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LG in top spot in CMDA cell phone market
LG Electronics grabbed the biggest slice of the global market last year for mobile handsets using CDMA standards, or code division multiple access.
According to Strategy Analytics, a market research company, yesterday, LG sold 21.3 million units last year, accounting for 22 percent of the market. It ranked No. 3 in the previous year.
Samsung Electronics ranked second after selling 20.4 million terminals, accounting for 21 percent. Motorola of the United States ranked third, with 18 percent.
But in the mobile handset market using GSM standards, or global system for mobile communication, Nokia of Finland had the most market share, with 42 percent. Samsung ranked fourth, accounting for 10 percent, while LG Electronics had 2 percent.
In the combined mobile handset market including both CDMA and GSM standards, Samsung Electronics ranked No. 3, with 11 percent market share, and LG Electronics fifth, with 5 percent.
by Yoon Chang-hee <sungha@joongang.co.kr>
2004.03.07
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200403/07/200403072206500709900090609061.html
LG, Samsung dominate CDMA phone market
LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. dominated the global code division multiple access handset market last year, said Strategy Analytics, a U.S.-based research firm, yesterday.
LG topped the ranking by selling 21.3 million CDMA mobile phone units, or 21.6 percent share, last year. The company overtook Samsung and U.S.-based Motorola to secure the world's largest CDMA phone provider status.
Samsung, the world's third-largest handset maker, shipped 20.4 million units during the same period, accounting for a 20.7 percent share.
The combined market share of LG and Samsung reached 42.3 percent, reflecting the solid position of Korean phone makers when it comes to the CDMA standard developed by U.S.-based wireless technology company Qualcomm Inc.
Korea is also considered a leader in supplying CDMA handset and solutions technologies as the country's three carriers are providing advanced third-generation services to more than 34 million users in the world.
LG and Samsung said the greater market share was largely attributed to aggressive marketing and diversification strategy. Both companies used to focus on the North American market, but recently diversified its export lines to other emerging markets like Brazil and China.
LG's emergence as a top player drew keen interest as the company has long been the No. 2 player on the domestic CDMA market after Samsung, which virtually controls the high-end mobile phone market with its strong brand power.
Meanwhile, Motorola shipped 19 million CDMA handsets last year, securing an 18 percent share. Nokia ranked fourth, carving out a 12.5 percent share, or 12.3 million units.
Following behind were Kyocera with 10.9 million units (11 percent) and Sanyo with 3.4 million units (3.5 percent).
But Korean handset manufacturers have yet to catch up with other competitors on the global system for mobile communication, or GSM, phone market. Nokia topped the ranking with 146 million units, or 42.2 percent share for the global GSM handset market, followed by Siemens with 43.3 million units, or 12.5 percent.
Motorola grabbed the No. 3 slot with 38.4 million units, while Samsung ranked fourth with 33.8 million units. LG shipped 6.1 million GSM phones last year.
Korean handset makers have churned out sophisticated models at breakneck pace on the strength of the local CDMA-based market. But Europe and other overseas markets rely on GSM extensively, and handset demand is surging, prompting Samsung and LG to focus more on the European mobile phone market.
(insight@heraldm.com)
By Yang Sung-jin
2004.03.08
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/03/08/200403080071.asp
The number proves that you are wrong today. It is up by almost
$1.00.
Symbol Time* Trade* Change* After Hrs Chg* Bid* Ask*
QCOM 10:24AM ET 63.548 0.978 (1.56%) N/A 63.533 63.56
3G Horse Racing
5th March , 2004
ASIA : Catering to the needs of horse racing lovers, 3 Hong Kong announced the best-value horse racing package in town with a HK$28 monthly plan including 100 free horse racing video content for streaming and downloading horse racing video clips provided by i-CABLE’s “iHorse” Portal.
Users can also access a rich array of racing information and tips from renowned horse commentators in the “iHorse” Portal. In addition, 3 has extended its network coverage to cover the two racecourses in Hong Kong. Customers can use their mobile phones to view horse racing video clips and information, enjoy video mobile communications, make video calls and bet anywhere inside and outside the racecourses at will, enabling them to closely follow every race and make the best betting decision.
Inset above shows : Mrs Agnes Nardi, Managing Director of 3 Hong Kong, and Mr Benjamin Tong (2nd left), i-CABLE’s Executive Director of Multimedia Services, announced 3 Hong Kong’s special $28 horse racing package for viewing rich horse racing video contents provided by i-CABLE’s “iHorse” Portal. During the event, 3 video mobile phones were presented to Mr Kelvin Lau and Mr Ken Wong, well-known horseracing commentators.
“As one of our most important content providers, i-CABLE has been providing our customers with comprehensive news reports, traffic updates and sports information,” said Mrs Agnes Nardi, Managing Director of 3 HK. “We are very glad that combining our new best-value horse racing package and the rich horse racing video content and information provided by i-CABLE’s “iHorse” Portal, our 3 users can watch the videos of each race at will on their video mobile phones. Coupled with the complete network coverage of 3 at the two racecourses, we are turning horse racing into an enjoyment anytime, anywhere, adding to the excitement of local horse racing.”
Mr Benjamin Tong, i-CABLE’s Executive Director of Multimedia Services, said “i-CABLE is very glad to partner with 3 to provide multimedia content to 3 customers. Leveraging on the programmes of our pay TV service, i-CABLE is the pioneer of Hong Kong in the production and transmission of digital multimedia content by using state-of-the-art video streaming technology. The rich content of i-CABLE, integrate with the mobile technology of 3, enable 3 customers to enjoy the best of both worlds.”
- MORE -
3 users now can enjoy the best-value horse racing package in town with a HK$28 monthly plan including 100 free horse racing video content for streaming and downloading horse racing video clips provided by i-CABLE’s “iHorse” Portal. After the completion of each race, customers can use their video mobile phone to enter the “iHorse” Portal to watch the video clip of the race. They can also gain access to the most updated racing information, including the odds (Win, Place, Quinella and Quinella Place), results and dividends of all races, as well as the details of racing tracks, courses and distances. In addition, inspiring tips and recommended combinations from a panel of top-grade horse commentators are available.
As the Hong Kong Jockey Club has already lifted the limitations on mobile phone usage at racecourses, 3 customers can now enjoy a full suite of mobile communication services anywhere inside and outside the racecourses, including horse racing video viewing, video calling, checking out the latest racing information and betting with their video mobile phones. For Orange customers, they can also enjoy seamless mobile communication services inside and outside the racecourses.
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/March2004/6734.htm
Will Lucent and Motorola survive 3G ? - report
America's two premier infrastructure manufacturers are paying dearly for their lack of UMTS development. Lucent Technologies, a late arrival to the UMTS marketplace, is managing to maintain an 11% share-of-market (SOM) in 2003, down from 17% in 2002. Motorola, on the other hand, has experienced a tumultuous drop in worldwide SOM, from 12% in 2002 to 4% in 2003. Technology research firm ABI Research wonders how long this operation can remain viable for the stalwart of Schaumburg.
While UMTS commands only an 18% unit share in 2004, it will skyrocket to almost 87% in 2009. While this may appear to be a disproportionate share, it must be noted that the signal propagation at 2.1 GHz is much shorter than the propagation at 850 MHz, where the competing CDMA 1x EV-DO typically operates.
The first quarter of 2004 has shown a renewed acceleration of contract wins. "3G launches are also beginning a gradual increase," explains Ray Jodoin, ABI's Director of Wireless Infrastructure Research, "while GSM service providers explore EDGE as a cost effective suburban and rural solution."
Spending for both 2G and 2.5G systems seems to be still declining slowly, while 3G spending remains highly competitive. There have recently been major reversals in terms of contract wins for 3G business, including the recent takeover from Nokia of Hutchison 3G's UK network by the NEC/Siemens collaboration. It is possible that this will be the year, finally, of 3G contract wins that stay wins.
There are some areas for opportunity in this market with the changes in contracts and shifts in timetables. The 3G market still represents the largest sector in terms of revenue growth over the other air interface technologies, but it could face a serious challenge from EDGE. ABI Research is forecasting a compound average annual growth (CAAG) rate of 52% for UMTS infrastructure from 2004 to 2009. That growth rate is up from previous forecasts, as we are observing this market's consumer acceptance, especially in Japan, where FOMA now enjoys over two million subscribers.
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/10773.shtml
7:44am 03/05/04 QCOM gains as Deutsche upgrades to 'buy' (QCOM) By Ciara Linnane
NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Telecoms equipment-maker Qualcomm (QCOM) shares rose in premarket trade after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold" on expectations the company will pay a major role in advancing 3G technologies. The company is a leader in the CDMA2000 market, analyst Brian Modoff told clients in a note. Qualcomm is managing comptition from a consortium of Texas Instruments, STMicro and Nokia well, and is well-placed to compete with NTT DoCoMo in Asia, he said. Deutsche is lifting its CDMA handset forecast for 2004, driven by expected growth in India. Qualcomm shares were last quoted at $63.16, up from $62.75 at Thursday's close. Deutsche also upgraded Powerwave to "hold" vs. "sell".
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/newsfinder/pulseone.asp?guid=%7BB443106C%2D661E%2D40EC%2D9D82%2D204A...
QCOM stockholders to reap greater dividends, vote to alter board elections
45 minutes ago
Stockholders wielded uncommon power at Qualcomm Inc.'s annual stockholders meeting Tuesday, learning they would collect even greater quarterly dividends and voting in favor of a stockholder proposal that could ultimately rewrite how Qualcomm's board is elected.
Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM - news) announced that its quarterly cash dividend has been increased from 7 cents per share to 10 cents per share, a 43 percent improvement. The increase puts the annual dividend rate at 40 cents per share of common stock.
The new rate is effective for the quarterly dividend payable June 25, to stockholders of record as of May 28.
Also at the meeting, held at Copley Symphony Hall downtown, stockholders approved a proposal that Qualcomm's board had unanimously recommended against. Bernard Lubran of Rockville, Md., owner of 700 shares of Qualcomm common stock, recommended that the board take the steps necessary to elect its directors annually, rather than the staggered three-year system already in place.
This is the first time a stockholder proposal has ever been included on a Qualcomm proxy.
In his proposal, Lubran wrote, "The great majority of New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites) listed corporations elect all of their directors each year. In 2003, corporations such as Pfizer (NYSE: PFE - news) and Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ - news) proposed to shareholders the eliminated (sic) of the stagger system for election of their board of directors."
An annual system would ensure that directors be held accountable for the company's condition each year, and "to a certain extent prevents the self-perpetuation of the board," Lubran said.
In its proxy statement, Qualcomm defended its three-tiered board election system as necessary to maintaining an informed and experienced board. Under the current system, one-third of the 13-member board is up for re-election each year. Stockholders approved the election process in 1993.
"The stockholders' decision has worked well for the past 10 years, in that it balances the need to have new directors bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the company with the need for experience on the board," according to Qualcomm's proxy.
Qualcomm executives cautioned Tuesday that the proposal is advisory, and so doesn't in itself eliminate the classified board. Rather, because the board election process is a provision of Qualcomm's certificate of incorporation, a separate board-drafted proposal to amend the certificate would have to be approved by two-thirds of Qualcomm's shareholders.
