announcement in the abovementioned post reads as following:
Download the final Windows Phone Developer Tools when they are released on September 16th
PocketGear definitely isn’t too popular among developers – especially as the folks have shown a few very stupid stunts in the past.
Nevertheless, venture capitalists seem to be more convinced of their ideas. Mobile Business Briefing currently reports the following:
… mobile apps store PocketGear has secured US$15 million in ‘series B’ funding, with investors including Trident Capital, BlackBerry Partners Fund and TomorrowVentures, the personal fund of Google’s Eric Schmidt.
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This should be especially interesting for all developers planning legal action over their recent bork-ups – if you plan to get cash, go for it now!
When it comes to cell phone metrics, culling the important from the unimportant is difficult at best.
ABI Research is a long-standing market research company, which gives their numbers a nice bit of credibility. Their stats on Q2 2010 are below – keep in mind that the data looks at devices sold to retailers and does not count carrier-branded boxen:
Vendor
Shipments (in millions)
Growth
2Q 2009
1Q 2010
2Q 2010
QoQ (1Q10-2Q10)
YoY (2Q09-2Q10)
Nokia
103.2
107.8
111.0
3.0%
7.6%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: While Nokia’s handset shipments increased QoQ, Nokia’s market share slipped to 34.6 percent in the second quarter. The world’s largest handset OEM has been juggling some serious re-organizations and R&D has been aligned closer to business priorities. Currently Nokia is trying to update Symbian, launch MeeGo and drive adoption of its Ovi services in the hopes gaining new service revenue streams to compensate for decreasing handset margins. While the Nokia handset platforms are selling well at lower price points, its position as top dog becomes increasingly tenuous as the Android OS and Samsung continue to etch away Nokia and Symbian’s market share.
Samsung
52.3
64.3
63.8
-0.8%
22.0%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: Samsung ended a seven quarter winning streak of increasing QoQ market share dropping to 19.9 percent in Q2. This decrease is attributed to weakened economic conditions in Europe. Samsung has consistently delivered feature packed handsets that are the hallmark of South Korean handset OEMs and has championed the use of touchscreens in the feature phone segment. In the last month of Q2 Samsung’s newest smartphone the Galaxy S sold 500,000 in its home market of South Korea. In Q3 Samsung will release this device on all four major U.S. carriers, a market with six times the potential of South Korea. This could be the push Samsung needs to achieve 10 percent of the smartphone market.
LG
29.8
27.1
30.6
12.9%
2.7%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: Although LG’s handset shipments increased 13 percent QoQ, revenues only increased 6 percent due to lowering ASPs in the feature phone market. With 52 percent of LG’s volume going to North America and Europe, it has become imperative that LG develops a solid foothold in the smartphone market to ride the higher margins and shipment growth. Historically, LG’s range of mid- to high-end feature phones has delivered consistent market share growth; however when looking into the future, this segment is being squeezed by smartphones on the top and low cost handsets at the bottom. ABI Research believes it is imperative that LG makes its move in 2010 or it may experience the same troubles as Sony Ericsson and Motorola.
RIM
8.0
10.5
11.2
6.7%
40.5%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: RIMs position in this vendor ranking is unique as RIM does not offer lower-priced feature phones and has risen to the No. 4 spot solely through the sale of smartphones which only account for 20 percent of the overall market. In this space RIM has delivered a portfolio of smartphones, supported by the famed Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) and the BlackBerry Messenger Service (BBM). The combination of BBM and Qwerty Keypads have become a real hit in the youth and emerging markets where the free (between other BB users) and secure texting service offers the cost conscious all the ‘CrackBerry’ they can handle. RIM has released its latest OS (6) with the hopes of delivering improved browsing, media and touchscreen capabilities that will drive future growth.
Sony Ericsson
13.8
10.5
11.0
4.8%
-20.3%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: Q2 represents the 7th quarter in a row that Sony Ericsson has lost market share. Sony Ericsson handsets have historically focused on the feature phone segment and specialized in music or camera phones. Consumers have become more demanding, wanting a phone that does it all, making strength in one feature less desirable than mediocrity in all features. Sony Ericsson has decided to answer this call through the development of a smartphone portfolio with its flagship device the X10 landing at AT&T with SE’s custom UI platform over an Android OS (1.6). While this may not be the highest end of smartphones, it does fit nicely in the middle of the road…much like the rest of Sony Ericsson’s strategy.
Apple
5.2
8.8
8.4
-4.0%
61.5%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: Apple rang in its best quarter ever in Q4 with 8.7 million iPhones. The iPhone continues its role as a global smartphone ambassador with successful arrivals in South Korea, China, new carriers in Western Europe and a growing cult following in Japan. Speculation as to how Apple will top the 3GS with the next iPhone iteration has already begun with Steve Jobs promising consumers a home run. ABI believes some pro-sumers may have trouble deciding whether to spend their money on the iPad or the new iPhone, but either way Apple will continue to own much of the mobile devices market mindshare.