Such a proposal wouldn't be made until next year's annual meeting, Qualcomm Chief Executive and Chairman Irwin Jacobs said.
"We did discuss the possibility that this would be approved at the board yesterday," Jacobs, who beneficially owns 22.3 million Qualcomm shares, told stockholders after the vote tally was announced. "And we will move forward, take the advice, and move forward to take the steps that would allow stockholders to vote at the next meeting, most likely, on the moving further forward to declassify the board. So we have received that input from stockholders and we'll respond to that. And I thank you very much for that help."
Lubran's proposal didn't inhibit the re-election of four Qualcomm board directors at Tuesday's meeting. Irwin Jacobs, Adelia Coffman, Raymond Dittamore and Richard Sulpizio are slated to serve until the 2007 annual meeting.
Stockholders also approved a proposal to amend Qualcomm's 2001 stock option plan by 32 million shares for the purpose of employee incentives, and to ratify PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as Qualcomm's independent accountants.
Qualcomm only began offering quarterly dividends last year. At its 2003 annual stockholders meeting Qualcomm declared a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share. An increase to 7 cents per share was announced in July 2003.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/sddt/20040303/lo_sddt/qualcommstockholderstoreapg...
You are welcome.
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=QCOM
KEY STATISTICS
Forward P/E (1 yr): 34.44
P/S (ttm): 12.28
Div Date: 26-Mar-04
Ex-Div: 25-Feb-04
March Div Record Date:2/25/04,Payment Date 3/26/04.
EOM.
QUALCOMM Increases Dividend by 43 Percent
Tuesday March 2, 7:30 am ET
SAN DIEGO, March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM - News) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved a 43 percent increase in the Company's quarterly cash dividend from $0.07 to $0.10 per share of common stock. The new dividend rate will be effective for the quarterly dividend payable on June 25, 2004 to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 28, 2004. This dividend increase raises the annual dividend rate to $0.40 per share of common stock.
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040302/latu042_1.html
New Verizon cellphone to be usable worldwide
BY BRIAN BERGSTEIN
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Verizon Wireless plans to begin selling this spring a cellphone for use by subscribers around the world as well as in the United States.
The phone will have chips for two kinds of wireless network systems: the CDMA standard used by Verizon in America and the GSM standard used in most of the rest of the world.
In most places, the GSM calls will be carried by Vodafone PLC, the British cellphone company that owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless.
The phone is scheduled to debut in April.
Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Boyd Raney declined to disclose price or the phone's manufacturers.
She did say the phone was designed for workers for international companies that ``increasingly need and want and ask for a phone of this nature.''
U.S. cellular carriers that employ the GSM standard here, including AT&T Wireless, Cingular and T-Mobile, already offer phones usable worldwide, but Verizon Wireless would be the first to provide dual service on CDMA and GSM networks in one phone.
Sprint PCS, the other national CDMA carrier in the United States, plans to roll out a dual CDMA/GSM phone later this year, but spokeswoman Suzanne Lammers said she could not offer specifics.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/8081328.htm
Sprint joins wireless shuffle
2 hours, 27 minutes ago Add Business - TheDeal.com to My Yahoo!
by Chris Nolter
In a move that highlights the growing importance of wireless operations for wireline telecoms, Sprint Corp. is recombining its PCS tracking stock that represents its mobile business with its FON stock.
While the long-anticipated move will end Sprint's five-year experiment with a wireless tracking stock, some observers suggested that it could position to the company to take part in another trend: consolidation.
The Overland Park, Kan., telecom announced over the weekend that each PCS wireless share will be converted into .50 shares of FON common stock as of April 23. Sprint plans to reveal more details Friday, March 5, during a conference call.
Lehman Brothers Inc. advised the telecom's board on the recombination.
The move could be a prelude to more transactions. "The simplified structure will provide clarity in valuing the firm's assets while making it easier for the company to participate in M&A transactions as a buyer or seller," UBS Investment Research analysts John Hodulik and Colette Fleming wrote in a report.
What deal it might pursue, however, is unclear.
Sprint's wireless network runs on the code division multiple access, or CDMA (news - web sites), standard. The largest carriers that employ the technology are Verizon Wireless and AllTel Corp.
The recombination would appear to complicate a potential deal with Verizon Wireless. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group plc, and does not have wireline assets.
However, the combination could make Sprint more compatible with AllTel, which does have wireline and wireless operations.
"Certainly from the point of view of issues related to the style of operations, I think Sprint and AllTel would be compatible," Pierce said, adding that she did not see Sprint being acquired.
Sprint and AllTel both derive more than half of their revenues from wireless, and there are other similarities.
"I see some logic behind the rumors given that they have similar wireless technology and their local operations are both rural and independent," said Todd Rosenbluth of Standard & Poor's. "I don't have an opinion on whether something is going to happen."
The new Sprint would have an enterprise value of $41.4 billion, with a market cap in the neighborhood of $26.5 billion and net debt of $14.9 billion. AllTel, by comparison, has an enterprise value of about $20 billion.
The combined Sprint would trade at 4.9 times projected Ebitda for 2005, according to estimates by UBS, versus a multiple of 6.2 times 2005 Ebitda for AllTel.
AllTel is said to have a roaming agreement with Verizon Wireless, though company spokesmen declined to comment on the relationship between the companies.
Qwest Communications International Inc. said Monday that it would provide nationwide wireless services by reselling Sprint's service, which might suggest a compatability between the companies.
"We don't think that Sprint is an easy acquisition for anybody," Rosenbluth said. "There are a lot of moving parts. They don't dominate in anything."
It is the second time in a month, following Cingular Wireless' $47 billion acquisition of AT&T Wireless Services Inc., that investors learned a wireless stock would be removed from the market.
Sprint has been combining some of the back-office operations of its wireline and wireless businesses for more than a year. "It's an indication of what's been going on at Sprint internally, the combining of business units to focus on customers versus product line," said Lisa Pierce of Forrester Research Inc.
Aside from savings and benefits of combining operations of its business units, the recombination could also buoy the valuation of the wireline stock.
Like the acquisition of AT&T Wireless by Cingular, the joint venture of SBC Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp., the recombination shows how wireline carriers look to offset their losses of customers and revenues to mobile carriers, and to enhance revenues by bundling services.
In general, these established wireline operations throw off cash, but don't have long-term growth potential and promise of wireless telecommunications. Yankee Group analyst John Jackson has dryly dubbed this "mad cash cow" syndrome.
The wireless business should also benefit from the arrangement, though.
"If you can hop on your parents' network for your back haul traffic, that gives both companies, wireless and wireline, significant cost advantages," Pierce said. "There's good reason to do that whenever possible."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/thedeal/20040302/bs_deal_thedeal/sprintjoinswirel...
Datumcom to Showcase Precision Location Applications for QUALCOMM’s BREW™ Solution
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message from Sponsor
BOCA RATON – March 1, 2004 -- Datumcom today announced it will showcase its suite of precision location based services (LBS) based on QUALCOMM’s BREW™ solution, including LOC-AID.net, at Telexpo 2004 in Brazil (March 2nd - 5th) and in CTIA 2004 in Atlanta, Georgia (March 22nd - 24th). Datumcom’s service suite will be demonstrated live on QUALCOMM’s booth at Telexpo, and on its own booth at CTIA 2004.
Leveraging QUALCOMM’s BREW and gpsOne™ Assisted GPS solutions, Datumcom’s LOC-AID.net adds value through precision location information. LOC-AID.net gives the user an efficient and convenient way to locate people, places, vehicles, assets or geographical information through his/her mobile phone. Datumcom’s BREW-based location solutions give clients various choices in different situations. Everything from LOC-AID PEOPLE, where you can find a friend or share your location with someone else, to LOC-AID Love where your location and information are both shared with other singles in the area to find the hottest spots around!
Datumcom’s innovative precision location solutions have helped propel it into a leadership role in the mobile location services market. LOC-AID.net’s BREW applications for mobile devices adapt to a user's location and situation facilitating the delivery of geo-graphical data along with providing direction-finding information. These valuable assets will drive usage and revenue, while attracting new subscribers and enhancing customer loyalty.
Datumcom is pleased to announce that we are currently working with multiple carriers throughout the Americas to launch LOC-AID.net’s location-based services within 2004.
Please join us at CTIA 2004 or TELEXPO Brazil. If you are planning to attend CTIA-2004 you can visit us at the Datumcom booth(# 4274).
If you need any additional information please visit: www.datumcom.com
QUALCOMM’s BREW system provides products and services that connect the mobile marketplace value chain, which includes application developers, publishers, content providers, device manufacturers, operators and consumers.
Publishers and developers worldwide are generating revenue from BREW-based applications and content, and 24 manufacturers have offered more than 115 BREW-enabled device models to consumers. Many very successful operators that have deployed commercial BREW-based wireless data services, including Verizon Wireless, ALLTEL, Cellular One, MetroPCS, Midwest Wireless and U.S. Cellular in the United States; China Unicom, KDDI in Japan, KTF in South Korea, Hutch in Thailand, Telstra in Australia, VIVO in Brazil, BellSouth Chile, BellSouth Colombia, BellSouth Ecuador, BellSouth Panama, BellSouth Perú, Movicom in Argentina, Telcel in Venezuela, Verizon Dominican Republic, Verizon Wireless Puerto Rico and Pelephone in Israel.
QUALCOMM is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. BREW Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless and gpsOne are trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. LOC-AID is a registered trademark of DATUMCOM Corporation.
http://www.wirelessdevnet.com/news/2004/mar/01/news1.html
Nortel Stages A-GPS Calls
03.02.04
BRAMPTON, ON -- Nortel Networks has completed the industry's first 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project)-compliant UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS) calls at 2100 and 1900 Mhz using mobile equipment provided by QUALCOMM* and Motorola* Incorporated, and reference satellite data provided by Global Locate*. This milestone demonstrated that A-GPS location-based services can be offered using commercial third generation (3G) wireless networks.
A-GPS technology is the most accurate location-based technology currently available, enabling a wireless network to pinpoint a user's location within 10 meters of the exact geographical location. This technology can position operators to enhance customer loyalty and drive new revenues through value-added services like fleet tracking and workforce management, and personal navigation, safety and security.
"Nortel Networks has a long and proud history of UMTS innovation, and these first 3GPP A-GPS calls are another example of Nortel Networks continued commitment to developing new technologies that will drive the wireless industry forward into a new data age," said Alain Biston, president and general manager, UMTS, Nortel Networks. "In addition to the public safety Enhanced 911 capabilities required by the FCC, this functionality will be critical in deploying commercial A-GPS services for UMTS."
Nortel Networks Corp.
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=48529
QCOM hosts inaugural European BREW Developers Conference in London
QUALCOMM Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, held its inaugural European BREW Developers Conference on Thursday, Feb 12, in London. The event brought together more than 125 application publishers and developers as well as European operators and device manufacturers to learn more about the benefits of QUALCOMM's BREW offering of products and services.
The conference provided a networking forum for attendees to learn from technical and business tracks dedicated to sharing knowledge and expert resources on using the BREW system to develop applications, customize devices with advanced content including multimedia messaging services (MMS), Web browsers and user interfaces (UI), and to differentiate products and services to increase revenues for mobile operators.
Johan Lodenius, senior vice president of European Business Relations for QUALCOMM Internet Services, began the conference with opening remarks. "The first European BREW Developers Conference shows our commitment to building strong, collaborative relationships with European publishers and developers and further demonstrates the solid presence we are building in the European wireless marketplace. QUALCOMM is providing the international wireless community with tremendous flexibility and openness through the BREW system - providing control for operators interested in delivering differentiated and compelling value-added services while ensuring they receive a secure, low cost solution that meets their business needs."
The conference featured a keynote presentation by Paul Palmieri, director of business development for Verizon Wireless, and attendees also heard presentations from Luis Avelar, vice president of marketing and innovation for Brazilian operator, VIVO and Trip Hawkins, founder of Electronic Arts.
"The BREW solution has helped us develop a competitive advantage and helped drive our data services all with a low cost for deployment," said Avelar. "For VIVO, the BREW system gives a very rich user experience and really allows us to segment our offering for the market. It also provides the best development environment and the most flexibility, for example our MMS runs on top of BREW."
Rio Caraeff, vice president of Wireless Services, Sony Pictures Digital Networks, presented a case study targeted toward publishers and developers that attended the conference to learn why they should take the steps to create content for the BREW solution. "Sony Pictures Mobile has a significant number of subscribers to its games thanks to the flexibility of the BREW system," said Caraeff. "The BREW solution and system enables us to get our products to market more quickly and efficiently than other mobile platforms."
A panel of successful publishers and developers participated in a roundtable session moderated by Dr. Richard Windsor, analyst, Nomura. Participants included:
Scott Lahman, president, Publishing, JAMDAT Mobile
Paul Beardow, chief technology officer, Superscape
Boris La Croix, executive vice president, Digiplug
Jim Eckstrom, vice president business development, ACCESS Co. Ltd.
Jan Lezny, senior director of European Business Relations, QUALCOMM Internet Services, also hosted a panel session that featured several BREW Global Publishers. Guilherme Rafare, managing director, IN3, and Norbert Chang, chief executive officer, Enorbus, both gave developers at the conference insight into QUALCOMM's BREW Global Publisher program and identified the large global market of operators that are looking to offer a wide array of compelling and advanced content. The conference also consisted of several technical sessions as well as an overview of integrating location based services into BREW-based applications.
QUALCOMM's BREW system provides products and services that connect the mobile marketplace value chain, which includes application developers, publishers, content providers, device manufacturers, operators and consumers.
For more information, contact: www.qualcomm.com
published: 02 March '04
http://www.eurocomms.co.uk/news/story.shtml?news.REF=981
QUALCOMM Stockholders Meeting 3/2/04
DATE: Tuesday, March 2, 2004
TIME: 9:30 AM PT
LOCATION: Copley Symphony Hall
750 B Street
San Diego, California
DURATION: 3 hours
PURPOSE: QUALCOMM Stockholders Meeting
Product displays open at 8:30am
Meeting begins at 9:30am
http://www.qualcomm.com/IR/ir58.html
Prepaid IP services over CDMA 1xRTT network
P-Cube has announced Pelephone, Israel's first mobile network operator, has selected its Service Control and Encharge solution to deliver a complete pre-paid data solution for real-time charging of new premium mobile IP services by interacting with the existing PP system. This contract win is P-Cube's second announced Mobile Network Operator (MNO) customer, following the news that 3 (Hutchison) has also selected the company's IP Service Control platform.
"Data services represent a vital revenue stream for mobile operators all over the world," said Doron Kurtz, Vice President Engineering & Technology at Pelephone. "P-Cube's solution enhances Pelephone's ability to deliver, control and bill for mobile data services to our prepaid subscribers. This gives us a major competitive advantage, and enables us to increase ARPU in an already aggressive market."
P-Cube's service control technology is comprised of a programmable network element that overcomes the limitations inherent in today's service delivery infrastructure by adding a layer of intelligence providing the capability to analyze, manage, control and bill for content-based IP services on wired and mobile networks. This enables operators to profitably offer an array of data services customized to individual subscriber's needs.
Doron Kurtz added, "P-Cube's solution allows us to rapidly scale and support new prepaid mobile services. This acceleration in the roll-out of premium content and applications ultimately benefits our prepaid subscribers with flexible billing options and the fastest possible deployment of new services."
P-Cube's ease of integration with Pelephone's existing network environment was central to the operator's selection decision. The complete prepaid data solution offers unprecedented levels of network visibility and control enabling carriers to easily block, redirect or shape content-based services.
"There is no better validation for our products than being deployed by leading mobile service providers to solve the problems that only our service control technology can address," said Yuval Shahar, P-Cube's President and CEO. "We are delighted to have been selected by Pelephone to provide a complete prepaid mobile data service delivery system in its mobile network environment."
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/10750.shtml
Coexistence is key to wireless future
Intel President and COO Paul Otellini has outlined plans for the growing wireless silicon market, focusing on the coexistence of broadband wireless technologies.
Intel President and COO Paul Otellini has outlined Intel's plans for the growing wireless silicon market, focusing on the coexistence of broadband wireless technologies and the impact of Moore's Law on the cellular and handheld market segments.
Otellini was speaking at the 3GSM World Congress 2004, the wireless industry's largest annual event.
"The wireless industry is evolving from a web of independent networks into a single, integrated wireless network with multiple standards, and no single standard is sufficient anymore", Otellini said.
"There won't be a battle of competing technologies.
It will be a requirement that Wi-Fi, WiMax, and 3G coexist; and that coexistence is going to enable a host of exciting new applications and business models".
At 3GSM Intel also disclosed details of its next generation cellular and baseband processors, including a dual mode UMTS/wideband-CDMA (WCDMA) solution with an advanced receiver architecture that helps maintain higher quality signals and fewer dropped calls for phones operating on 3G networks.
The upcoming family of processors, codenamed Hermon, also features full videoconferencing capability.
During his keynote address, Otellini discussed how Moore's Law would impact the cellular and handheld market segments, and said the move to standards-based silicon would enable carriers and handset makers to lower costs and speed time-to-market capabilities.
He also discussed the industry transition to modular communications infrastructure based on standards such as the Advanced Telecommunications and Computing Architecture (ATCA) specification and Intel processing technology.
"Our track record of innovation and integration - putting more functionality in a smaller footprint - will have a profound effect on these market segments where cost is a critical factor", Otellini said.
As part of the discussion on Moore's Law, Otellini outlined some of Intel's research efforts in software-driven radio and reiterated the company's long-term vision to eventually put multiprotocol radios on to every chip it builds.
He also unveiled a new three-radio reference design for cellphones with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GSM/GPRS capability built-in, running Intel's latest applications processor and Intel StrataFlash memory.
The phone supports multiple full-featured operating systems, plays MP3 music files with PC-quality sound, and includes a 1.3Mpixel digital camera for pictures and video.
Intel's reference design offers handset makers who want to provide cell phones capable of accessing high-speed wireless networks - Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or 2.5G - a complete platform from which to work.
Otellini concluded his remarks by focusing on the significant WiMax opportunity over the next several years.
He predicted a WiMax "inflection point" in the 2006-2008 timeframe similar to what happened with Wi-Fi over the past few years, and said WiMax capability would be available in notebook computers by 2006, followed by handsets in 2007.
Intel is developing standardised, high-performance silicon to address all the multiple broadband wireless technologies, as well as a range of products for modular communications networks that will be crucial in the deployment of broadband wireless.
It will begin shipping its first WiMax chips later this year.
In related news at 3GSM, Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group announced the introduction of a new standards-based telecomms architecture designed to speed development time and simplify mobile service deployment for carriers.
The platform is based on the ATCA specification and will be developed using compute and network processors from Intel.
In addition, Intel said Asustek, one of the leading manufacturers in Taiwan, will develop a new series of feature phones based on Intel's PXA800F cellular processor, and new smart phones based on Intel's Hermon processors as well as Intel's next generation applications processor.
Also, Intel and Orange, a leader in mobile communications and mobile-based services and applications, said they will work together to bring a number of next-generation cell phones to market with compelling wireless applications and services.
http://www.electronicstalk.com/news/iel/iel129.html
Verizon Wireless plans international cell phone
By Staff and wire reports
Published March 1, 2004
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Verizon Wireless plans to begin selling this spring a cell phone that can be used around the world as well as in the United States.
The phone will have chips for two kinds of wireless network systems - the CDMA standard used by Verizon in America and the GSM standard used in most of the rest of the world. In most places, the GSM calls will be carried by Vodafone PLC, the British cell phone company that owns 45 percent of Verizon Wireless.
The phone is due out in April. Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Boyd Raney would not disclose the price or the phone's manufacturer.
She said the phone is designed for workers for international companies that "increasingly need and want and ask for a phone of this nature."
U.S. cellular carriers that employ the GSM standard, including Cingular, T-Mobile and AT&T Wireless, already offer phones usable worldwide. But Verizon Wireless would be the first to provide dual service on CDMA and GSM networks in one phone.
Sprint PCS, the other national CDMA carrier in the United States, plans a dual CDMA/GSM phone later this year.
Long-range remote controls on horizon
A set of low-cost devices to be introduced this spring can operate every audio and video component in the house - even from outdoors.
Companies such as Philips Electronics and Sony make inexpensive universal remotes designed to replace the array of devices that litter many a coffee table. But Scott Wellington, the marketing manager for Universal Remote Control, says the three models introduced by his company are the only ones in the $100-to-$200 range that can transmit radio frequency signals. Equipped with an optional $75 receiver, the MRF-100, the remotes can control TVs, CD players and other devices from as far as 150 feet, even from behind a closed door.
That may seem like a solution in search of a problem. But Wellington says it is not always convenient to go to another room to change a CD that is being piped through distant speakers.
The Universal Remote Control URC-300 ($200) has a liquid crystal display touch screen that can be customized to replace 15 other remotes.
That device and its siblings, the URC-100 ($100) and URC-200 ($150), are to reach electronics stores in April. They can store strings of programming commands that with the touch of one button will turn on the right appliance and select the proper input to play a DVD or CD or watch TV.
Each model comes with an instructional DVD, increasing the chances that today's couch potato will turn into tomorrow's patio potato.
Bay area seminar focuses on computer, online security
A free daylong seminar for consumers and businesses about computer and online security issues will be held twice in the bay area. Sponsored by Secure Florida, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida Cybersecurity Institute, C-SAFE: Cyber Security Awareness for Everyone will cover a range of topics, including viruses, spam, fraud, identity theft and network protection.
It will be held March 30 at the FDLE office, 4211 N Lois Ave., Tampa, and April 1 at the St. Petersburg College Allstate Center on 34th Street S, St. Petersburg. Registration is required because space is limited. To sign up, go to www.secureflorida.org
Tips for "Degunking Windows"
The cheapest infusion of power to a Windows XP computer can now be had for a mere $24.99.
It's not a faster processor or more memory but a well-done book titled Degunking Windows, Peggy Rogers writes in the Miami Herald. While the book focuses on speeding up and troubleshooting Windows XP, many of its tips also apply to earlier Windows versions.
Degunking Windows, just published by Paraglyph Press (www.paraglyphpress.com) tells you why - and where - gunk piles up, often without the user's knowledge, and how to eradicate it.
It offers a bundle of guidelines that not only strip the useless stuff from your machine and buttress its weak areas but also teach you quite a bit about the operating system.