Motorola
14.8
8.5
8.3
-2.4%
-43.9%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: Beginning in Q4 and carrying through Q1 and Q2 Motorola has delivered top of mind smartphones such as the Droid, and most recently the Droid X. While Verizon Wireless’s Droid ‘sub-brand’ and marketing dollars didn’t hurt the situation, Motorola did deliver quality Android smartphones and prove that it can move away from its dwindling feature phone sales. It is imperative that Motorola make their smartphone strategy stick as Motorola has consecutively lost market share every single quarter since 3Q 2006!
ZTE
–
–
–
3.7%
13.5%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: ZTE is one of China’s largest telecommunications manufacturers who produce a variety of hardware products including base stations, handsets, switching systems, optical transport etc. ZTE’s global strategy has developed relationships with major telecoms in every region. ZTE has made a name for itself with low cost handsets in emerging/developing markets and has built relationships with tier I carriers in the U.S. through their cellular modems and tier II carriers with low cost handsets. Leveraging manufacturing locations in 50 countries, ZTE is able to deliver low cost handsets either under the ZTE brand or white-label devices for carrier-branded handsets to large operators such as Vodafone. ZTE has recently announced an Android 2.1 smartphone for China Unicom priced at $179, which should allow ZTE to ride the rapidly growing smartphone market in China and migrate its brand image from low cost to affordable value.
HTC
–
–
–
66.7%
83.3%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: The counter point to Motorola’s Android success is HTC and its Droid Incredible and Evo 4G smartphones. HTC and Motorola together accounted for over 50 percent of all Android smartphones sold in Q2. A year ago, HTC stated it would focus on improving its brand recognition in the U.S., and today it has delivered a 400 percent increase in brand recognition with plans to replicate the process in China. With ownership of its own production facilities, custom ‘Sense’ UI and a solid range of high- and mid-range smartphones it can be expected that HTC will become a regular in the top ten handset vendors list.
Huawei
–
–
–
41.5%
48.0%
Analysis from ABI’s Michael Morgan: Much like ZTE, Huawei is one of China’s leading telecom infrastructure companies, with a strong global reach in all regions. Huawei is also in the business of making low cost and white label devices along side their branded devices. Huawei has extended its low cost capabilities into the smartphone space with the T-Mobile Pulse, an Android based entry level smartphone for prepaid consumers. Huawei also carries aspirations of penetrating the U.S. market and is actively developing its portfolio to meet the tastes of U.S. carriers. However there are concerns around whether the U.S. will welcome Huawei’s advances amid security concerns.
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Very few topics are as popular as sorting algorithms – if you want to write a book, covering these is a safe bet for finding a publisher somewhere .
The YouTube video below shows the process of various sorting algorithms in an “audible” form – each element has a frequency, and a sine tone is played whenever the algorithm accesses an element:
So far, Namco’s mobile endeavors have consisted of an array of iPhone games and some J2ME stuff. However, given their excellent ties with Microsoft, it was not too surprising to have Microsoft mention Namco intending to bring games to Windows Phone 7.
Their press team has now officially confirmed Microsoft’s announcement. The statement sent out by Reory Howard, PR Manager at Namco Bandai, reads as following:
With all the buzz around Microsoft Windows Phone 7 coming this holiday and their recent announcement at gamescom, we’re excited to have several of our titles included at launch: Flight Control, More Brain Exercise and Puzzle Quest 2. “Namco Bandai has been a close, long term supporter of Xbox and Xbox LIVE, “ said Kevin Unangst, Sr. Director, PC and Mobile gaming at Microsoft. “We’re thrilled to have them as part of our launch wave of Xbox LIVE titles coming to Windows Phone 7.” If you want to learn more about Puzzle Quest 2 or any other title, please be sure to ask.
Having Namco on board means that Windows Phone 7 heads will definitely have access to an array of high-quality game concepts – the execution must be rated when the products finally ship…
Given all the recent press about RIM having to open its email services to some governments, I felt like taking a look at another frequently used communications tool: Skype.
I asked the prosecutor if he could – now – check onto Skype to Skype calls. He confirmed this.
The Judge then went on to tell me that she saw some Skype protocols in very recent suits.
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Given Vetter’s excellent reputation in German IT circles, I consider his statements true – looks like all the encryption hubbub was but marketing hyperbole…
E-Paper is not a new technology – devices using it (think Kindle) have sold hundreds of thousands of times in the last years.
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So far, Namco’s mobile endeavors have consisted of an array of