Talkback to Personal Tech
Comments or questions about tech news of the day can be posted for Times personal technology editor Dave Gussow at the Times Talkback site (www.sptimes.com/talkback)
- Compiled from staff and wire reports
[Last modified February 27, 2004, 11:23:35]
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/03/01/Technology/Verizon_Wireless_plan.shtml
China to kick off 3G field tests again
By Zi Mu (China Business Weekly)
Updated: 2004-03-01 16:30
Chinese authorities in March will kick off a second round of field tests involving 3G mobile communications systems, which should help them decide when and how to award operators with 3G licences.
However, a shortage of 3G (third-generation) cellphones and the sluggish development of a Chinese home-grown 3G standard is casting uncertainties on the allocation of the 3G licences.
There are three competing 3G standards: Europe-initiated WCDMA, US-backed CDMA 2000 and China's TD-SCDMA.
The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) will start field tests of WCDMA systems at the end of March, said Wang Zhiqin, deputy director of the Institute of Communication Standards Research at MII's China Academy of Telecommunication Research.
A visitor to a telecoms show in Beijing uses a giant CDMA1X cellphone model displayed by China Unicom.Chinese authorities in March will launch a new round of field tests of 3G (third-generation) wireless communications systems, which should help them decide when and how 3G licences will be allocated. [newsphoto]
Trials on CDMA 2000 will begin in April, followed by TD-SCDMA tests in May, she said.
Wang, a key figure involved in the trials, said the inadequacy of 3G phones remains the biggest bottleneck in 3G's development.
Twelve WCDMA cellphone models will be tested, including those produced by China's Huawei and Hisense, Wang told China Business Weekly.
There are no commercial CDMA 2000 phones yet. Manufacturers specially tailored some phones for the trials.
TD-SCDMA cellphones will not be ready for testing until the middle of this year, Wang said.
Manufacturers have yet to produce a TD-SCDMA phone for the tests, as the development of the Chinese standard lags far behind its rivals.
It also lacks wide industry support.
Chongqing Institute of Posts and Telecommunications, in southwestern China, announced in November it had developed a phone for TD-SCDMA. The phone was reportedly the first of its kind in the world.
Institute officials said TD-SCDMA phones will be produced in small scale this year, and in large scale next year.
But industry insiders said the phones are still far from the "real" TD-SCDMA phones.
A subsidiary devoted to the mobile phone business of Legend Group, China's largest PC maker, said last week it had inked a deal with China's Datang, a major developer of the TD-SCDMA technology, to produce TD-SCDMA phones.
It's unknown when Legend's TD-SCDMA phones will be available in the market.
A shortage of 3G phones has resulted in repeated delays in the global roll-out of 3G services.
Arun Sarin, chief executive officer of Vodafone, Europe's largest GSM mobile phone network, said last week product-quality deficiencies will delay the mass roll-out of new 3G handsets throughout much of this year.
Dependable, affordable 3G handsets will not be available in big numbers until the year's fourth quarter, Sarin said.
Rene Obermann, chairman of T-Mobile International, agrees with that assessment.
Wang said it is not unusual for the 3G handset R&D (research and development) to lag about a year behind the networks and systems.
But a shortage of 3G phones makes technical trials difficult, she said.
The 3G trials are scheduled to be completed by September.
"After September, we will probably not test WCDMA and CDMA 2000 any more," Wang said.
"But TD-SCDMA might have a chance to continue being tested, due to the government's support."
Industry observers have said TD-SCDMA will definitely find a niche in China's future 3G market, and that the government will not allocate the 3G licences until it makes sure the home-grown standard is viable.
"Several key breakthroughs must be made in the TD-SCDMA technology," Wang noted.
Compared with WCDMA, which has been already put into use in some European countries, TD-SCDMA is an unproven technology. It has never been used to form a stand-alone network.
How and when the Chinese Government issues 3G licenses will help determine which equipment makers snatch billions of dollars in contracts from the 3G network deployments, analysts said.
The 3G technical trials are crucial to the allocation of 3G licences, they said.
Industry insiders expected the issuance to occur before the end of last year, but it fell short of most people's expectations.
Now, most observers believe it will not take place before the completion of the 3G trials, most likely in the first half of next year.
Wang said many uncertainties remain.
"I assume it's very unlikely that the government will award operators with 3G licences before September. But it's still hard to predict, as there might be unexpectations," she said.
Rumours surfaced last week that China Netcom, the smaller fixed-line carrier, might gain the 3G licences before year's end -- ahead of other telephone operators.
Netcom Vice-President Zhang Changsheng said at a recent MII internal policy briefing that Netcom will "actively" participate in the 3G trials to make full preparation for operations of 3G services.
"China Network Communications Group Corp, since its launch, has been eager to offer all the telephone services to customers," he said.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-03/01/content_310679.htm
Sprint Says to Recombine Tracking Stocks
42 minutes ago Add Business - Reuters to My Yahoo!
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Corp. (NYSE:FON - news) (NYSE:PCS - news), the No. 4 U.S. long-distance telephone company, on Sunday said that it has decided to recombine its wireless and wireline tracking stocks and return to a single common stock in April.
The company said PCS common stock, which tracks its wireless telephone arm, will be eliminated and each share of PCS common stock will convert into 0.5 share of FON common stock, which tracks its core long-distance and local telephone operations, on April 23.
Sprint said the FON shares that will be held following the recombination will not be a tracking stock, but instead will reflect the financial results and economic value of all of its operations.
The move toward a single stock comes as Sprint tries to more closely meld its local, long distance and wireless operations to eliminate overlapping sales and administrative functions, and to offer more complete service packages for its residential and corporate customers.
Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint created the two stocks in 1998 to help investors more accurately follow the performance of its two units.
But analysts have argued that the separation of the two businesses has made accounting more complicated and has added unnecessary costs and delays.
Sprint said in a statement on Sunday there are about 1.04 billion shares of PCS common stock outstanding and roughly 906 million shares of FON common stock outstanding. Following the recombination, Sprint said there will be about 1.42 billion shares of FON common stock outstanding.
Sprint said its board expects to declare the regular dividend of 12.5 cents per share on all outstanding shares of FON common stock, including those issued in the recombination, at its meeting in April 2004, payable to shareholders of record on a date in June 2004.
On Friday, shares of Sprint's FON Group closed at $17.73 on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites), while shares of Sprint's PCS Group closed at $9 on the New York Stock Exchange.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040229/bs_nm/telecom_sprint_stock_dc_2
Viterbi donates $52 million to USC
By Michael Stetz
STAFF WRITER
February 29, 2004
Andrew J. Viterbi, co-founder of Qualcomm, is giving the University of Southern California a $52 million gift, and that institution's school of engineering will now bear his name.
In the telecommunications world, few names are better known or admired. It was Viterbi who helped develop the technology that made cell phones possible.
Viterbi, a La Jolla resident, earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from USC in 1962. The money comes from both Viterbi and his wife of 45 years, Erna.
"We're passionate about education," Viterbi said. "Education is what this nation needs to stay ahead of the curve."
The gift will be formally announced Tuesday.
Viterbi, 68, retired from Qualcomm in 2000. At that time, his stock holdings were reported to be worth $1 billion.
Viterbi's work is no easy thing for the average person to comprehend. For instance, according to a news release announcing the gift, Viterbi is well-known for publishing an algorithm – one that today bears his name – that "allows rapid and accurate decoding of a plethora of overlapping signals."
Here's the best way to appreciate his work. Call a loved one with your cell phone. It works wonders because of Viterbi's pioneering concepts.
He and his associates came up with what is called CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access, the wireless technology in use in the majority of cell phones in North America.
His life story is one that is truly American.
When he was 4, his family fled Italy just days before World War II broke out. Viterbi picked up English when he began going to kindergarten.
The family later settled in Boston, and Viterbi began his academic career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In a story published in the Union-Tribune at the time of his retirement from Qualcomm, he said he had aspired to be the world's greatest engineer since he was 10.
Viterbi and Irwin Jacobs, arguably the better-known co-founder of Qualcomm because he serves as the corporation's front man, joined minds in 1970, starting a defense communications company called Linkabit. They joined forces, along with several others, to create Qualcomm in 1985.
That company is now a Fortune 500 corporation and is considered one of the leaders in telecommunications innovation. Qualcomm is one of the largest employers in San Diego County, with an estimated 5,000 workers.
Both Jacobs and Viterbi give back, particularly to academic institutions they hold dear.
Jacobs, who serves as chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, donated $110 million to the UCSD School of Engineering last year – UCSD's largest gift ever. The engineering school had earlier been named in his honor. Jacobs was a professor of computer science and electrical engineering at UCSD from 1966 to 1972.
Viterbi has strong ties to USC, serving as a trustee and a member of the Dean's Council. He said he felt the need to give to that university rather than, say, UCSD because it's a private school and such institutions are facing greater needs.
"It was there for me when I needed it," he said.
Viterbi has given to San Diego institutions as well. For instance, he donated $2 million to KPBS, allowing it to complete its digital television studio.
Among donations to educational institutions, a $600 million gift to the California Institute of Technology is the largest on record. Gordon Moore, a graduate who later co-founded Intel Corp., was the donor.
USC's engineering school has nearly 2,000 undergraduate students and more than 3,300 graduate students.
The Los Angeles-based school is excited, to say the least.
"To have our school bear the name of the creator of the Viterbi Algorithm and co-founder of Qualcomm Corp. will be a source of tremendous pride for our faculty, students and alumni," said C.L. Max Nikias, dean of the engineering school. "His is one of the most brilliant careers in engineering history – and he is a USC alumnus, one of our own."
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Michael Stetz: (619) 542-4570; michael.stetz@uniontrib.com
http://www.signonsandiego.com//uniontrib/20040229/news_1m29gift.html
DUMB LUCK INVESTOR: Qualcomm's Amazing Resiliency, Peter D. Henig
Sunday February 29, 11:30 am ET
At one point, presumably at the height of the technology boom, Qualcomm (QCOM) was forecast to become a $1400 stock. Not a $140 stock, a $1400 stock!! Discounted cash flow analysis had gone out the window and momentum was carrying shares through the roof. It never hit $1400 but it was a nice fantasy.
When the bottom fell out of the market, those who flew highest crashed the hardest – and Qualcomm was at the top, or rather bottom, of that list. Split-adjusted shares had climbed to nearly $200 per share in January 2000 before tanking to May 2003 lows of $29.58. The wireless promise hadn't changed, just the euphoria for it had. Over the last eight months, however, that euphoria – or at least muted enthusiasm as we might now call it – has crept back into Qualcomm's shares.
Share prices have risen over 100 percent and the stock now trades steadily above $60 per share. Wall Street's investment banks have even downgraded the stock for appreciating too much, with firms like Morgan Stanley reducing its rating from “overweight” to “equal weight” based on the amount of good news that has already been factored into the stock. And such good news has been abundant indeed.
Qualcomm easily beat analyst forecasts for fiscal first quarter 2004 profits, earning 43 cents per share, 3 cents above estimates and an increase of 46 percent from the same period last year. Revenue rose 13.2 percent to $1.24 billion from $1.1 billion, with sharp gains coming from the licensing fees on increased sales of its CDMA (code division multiple access) phones. With phone sales surging past industry expectations, Qualcomm further predicts revenue and earnings growth for Q2 2004, expecting that sales may rise between 1 and 8 percent over Q2 2003. Moreover, it now projects that net income for 2004 could reach between $1.41 and $1.46 per share, a major jump from $1.01 last year and sharply higher than the company's own forecast of between $1.17 and $1.23 per share it projected as recently as November.
All of this leaves investors with one simple question. What now? Wall Street has been so thirsty for a rebound in technology stocks it has been discounting good news for the entire year into share prices right now. And investors who watched with glee as their Qualcomm shares reached for the heavens, and then stuck by it as it sunk to its depths, are equally likely to take some profits for having weathered so much angst.
Yet, the best may be yet to come. Credit Suisse First Boston just last week reiterated its “outperform” rating on Qualcomm based on another company announcement that it was again guiding second quarter earnings expectations higher. Qualcomm now says it anticipates earnings of 47 to 49 cents per share – CSFB favors the higher number – well above the 34 to 37 cents per share it had previously estimated. Continuously improving handset sales into the second quarter and higher margins on its semiconductor business have buoyed the company's expectations and apparently even surprised Wall Street analysts intent on erring on the side of caution – lest no one blurts out another $1400 per share forecast by accident.
Can the good times last for Qualcomm? Unrealistic expectations aside, the answer is likely yes. With a very large chunk of cash in the bank – over $5 billion – and hardly any debt, the company is financially strong to weather any further turmoil in the market and should continue to capitalize on global growth of CDMA handset sales. Though the forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is a bit rich at 34.8, and the PEG ration (the price-to-earnings growth ratio is a bit elevated at 2.51, the company could easily continue to raise earnings expectations throughout the year as wireless appears to be one of the few bulletproof technologies the business enterprise will need going forward. For investors who've stomached the worst, holding on for a bit longer doesn't seem like a bad idea.
Peter D. Henig
Contributing Writer and Trading Strategist
Optionetics.com ~ Your Options Education Site
pete@optionetics.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/opt/040229/8578f3d7b0e2558f3ff4b3b0b25b476a_1.html
SK Teletech Launches Two SKY 7000 Series Handsets
February 28, 2004
Within the last two months, SK Teletech has launched two new SKY brand 7000-series handsets which incorporate the latest technology. In addition to both possessing standard features, such as June service (VOD/MOD) and CDMA 2000 1X EV-DO, here are their unique key features:
IM-7100
- Big 2.2“ Quarter Video Graphics Array (QVGA) TFT LCD with 240x320 pixels (standard is 176x220), which provides unprecedented clarity
- First SKY phone with PDA functions, which allows users to organize schedules and emails by connecting to their PC via data manager cable
- Digital camera-style picture taking and video recording; has internal flash, 90 minutes of video recording and editing capabilities
- Multi-Messaging Service (MMS); users can customize their messages by changing the background color, inserting Pictograms, images, and background music, and attaching video files
IM-7200
- Big 2.1“ QCIF TFT LCD 310,000-pixel folding-type digital camera; has all the camera functions of IM-7100, in addition to 5 zoom settings, 8 levels of brightness, reversible screen, and self-timer
- 64-chord melodies in 3D stereo surround sound with dual speakers for music videos, movies, games, etc.
- FM radio receiver; users can select from 20 channels on various frequencies
http://www.3gnewsroom.com/3g_news/feb_04/news_4258.shtml
Qualcomm to hold first local job fair since '97
By Jennifer Davies
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2004
The wireless telephone business may finally be on the rebound, particularly if Qualcomm's hiring plans are an indication.
The San Diego wireless technology company is holding a local job fair today, its first since 1997 when the tech economy was just beginning to gather steam.
Dan Sullivan, Qualcomm's executive vice president of human resources, said there are about 450 current openings and the company is on pace to add 1,000 workers by the end of the year. Qualcomm now has about 6,500 employees, with 6,000 of them based in San Diego.
The fair is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 6455 Lusk Blvd. in Mira Mesa.
Most of the positions Qualcomm wants to fill are high-paying engineering jobs for its increased research and development efforts. The company has said it want to focus on R&D so it can expand beyond its primary technology business – the patented wireless standard called CDMA, short for code division multiple access.
Sullivan said that while talent is not as tight as it was during the boom years, the company is finding it increasingly difficult to fill technical jobs.
"The types of engineers that Qualcomm looks for are in short supply," he said.
At Qualcomm's last job fair, Sullivan said, the company expected 2,000 to 4,000 applicants, but more than 10,000 showed up in the rain. This time the company expects between 3,000 to 5,000 applicants.
The company declined to provide specific salary ranges for the positions being filled but said the wages were competitive.
Kelly Cunningham, an economist with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, said that the long-pummeled technology and telecommunications industries appear to be on the mend.
In 2001, San Diego had about 28,400 telecom jobs, a figure that dipped to 25,113 in 2002, according to Cunningham. The number of telecom positions as of October 2003 had increased to 29,255.
"It does seem from what we are seeing that there is a rebound in technology, as is the case with Qualcomm," he said.
The hiring at Qualcomm also benefits the larger San Diego economy because the jobs being created pay so well. Cunningham calls them "multiplier jobs," because each one helps create one to two other jobs in the region.
He said the Qualcomm employees spend enough money that additional people need to be hired at local retail stores. In addition, more housing might need to go up, which could translate into more work for building industry employees.
"It has a ripple effect in retail activity and in construction," he said.
A question is whether Qualcomm, which has experienced phenomenal growth recently, is an aberration or part of a larger trend.
Michael King, an industry analyst for Gartner Group, said the wireless market as a whole is staging a comeback but that Qualcomm has done exceptionally well in recent months as the demand for its CDMA technology has grown.
For the entire 2002 fiscal year, for instance, Qualcomm shipped 65 million cell phone chips. But in just the first two quarters of fiscal 2004, the company expects to ship as many as 64 million chips. Qualcomm makes its money from the sale of cell phone chips as well as by charging a royalty every time its technology is used in a cell phone.
"We are seeing two things," King said. "One: CDMA is doing better. Two: The market is back somewhat. I don't think you could say it is back 100 percent to what it was, but it is coming back."
Qualcomm, which has $6.4 billion in assets, is trying to reinvest that money so that it can expand its business beyond CDMA, King said. But instead of investing in infrastructure, Qualcomm is investing in people.
"It is an idea company," King said. "Because of that, it needs to hire people to make sure that there is a steady stream of ideas in the pipeline."
While Qualcomm plans to grow significantly this year, it is still far smaller than it was at its peak in 1999, when it had some 11,000 workers. Qualcomm streamlined its operations by selling its infrastructure division to Ericsson and its cell-phone manufacturing business to Kyocera Wireless.
Ericsson, which at one point had some 1,300 employees in San Diego, now has just 400 here after the company shifted much of its research and development operations to Montreal in a cost-cutting move.
While Ericsson is not in a hiring mode, its business is beginning to turn around and that could translate into new jobs, said Wendy Faulk MacMurray, vice president of marketing and communications for the company's local operations.
"We've got a short ways to go before we start hiring again," she said.
Kyocera has started hiring both on a global and local basis, said Mary Palmer, the company's spokeswoman. The company has hired some 200 people in the last year and now has 150 job openings, with 75 percent in engineering. Kyocera employs 2,000 full-time workers in San Diego and has another 1,000 in manufacturing contract positions. Palmer said that Kyocera plans to have its own job fair in April and will add as many as 70 engineering positions next month.
Nokia, which has a CDMA research and development facility in Poway, increased its local work force by 50 percent to 1,200 in 2003.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20040228-9999-1b28qcom.html
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Jennifer Davies: (619) 293-1373; jennifer.davies@uniontrib.com
It's Official: One Billion GSM Users
What is a cell phone user worth?
By William David Gardner
About $277 billion or so " that is, if the user is the one billionth GSM user. That's the way the Deutsche Bank calculates the worth of the GSM worldwide annual revenues in a white paper published to commemorate the milestone reached this week.
In a socio-economic study of the impact of GSM released at the 3GSM Congress in Cannes, the bank predicted that GSM revenues will reach $500 billion in 2005.
"There are now more GSM mobile handsets in daily use than the total number of personal computers and televisions combined," the GSM Association said in announcing the bank's study. "Driven by GSM, the number of mobile subscribers exceeded the number of fixed telephone lines for the first time in 2003. In the last 12 months alone, GSM added nearly 198 million new users."
GSM manufacturers from around the world chimed in to celebrate the growth of the European-developed standard. The wireless standard came about after European businessmen complained they had to have a separate mobile phone for each country as they moved across Western Europe.
Etienne Fouques of Alcatel, president of the Mobile Communications Group, said the new explosive growth of GSM is located in lower-penetration countries " primarily China, but also in India, Russia, Africa and South America. In Latin America GSM, which started off from a relatively small base, is growing almost 150 percent annually.
Author of the Deutsche Bank report, Gareth Jenkins, said particularly far-reaching consequences of GSM are felt in emerging economies. "The deployment of GSM has helped to bridge the digital divide and bring modern telecommunications services to chronically under-served communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America," said Jenkins, who is senior telecoms analyst at the German bank.
In the U. S. GSM is the underlying technology at mobile phone service providers T-Mobile, Cingular Wireless, and AT&T Wireless. Verizon Wireless and Sprint use the CDMA-based standard while Nextel utilizes its own proprietary scheme.
Jenkins and the GSM Association took advantage of the celebration of the one billionth GSM user to lord it over its CDMA competition stating that the some 200 million GSM subscribers signed up in the past 12 months were "more than the second-placed mobile technology (CDMA) had in its global customer base at the year-end."
The CDMA standard, however, has recently been coming on strong after its chief-promoter, Qualcomm, finally emerged from years of agonizing struggle to bring its standard to market. It has won major contracts in China and Japan and in the U. S. its robust EV DO high-speed data service has recently been introduced by Verizon Wireless.
http://www.commweb.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=18201086
High spirits abound but 3G ship is yet to sail
Fri Feb 27, 2:40 PM ET
By Chris Nuttall
The luxury yachts and cruisers lining the harbour in Cannes last week were bobbing billboards and floating hospitality suites for the biggest names in the mobile telecommunications sector, the fleet's size flagging the improvement in industry optimism.
Attendances at 3GSM in Cannes, the industry's annual summit, were up 30 per cent on a year ago. The GSM Association was celebrating signing up the billionth GSM subscriber, and the promise of much-delayed next-generation 3G services seemed about to be realised.
"2004 is gearing up to be the most exciting year in some time," said the normally unexcitable Nokia (news - web sites) chief executive Jorma Ollila. "The most important development in 2004 will be the commercialisation of 3G.
"3G will be an enabler, bringing many new opportunities."
The latest statistics justify the upbeat atmosphere at the conference. The figures show the industry returned to growth in 2003 after subscriber numbers fell in 2001 and 2002.
There were 1.4bn users of mobile phones at the year-end, 72 per cent of them using the GSM system and 13 per cent on CDMA (news - web sites), whose powerbase is in the US.
China is the largest market and India and China are expected to account for 25 per cent of the world's subscribers by 2008.
The Chinese ascendancy was confirmed as one industry executive after another visited the table of Zhang Ligui, president of China Mobile, which is the world leader with 150m subscribers, to pay court during the GSM Association's awards dinner. The evening then climaxed with his acceptance of the top Chairman's Award for his contribution to China's economy and the global success of GSM.
The GSM world is embracing W-CDMA as its preferred 3G standard and the conference heard that NTT's DoCoMo (news - web sites) in Japan, the first to launch a network, was finally gaining traction with 1.9m subscribers by the end of the year.
3G, which makes higher data speeds and richer multimedia services possible, is seen as unleashing a wave of services that will increase average revenues per user (arpu) and the proportion of revenues earned by data compared to voice.
Handset makers are also benefiting from the data revolution. More fully featured camera phones are boosting average selling prices.
"Imaging is today the most successful application," said Mr Ollila, adding that Nokia's 6600 camera phone had become the world's best selling "smartphone" with 2m units sold since its debut in October.
Almost four out of every 10 phones sold worldwide bears the Nokia brand but the market leader is facing challenges from many other manufacturers and from software giant Microsoft in the fast-growing smartphone category.
Its battle with Microsoft concerns whether Windows or Nokia-backed Symbian will dominate as the operating system for the new phones. It is also involved in a branding tussle with the operator Vodafone over whether the 3G phones it supplies will be more recognisable as Vodafone Live! handsets than as Nokia ones.
At 3GSM, the fight with Microsoft intensified as Nokia announced a Communicator product with IBM that would challenge Microsoft in the corporate world it dominates, while the software maker announced significant new smartphone releases with Motorola.
The tough relationship with Vodafone was exemplified by Arun Sarin, Vodafone chief executive, who conceded only through gritted teeth that it would use Nokia 3G phones and made strong criticisms about overheating, bulky and power-hungry 3G phones.
Doubts over the quality of new technology were the clouds on the horizon at Cannes. Mr Ollila was enthused by push-to-talk, a kind of voice version of SMS texting or instant messaging, which he predicted would be a standard feature on all phones in the future.
But the industry is waiting with bated breath to see if acceptable 3G phones will be available in bulk by the fourth quarter for the anticipated launch of some 26 networks.
UK-based MMO said 3G would not "get real" until 2005 and questioned the ability of Bluetooth and WiMAX technologies to provide faster speeds and acceptable quality over short and long ranges respectively.
This is a source of considerable frustration for European operators, with networks and products and services available but no phones ready to start recouping the billions they have spent on 3G licences.
For them, the boats may be in the harbour but the 3G ship has not yet sailed.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ft/20040227/bs_ft/1077690759831
GSM/CDMA devices on the horizon
James Middleton, james.middleton@informa.com
Telecoms.com News
25 February 2004
U.S. carrier Verizon Wireless is expected to launch a dual mode GSM/CDMA handset next month.
Such a move would bolster claims from 45% Verizon stakeholder Vodafone that the pair are ploughing ahead as partners, since Vodafone's failed bid for AT&T Wireless. Qualcomm CEO Irwin Jacobs yesterday commented that dual mode devices would be introduced within a month.
http://www.telecoms.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=marlin/home&siteid=30000000461&mp_c...
DoCoMo: New 3G Plans for USA UPDATE
Wireless Notes :: Carriers
Posted on Saturday, February 28 @ 10:50:03 JST
WWJ Editors, Feb 28, 2004
At yesterday's regular press conference, DoCoMo president Keichi Tachikawa managed to confirm most of what we wrote about last week in our viewpoint DoCoMo: New 3G Plans for USA? Most importantly, someone in the U.S. is still obligated to roll out W-CDMA because this was grandfathered into DoCoMo's original contract with AT&T. Tachikawa said yesterday that the phones have already been ordered! We'll have more details on Monday.
Please log in or subscribe to read the full article.
http://www.wirelesswatch.jp//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=606
QUALCOMM, Universal Mobile to Sponsor ‘World’s Smallest Film Festival’ at CTIA Wireless 2004 in Atlanta
Event will provide high-profile platform for both companies as Festival spotlights the potential of made-for-mobile digital content and highlights some of the best in cutting-edge digital creations.
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) February 27, 2004--BigDigit, Inc., a pioneer and worldwide leader in made-for-mobile content distribution for the mobile phone market, announced that QUALCOMM, Inc. and Universal Mobile have agreed to sponsor its second ‘World’s Smallest Film Festival’ that will take place on March 22-24 in Atlanta, GA as part of the CTIA Wireless 2004 conference and exhibition.
QUALCOMM is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on the company's CDMA digital technology. Headquartered in San Diego, the firm pioneered Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, as well as the BREW applications development environment for highly-mobile wireless devices.
Universal Mobile is based in France and specializes in music and ring tone downloads for mobile phone. The company is a division of Vivendi and Universal Music (Vivendi Universal), and also offers mobile content services in the U.S., United Kingdom and Australia (www.yourmobile.com).
THE WORLD’S SMALLEST FILM FESTIVAL AT CTIA
The ‘World's Smallest Film Festival’ at CTIA will showcase some of the most exciting and innovative digital media produced for small-format mobile phones and communications-enabled mobile devices. Scheduled events include daily presentations of made-for-mobile films, TV series, cartoons, and music videos as produced my many of the leading artists in this emerging field, as well as the announcement of winners in this year’s mobile content competition. Winners of the CTIA ‘World’s Smallest Film Festival’ are selected by an independent panel of judges who evaluate each entry in terms of its creativity, entertainment value, and effective use currently available mobile technology.
Mobile media screenings and free popcorn will be available on each day of the CTIA 2004 event on a special stage located on the Mobile Entertainment Expo exhibit floor. During these presentations, BigDigit executives and sponsors will screen features from the BigDigit library of mobile media and demonstrate mobile media technology. BigDigit will also release details of mFlix, The Mobile Entertainment Channel, which will be available later this year through major mobile distribution channels worldwide.
The CTIA ‘World’s Smallest Film Festival’ follows the company’s ‘World’s Smallest TV Festival’, which took place in January , hosted by The National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) at their annual conference. NATPE is a non-profit global alliance of business professionals engaged in the creation, development and distribution of content, as well as advertising and financial activities. The ‘World’s Smallest TV Festival’ showcased made-for-mobile TV programming and was sponsored by Oplayo, Mobileway, and other leaders in the mobile commerce value chain.
UPCOMING EVENTS
BigDigit will be producing ‘The World’s Smallest Animation Festival’ this summer in Los Angeles, featuring mobile vector and other mobile animation content such as cartoon series; ’The World’s Smallest Film Festival – London’, slated for September (in London) in association with the Mobile Commerce World conference and exhibition; and panel presentations at the Aspen ShortsFest, The WorldWide Short Film Festival in Toronto, and other venues worldwide.
ABOUT BIGDIGIT, INC.
Founded in 2002 BigDigit, Inc. is the producer of ‘The World's Smallest’ mobile multimedia festivals, which are recognized as the definitive competitive showcases of digital video, graphic, and TV content for the new generation of mobile phones. The company is a pioneer and leader in the field of independent mobile entertainment branding, aggregation and distribution, and has leveraged relationships with hundreds of independent filmmakers, animators and producers to make available a wide variety of serialized, feature and episodic made-for-mobile entertainment in numerous categories to millions of users in dozens of countries. The company is privately owned.
For further information please Contact:
Beau Buck
BigDigit, Inc.
CEO
310-277-3456
www.bigdigit.com
beau@bigdigit.com
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2004/2/emw107306.php
KOREA PRESS: Korea-US To Share Wireless Internet Standard
Saturday February 28, 12:27 am ET
SEOUL -(Dow Jones)- South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to adopt each other's wireless internet platform standards, resolving a disagreement that had threatened to trigger trade tensions, reports the Maeil Economic Daily.
In line with the agreement, Korea and U.S. have decided that BREW, developed by Qualcomm Inc. (NasdaqNM:QCOM - News) , and WIPI, developed in Korea, are acceptable standards, the article said.
The newspaper reports that the Korean Minister of Information and Communication Daeje Chin asked the chairman of Qualcomm to develop a version of BREW that can be compatible with WIPI which the chairman accepted.
-By Sue Chang, Dow Jones Newswires; 822-732-2165; sue.chang@dowjones.com
http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/040228/0027000003_1.html
Analyst taps Nextel, Qualcomm
Kenneth Leon
As the wireless revolution accelerates, the best investment opportunities lie with the ‘premium names’ in the sector, says Kenneth Leon.
Symbol Rating* Name Last Change More Links
NXTL 10
Nextel Communications 26.49 +0.59 Charts / Msgs / All NXTL picks
QCOM 10
QUALCOMM, Inc. 63.09 -0.61 Charts / Msgs / All QCOM picks
View a Quick Analysis of these stocks
Cell-phone use is growing, and competitors are racing to add the equipment and infrastructure that allows them to sell the new services that consumers want, said Kenneth Leon, a telecom equipment analyst with Standard & Poor’s.
Among the wireless carriers, Nextel Communications (NXTL, news, msgs) is growing faster than its peers, Leon said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday. The stock is cheap, Leon added, selling at 12 times projected 2004 earnings. He likes the company’s management, which he said has done a good job of clearing debt from the company’s balance sheet.
Handset makers are a less attractive investment, according to Leon, who favors technology innovators like Qualcomm (QCOM, news, msgs), which, like Microsoft (MSFT, news, msgs) in the software realm, has parlayed its intellectual property into royalty-generating licenses.
“We would (prefer) to be at the royalty level with Qualcomm than fighting it out at the handset level with Motorola (MOT, news, msgs),” he said. Get additional details below, and use the CNBC.com on MSN Money tools, including StockScouter, to learn more about each company. Click here for recent stock picks.
Quick Analysis
Nextel Communications
• The Reston, Va., company is the nation’s sixth-biggest wireless phone carrier. Its “push-to-talk” service, Direct Connect, helped make it a leader in the business market. Business customers account for 90% of its 13 million subscribers.
• Until last year, Nextel was the only carrier to offer the popular and profitable walkie-talkie option. Verizon Wireless introduced its own walkie-talkie feature last summer.
• The Justice Department is investigating whether Nextel and Motorola colluded in preventing other carriers from introducing comparable push-to-talk services, The Wall Street Journal reported. Motorola supplies all of the mobile phone carriers, but Nextel is its biggest customer.
• Nextel hopes to capitalize on the growing popularity of cell phones among teens and young adults by rolling out a new product line, Boost Mobile, which packages its walkie-talkie features with youth-oriented branding and which charges on a pay-as-you-go basis.
• Its fourth-quarter profit fell from a year ago, when it had revenue from the sale of an international unit. Revenue rose 29%. It added 550,000 new subscribers and minimized defections to rivals after a new law went into effect allowing customers to switch carriers and keep their phone numbers.
• Check out recent key developments for Nextel Communications.
Quote Detail / Company News / Interactive Charts
QUALCOMM, Inc.
• The company is a leading developer of wireless-chip technology. It pioneered CDMA (code division multiple access) technology used in mobile phones and other wireless communications equipment. It licenses CDMA chip technology to dozens of equipment and cell-phone makers.
• The San Diego company this week raised earnings projections for the quarter ending March 28, citing greater-than-expected demand for its chips for cell phones.
• Analysts said Qualcomm is well positioned in the ongoing shift to newer “3G” or third-generation cell-phone technologies that can transmit data at higher speeds. Its 3G technology has been more successful at high-speed transmissions than those based on the GSM (global system for mobile communication) technology. CDMA carriers such as Verizon Wireless are adding customers at a faster pace than GSM-based competitors Cingular and AT&T Wireless.
• Leon said the company is pushing development of digital wireless technology in China and India, among the world’s biggest and fastest-growing mobile telephone markets.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/CNBCTV/Articles/StockPicks/P76312.asp
Qualcomm Called into S&P Top Ten
Caremark Rx also enters S&P's portfolio of best investment ideas
On Feb. 25, Standard & Poor's equity research group made changes to the S&P Top 10 portfolio -- those issues it considers to be the best candidates for capital gains over the next 6 to 12 months. S&P replaced America West Holdings (AWA ; recent price, $10) and Lennar (LEN ; $46) with Caremark Rx (CMX ; $32) and Qualcomm (QCOM ; $62).
Like all the stocks in the portfolio, Caremark and Qualcomm carry S&P's highest investment ranking, 5 STARS (buy). America West and Lennar maintain their 5-STARS rankings.
Qualcomm provides digital wireless telecommunications products and services based on its Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and other technologies. We believe it is a compelling investment amid the group of communications equipment companies we cover and think that it will benefit from rising demand for its CDMA integrated chipsets. Our 12-month target price for the stock is $80.
Caremark provides prescription services to over 1,200 health plan sponsors. Our enthusiasm toward the stock is fueled by the planned acquisition of AdvancePCS (ADVP ; $69), pending necessary approvals, and our bullishness on the pharmacy benefits management sector. Our 12-month target price for the stock is $38.
Year-to-date through January 30, 2004, the S&P Top Ten portfolio rose 0.18%, vs. a gain of 1.84% for its benchmark, the S&P 500-stock index (both of these performances include dividends).
Here's the latest list:
S&P Top 10 Portfolio
Company Price (2/25/04 close) 12-Month Target Investment Rationale
Affiliated Computer (ACS ) 49.19 67 Long-term trend toward IT outsourcing
Anheuser-Busch (BUD ) 53.50 63 Strong growth profile, market dominance
Caremark Rx (CMX ) 32.42 38 Proposed acquisition of AdvancePCS
Comcast (CMCSA ) 29.93 39 Increasing synergies from broadband acquisition
DR Horton (DHI ) 30.46 41 Better-than-expected industry trends
Flextronics (FLEX ) 17.76 24 Firming business, low valuation
Hologic (HOLX ) 19.61 23 Cost controls and product focus; valuation
Intel (INTC ) 29.62 45 Recovery in worldwide chip demand expected to drive growth
Landstar System (LSTR ) 34.97 48 High returns on assets and equity
Qualcomm (QCOM ) 62.08 80 Improving outlook for chipset demand
For more information about the Top 10 portfolio, please visit http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jun2002/pi20020617_8998.htm
3GSM Live Video Viewed Through Phones
26th February , 2004
Europe France : Responding to increasing demand for video monitoring solutions for mobile users, PacketVideo Corp., the world's number one supplier of embedded multimedia software for mobile phones and other devices, and AutoTOOLS, leaders in connected security devices, today announced compelling new mobile video monitoring solutions at the PacketVideo stand (Hall 4 L22) at the 3GSM World Congress.
The collaborative effort is the result of an OEM licensing agreement that enables PacketVideo software to be embedded in AutoTOOLS devices for easy delivery of video images to mobile devices.
Visitors to the PacketVideo stand experience live camera viewing of the 3GSM show, local Cannes scenery and other venues on video-enabled mobile handsets accessed via the local GPRS and UMTS networks. The solutions are ideal for applications such as monitoring home, childcare, enterprise and public places, security surveillance, E-learning, video conferencing, remote medical diagnosis, tourist attraction promotions and live show broadcasting. Four mobile monitoring solutions are being demonstrated.
1. AutoTOOLS outdoor type security camera (with infrared capabilities), with AutoTOOLS AES-M600 digital MPEG-4 video box with embedded PacketVideo MPEG-4 encoder and GPRS router so a user can dial in from a phone directly to the camera phone number. A SIM card allows the GPRS camera to be accessible by a mobile user who can place a call from a GPRS handset directly to the camera to view video.
2. Mounted in the PacketVideo stand is an AutoTOOLS Speed Dome security camera, which can be accessed by numerous GPRS phones. Its pan/tilt/zoom functions can be remote-controlled by a smartphone handset. The camera is accessed via the AutoTOOLS AES-M600 digital video box with embedded PacketVideo MPEG-4 encoder.
3. AutoTOOLS AES-M800 IP home type "fish style" camera, with PacketVideo pvAuthor(TM) engine embedded encoding software.
4. AutoTOOLS AES-M880 IP enterprise type camera, with PacketVideo pvAuthor engine embedded encoding software.
Sony Ericsson P800, Motorola A925 and Nokia 6600, and other wireless handsets with PacketVideo pvPlayer embedded decoding software are utilized.
"It's clear that innovations in device capabilities enable new categories of mobile services," said Joel Espelien, PacketVideo vice president of strategy. "The combination of PacketVideo and AutoTOOLS technologies makes it easy for mobile users to see and interact with what they value most -- their family, their colleagues and their property. Enterprise and security industries will particularly benefit from the dramatically increased effectiveness of their mobile security staff. "
"Advanced video compression technology, new video-enabled handsets and upgrades in network bandwidth are making it possible for people to transmit live video and audio to mobile devices," said Dr. Jason C.J. Huang, Ph.D., AutoTOOLS chairman. "With PacketVideo's market-leading software and expertise, plus our innovative camera and video box technology, we can offer mobile-accessible video monitoring that greatly enhances security for individuals and large organizations alike."
http://www.3g.co.uk/PR/Feb2004/6688.htm
A cellphone explosion?
Reuters Thursday, February 26, 2004
Nokia chief predicts 4 billion users by 2015
CANNES Four billion people, or half the world's population, will be using mobile phones by 2015, up from the 1.3 billion who have them now, a top industry executive predicted Wednesday.
.
By 2008, the world will already have two billion mobile users, said Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive of Nokia, the Finnish company that makes about two out of every five name-brand cellphones sold worldwide.
.
Most of the growth in the mobile phone industry will come from basic voice communications in emerging markets, especially China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia, Ollila said here in a keynote speech to the 3GSM World Congress, an annual industry event.
.
China outpaced the United States as the world's largest market for mobile phones almost two years ago.
.
Ollila said that, in developed countries where the proportion of the population using mobile phones is already high, wireless communications would overtake fixed-line communications in terms of the volume of voice call traffic.
.
This has already happened in Italy, the Czech Republic and Portugal, Ollila said.
.
Sony Ericsson holds prices
.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, the joint venture between Sony and Ericsson, said demand from customers so far this quarter was helping it keep prices for cellphones steady compared with the final three months of 2003, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday from Cannes.
.
"We've started 2004 with a very good business momentum," said Katsumi Ihara, president of the venture. "Orders from our customers are quite strong."
.
Sony Ericsson, which posted a combined loss of E879 million, or $1.1 billion, in the first 21 months of its existence, has recorded profit in two consecutive quarters as consumers opt for phones with cameras and color screens. The company recently introduced the P900, which doubles as a hand-held computer, as well as cheaper models.
.
Plans are set to introduce the Z1010 phone for third-generation networks this quarter and another 3G phone model later this year, Ihara said.
.
Sony Ericsson shipped eight million phones in the fourth quarter, up 13 percent from a year earlier. The average price of a phone rose to E179.60 from E173.90, indicating that advanced phones such as the T610 accounted for a larger proportion of sales.
< < Back to Start of Article Nokia chief predicts 4 billion users by 2015
CANNES Four billion people, or half the world's population, will be using mobile phones by 2015, up from the 1.3 billion who have them now, a top industry executive predicted Wednesday.
.
By 2008, the world will already have two billion mobile users, said Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive of Nokia, the Finnish company that makes about two out of every five name-brand cellphones sold worldwide.
.
Most of the growth in the mobile phone industry will come from basic voice communications in emerging markets, especially China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia, Ollila said here in a keynote speech to the 3GSM World Congress, an annual industry event.
.
China outpaced the United States as the world's largest market for mobile phones almost two years ago.
.
Ollila said that, in developed countries where the proportion of the population using mobile phones is already high, wireless communications would overtake fixed-line communications in terms of the volume of voice call traffic.
.
This has already happened in Italy, the Czech Republic and Portugal, Ollila said.
.
Sony Ericsson holds prices
.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, the joint venture between Sony and Ericsson, said demand from customers so far this quarter was helping it keep prices for cellphones steady compared with the final three months of 2003, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday from Cannes.
.
"We've started 2004 with a very good business momentum," said Katsumi Ihara, president of the venture. "Orders from our customers are quite strong."
.
Sony Ericsson, which posted a combined loss of E879 million, or $1.1 billion, in the first 21 months of its existence, has recorded profit in two consecutive quarters as consumers opt for phones with cameras and color screens. The company recently introduced the P900, which doubles as a hand-held computer, as well as cheaper models.
.
Plans are set to introduce the Z1010 phone for third-generation networks this quarter and another 3G phone model later this year, Ihara said.
.
Sony Ericsson shipped eight million phones in the fourth quarter, up 13 percent from a year earlier. The average price of a phone rose to E179.60 from E173.90, indicating that advanced phones such as the T610 accounted for a larger proportion of sales. Nokia chief predicts 4 billion users by 2015
CANNES Four billion people, or half the world's population, will be using mobile phones by 2015, up from the 1.3 billion who have them now, a top industry executive predicted Wednesday.
.
By 2008, the world will already have two billion mobile users, said Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive of Nokia, the Finnish company that makes about two out of every five name-brand cellphones sold worldwide.
.
Most of the growth in the mobile phone industry will come from basic voice communications in emerging markets, especially China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia, Ollila said here in a keynote speech to the 3GSM World Congress, an annual industry event.
.
China outpaced the United States as the world's largest market for mobile phones almost two years ago.
.
Ollila said that, in developed countries where the proportion of the population using mobile phones is already high, wireless communications would overtake fixed-line communications in terms of the volume of voice call traffic.
.
This has already happened in Italy, the Czech Republic and Portugal, Ollila said.
.
Sony Ericsson holds prices
.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, the joint venture between Sony and Ericsson, said demand from customers so far this quarter was helping it keep prices for cellphones steady compared with the final three months of 2003, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday from Cannes.
.
"We've started 2004 with a very good business momentum," said Katsumi Ihara, president of the venture. "Orders from our customers are quite strong."
.
Sony Ericsson, which posted a combined loss of E879 million, or $1.1 billion, in the first 21 months of its existence, has recorded profit in two consecutive quarters as consumers opt for phones with cameras and color screens. The company recently introduced the P900, which doubles as a hand-held computer, as well as cheaper models.
.
Plans are set to introduce the Z1010 phone for third-generation networks this quarter and another 3G phone model later this year, Ihara said.
.
Sony Ericsson shipped eight million phones in the fourth quarter, up 13 percent from a year earlier. The average price of a phone rose to E179.60 from E173.90, indicating that advanced phones such as the T610 accounted for a larger proportion of sales. Nokia chief predicts 4 billion users by 2015
CANNES Four billion people, or half the world's population, will be using mobile phones by 2015, up from the 1.3 billion who have them now, a top industry executive predicted Wednesday.
.
By 2008, the world will already have two billion mobile users, said Jorma Ollila, chairman and chief executive of Nokia, the Finnish company that makes about two out of every five name-brand cellphones sold worldwide.
.
Most of the growth in the mobile phone industry will come from basic voice communications in emerging markets, especially China, India, Indonesia, Brazil and Russia, Ollila said here in a keynote speech to the 3GSM World Congress, an annual industry event.
.
China outpaced the United States as the world's largest market for mobile phones almost two years ago.
.
Ollila said that, in developed countries where the proportion of the population using mobile phones is already high, wireless communications would overtake fixed-line communications in terms of the volume of voice call traffic.
.
This has already happened in Italy, the Czech Republic and Portugal, Ollila said.
.
Sony Ericsson holds prices
.
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications, the joint venture between Sony and Ericsson, said demand from customers so far this quarter was helping it keep prices for cellphones steady compared with the final three months of 2003, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday from Cannes.
.
"We've started 2004 with a very good business momentum," said Katsumi Ihara, president of the venture. "Orders from our customers are quite strong."
.
Sony Ericsson, which posted a combined loss of E879 million, or $1.1 billion, in the first 21 months of its existence, has recorded profit in two consecutive quarters as consumers opt for phones with cameras and color screens. The company recently introduced the P900, which doubles as a hand-held computer, as well as cheaper models.
.
Plans are set to introduce the Z1010 phone for third-generation networks this quarter and another 3G phone model later this year, Ihara said.
.
Sony Ericsson shipped eight million phones in the fourth quarter, up 13 percent from a year earlier. The average price of a phone rose to E179.60 from E173.90, indicating that advanced phones such as the T610 accounted for a larger proportion of sales.
http://www.iht.com/articles/131319.html
US chip biz tells China to ditch local WLAN standard
By Tony Smith
Posted: 25/02/2004 at 15:19 GMT
The Register Mobile: Find out what the fuss is about. Take the two week trial today.
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has demanded that the Chinese government abandon plans to impose a proprietary WLAN security standard on 1 June.
The standard, called Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure (WAPI), was published last May in a bid to address the Chinese government's concerns that existing WLAN security standards were insufficiently strong. WAPI was to have become effective on 1 December 2003. However, lobbying on the part of the US government persuaded the Chinese to put back the deadline to June this year.
While overseas firms have had relatively little access to the WAPI specifications, the real trouble with the Chinese standard is that it's incompatible with those ratified by the IEEE and which the rest of the world has decided to follow, the SIA says.
"A unique Chinese national standard will slow the development of China's information technology industries because it will hamper the ability of Chinese firms to access the innovations emerging from thousands of companies around the world," warned the SIA's president, George Scalise.
What Scalise really means, of course, is that the move will make it harder - ie. more expensive - for non-Chinese manufacturers, in particular the US chip makers his organisation represents, to sell WLAN kit to the Chinese. While we're all in favour of international standards, it has to be said that local standards tend to cause manufacturers more far difficulty than they do the consumers those manufacturers serve. There are numerous examples in IT and elsewhere of multiple standards existing happily side by side, territory by territory. GSM and CDMA, for instance, and even right- and left-hand drive automobiles.
The issue for manufacturers is simply financial: the cost of developing different products for different markets. But since they're more than happy to come up with proprietary, incompatible standards of their own when they see an opportunity - think back to the pre-802.11g days and the variety of 802.11b speed booster technologies on the market, not to mention today's 'bigger range, faster throughput' 802.11g extensions - they can't really complain when someone else has a go.
China is also pursuing other local, unique standards: it is creating its own high-definition DVD specification, for instance.
Local regulations and standards are stones on the path to market, they are not barriers to trade. Beating competitors at their own game is, in any case, what makes capitalism fun.
But while China has arguably every right to impose its own standards on its own market, it shouldn't restrict those firms who are willing to abide by the terms of entry into that arena. So we share the SIA's concerns over claims that the Chinese government will demand that foreign firms to partner with a pre-selected list of 24 local manufacturers in order to obtain the import permits they will need to sell WLAN kit in China.
That is a barrier to trade, and not only that, it potentially exposes importers' intellectual property to their Chinese competitors - rivals who also have the final say as to whether imported kit is WAPI-compliant or not.
The SIA is already lobbying for action to be taken by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against China over the country's decision to offer local chip makers a 14 per cent rebate on the 17 per cent tax the government levies on semiconductor sales while denying importers the same tax break. That rebate, introduced in 2000, is tantamount to illegal state aid, the SIA believes, and is distorting the market against overseas suppliers keen to operate in what is the world's third biggest chip market. ®
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/69/35832.html
GSM-CDMA Multimedia Messaging
Coming Soon To A Cell Phone Near You.
By William David Gardner
Comverse Technology has been demonstrating its multimedia messaging interoperability between CDMA and GSM wireless networks at this week's 3GSM Congress in Cannes, France.
Comverse is utilizing Qualcomm's BREW solution to carry out the demo. The achievement is likely to eventually lead to the sharing of multimedia transmissions between GSM- and CDMA-based users.
Johan Lodenius, Qualcomm's senior vp of European Business Relations, hailed the demo as a "significant achievement for the wireless industry in bridging the gap between CDMA and GSM networks and the implementation of the latest multimedia applications."
The transmission between GSM and CDMA was developed at Comverse's Multimedia Messaging Center, which has produced a scalable telco-grade system that is compliant with industry standards. The transmission of multimedia content will be available for person-to-person applications as well as in application-to-person situations.
http://www.commweb.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=18200617
US Denounces Korea's Internet Platforms
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
The United States called for the Korean government not to adopt a locally developed mobile Internet platform as a national standard during two-day bilateral trade talks, which ended on Thursday.
Experts said such pressure is made in fear that Korea's unique platform can dent the income of U.S. companies, which earn huge royalty revenues by licensing their technologies.
The U.S. delegates, led by David Gross, deputy assistant secretary for International Communications and Information Policy, insisted Korea should not approve of a local wireless Internet platform for interoperability (WIPI) as a national standard for mobile Internet.
WIPI is a middleware, which enables people to download music and games by accessing the Internet through their mobile handsets.
The Korea Wireless Internet Standardization Forum (KWISF) selected the WIPI 2.0 version as a single standard for the nation's mobile platform in mid-February.
The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) continued to claim that the standardization is a private movement, aimed at avoiding overlapping investment due to different platforms.
However, the U.S. delegates insisted that the government is behind the scenes in selecting WIPI, thus blocking the alternative platform of Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW), made by mobile chip maker Qualcomm.
The San Diego, California-based company reportedly looks to bring the case to the U.S. Trade Representative, accusing the adoption of WIPI as a trade barrier.
The U.S. has also been raising concerns over the newly proposed 2.3 GHz wireless Internet platform HPi, which was set forth by the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA), a private federation of local telecom outfits.
The 2.3 GHz platform is a next-generation technology, which will allow Internet access on the move at the speed of current fixed-line broadband connections.
Against such claims, a local analyst said the U.S. is flexing its muscle to maintain the income level of its private companies, by protecting their lucrative royalty assets.
``It doesn't make any sense to force Korea not to adopt a single platform. To accelerate the development of mobile content, we definitely need a standardized technology of our own,'' Kim Kyung-mo, a telecom analyst at Mirae Asset, said.
Kim added U.S. companies must change their mindset of trying to earn easy money through a monopoly on technology.
voc200@koreatimes.co.kr
02-26-2004 17:42
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/biz/200402/kt2004022617412311910.htm
Europe and Japan sprint ahead in 3G race
Ben Charny
CNET News.com
February 23, 2004, 14:20 GMT
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Executives gathering for the annual 3GSM conference in Cannes say the US has fallen behind countries such as the UK
European and Japanese cellphone carriers have retaken the lead over the rest of the world in the race to offer next-generation cellphone technology, say executives gathering in Cannes for next week's 3GSM World Congress 2004.
After five years of famously slow progress, third-generation (3G) networks using standards with cumbersome names like UMTS or w-CDMA are now available throughout the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Japan and Korea. Carriers such as T-Mobile or 3 in Europe and NTT DoCoMo in Japan are using the technology, which operates 50 times faster than present-day cellphone networks, to boost network capacity, improve coverage areas and to offer new services including 2.4 megabit per second wireless broadband.
"Deployment of [3G] networks is gaining traction in Europe, and we're getting orders from Asia," said Alan Buddendeck, a spokesman for cellphone maker Motorola, which plans several announcements at the 3GSM World Congress 2004. "We are anticipating the traction only to grow."
Carriers in the United States had the lead over their European and Japanese rivals for a relatively brief period of time in late 2002 and early 2003. But their trials of 3G technology haven't progressed yet to commercial releases, mainly because their attention strayed to more pressing issues such as the November 2003 deadline to let subscribers keep their telephone numbers when switching carriers.
The US carrier now closest to launching a widespread commercial 3G service in the United States is Verizon Wireless, which believes it will have a network providing average user speeds of 300 to 500 kilobits per second this summer. That service is currently available in Washington, D.C., and San Diego.
US carriers say don't count them out too soon. Verizon, for one, believes it can catch up in the next two years, having just ordered billions of dollars in high-speed wireless network equipment. "We'll be there soon, don't worry," said a Verizon executive requesting anonymity.
A finish line that matters
Carriers have their eye on the 3G prize because, as a whole, they're counting on data-oriented services to make up for plunging revenue from voice calls. Once faster networks are in place, carriers can initiate their plans to sell broadband in areas overlooked by the cable or DSL industry. Analysts forecast a few hundred million dollars in extra revenue once they do.
Third-generation networks also create a better experience for customers downloading games or streaming video or audio, two major new services being introduced by carriers worldwide.
"Carriers are trying to build loyalty," Sun Microsystems vice president Alan Brenner said. He added that increased speeds "help services get very attractive."
Existing data services, such as mailing pictures, also benefit from increased speed. "Most handsets on the market have these capabilities," said Annemarie Duffy, senior marketing manager at Microsoft. "If you dig deep enough, you can find them. The question is, how many people use it? The reason they aren't being used is it's not providing the best customer experience."
As more complex applications start selling, so will handsets with more computing power that have been sitting on store shelves and in warehouses, Duffy and other executives have long said.
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/wireless/0,39020348,39147275,00.htm
DoCoMo's New 3G Plan for the U.S. Market
WWJ Viewpoint :: US/Canada Market
Posted on Monday, February 23 @ 21:23:39 JST
Despite the fact that DoCoMo has to shed its 16% stake (and probably a few tears given the drop in value) in AT&T Wireless Services Inc., this does not let AT&T Wireless off the hook from its obligations to launch W-CDMA 3G in four U.S. markets by the end of this year. So what's a badly burned DoCoMo, which has been forced to write down something like 1.5 trillion of the 1.9 trillion yen it spent on minority shareholdings in Western and Asian carriers, to do. The answer seems to be hopping into bed with Cingular to keep the 3G dream alive, or at least stop it degenerating into a nightmare.
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http://www.wirelesswatch.jp//modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=598