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HTC Studying Whether to Have Own Smartphone Software (Update1)
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- HTC Corp., Taiwan’s largest mobile- phone maker, is studying whether to equip phones with its own operating system, a move that may intensify competition with Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
“We continue to assess, but that requires a few conditions to justify” having our own system, Cheng Hui-ming, chief financial officer of the Taoyuan, Taiwan-based company, said in a phone interview today.
HTC’s own operating system would enable the company, which designs and produces phones using Google and Microsoft software, to reduce its reliance on outside developers. HTC is among possible bidders for Palm Inc., three people familiar with the situation said this month.
“If you look at the successful smartphone players, like Apple and Research in Motion, a reason for their success is that they have their own platform,” said Steven Tseng, who rates HTC “buy” at RBS Asia Ltd. in Taipei and favors the company having its own operating system in the long term. “The negative is the amount of resources they’d need to allocate.”
Cheng declined to comment on whether HTC has studied Palm for possible acquisition. HTC has no timeframe for deciding whether to have its own platform, he said.
‘Multiple Factors’
“There are many multiple factors to be considered together, rather than a simple statement as to own or not to own” proprietary software, Cheng said.
HTC declined 1.4 percent to close at NT$389 in Taiwan trading.
Palm is working with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Partners to find a buyer possibly as early as this week, according to the people familiar with the matter. They declined to be identified because a sale hasn’t been announced.
HTC is the world’s largest maker of phones using Microsoft’s Windows Mobile platform and was the first to release a handset based on Google’s Android. This year, it unveiled its low-cost Smart mobile phone based on Qualcomm’s BREW system.
The market share of smartphones using Palm’s WebOS was 0.7 percent in 2009, while handsets using Symbian, Nokia Oyj’s main smartphone software, accounted for 46.9, according to Gartner Inc.
Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry had 19.9 percent, Apple’s iPhone 14.4 percent and Google’s Android operating system 3.9 percent, according to the February statement from Gartner, of Stamford, Connecticut.
Moving towards annual election of the Board: IDCC
www.sec.gov/divisions/corpfin/cf-noaction/14a-8/2010/williamespy033110-14a8.pdf
China market: HTC aims to ship 4-5 million handsets in 2011, says CEO
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 6 April 2010]
HTC expects sales of its handsets through its partner Dopod in the China market to reach 4-5 million units in 2011, according to company CEO and president Peter Chou.
For 2010, HTC will cooperate with China Mobile to launch six new handsets, with the first model, the Qualcomm Brew Mobile Platform (BMP)-based HTC Smart, to be available in May, Chou revealed.
The China-bound handsets will account for about 20% of HTC's total handset shipments of 20-25 million projected for 2011 by market observers.
HTC shipped less than one million handsets to China in 2009, accounting for lower than 10% of its total handset shipments of 11.71 million units, estimated the observers.
HTC's net profit up 3.1%
Sales of smart phones are better than expected for the latest quarter
TAIPEI—HTC Corp. said its first-quarter net profit rose 3.1% amid better-than-expected sales of smart phones, as consumer demand began to improve last year with the global economic recovery.
Analysts said the phone maker's marketing expense to improve brand recognition appears to have started paying off. HTC, originally a contract maker of phones, began making its own-brand handsets a few years ago and has been pumping resources into raising its brand awareness to better compete with established smart-phone makers like Nokia Corp.
The company, based in Taoyuan, Taiwan, said in a prepared statement Tuesday that net profit for the three months ended March 31 rose to 5.03 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$158.7 million) from NT$4.88 billion a year earlier.
Revenue rose 19% to NT$37.7 billion from NT$31.59 billion, higher than the forecast that HTC gave in January of between NT$32 billion and NT$34 billion.
HTC declined to comment on the results. The company is the world's largest maker of smart phones using Microsoft Corp.'s operating system, by shipments, and also makes smart phones using Google Inc.'s Android operating system.
Chialin Lu, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities, said the higher-than-expected revenue was helped by strong sales growth, especially from North America. "I think previous market concerns over the firm's large marketing expenses and lower-priced smart phones were overdone," he said.
Analysts had been concerned that HTC's strategy of selling lower-priced smart phones would narrow the company's margins, while high marketing expenses to increase brand recognition would pay off only in the long run and weigh on profit in the interim.
HTC's operating expenses in the fourth quarter, for example, rose 33% from a year earlier to NT$7.05 billion, mainly because of a marketing campaign in North America and Europe.
But Mr. Lu said HTC is already starting to reap the rewards of advertising and marketing campaigns, as more telecommunications operators in the U.S. are willing to support the company with larger subsidies for its smart phones.
Sprint Nextel Corp. launched its first fourth-generation smart phone with HTC, the Evo, in March. Fourth-generation mobile technology, the next step in wireless telecommunications, allows faster downloads using greater bandwidth compared with the current third-generation standard.
HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou said in an interview last week that the company's growth in the U.S. market is outpacing other smart-phone makers this year.
HTC shipped 5.5 million to six million smart phones to the U.S. market last year, according to the company's annual report. Mr. Chou said that number is expected to rise this year. He also said the company plans to introduce six models with its Chinese partner, China Mobile Ltd., for the China market this year.
Bought two ipads today. I think they may be a game-changer. The 3G version should be a hit in the enterprise space where corporations can negotiate their own deal with AT&T.
HTC to ship 4.5 million handsets in 2Q10, says paper
Commercial Times, March 30; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 30 March 2010]
Handsets shipped by HTC (High Tech Computer) may hit a new high of 4.5 million units in the second quarter of 2010 compared to 3.3-3.5 million projected for the first quarter, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.
Shipments of new models, including Android-based HTC Desire, HTC Legend and HTC Incredible (for Verizon Wireless) and Windows Mobile-based HTC HD mini, will help drive shipment growth in the second quarter, the paper said.
The HTC Desire, Incredible and HD mini are all built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, the paper added.
Arima Communications lands large-volume handset orders from US vendor, say sources
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Friday 26 March 2010]
Arima Communications reportedly has received a large-volume handset order from a US-based handset vendor with shipments to begin at the end of the second quarter of 2010, according to industry sources.
With the newly received orders, Arima is expected to ship a total of 16-20 million handsets in 2010 compared to 11.64 million units shipped in 2009.
For the first half of 2010, Arima may be just able to ship 5-6 million handsets, mainly to LG Electronics (LGE), said the sources. However, the company's handset shipments are expected to more than double in the second half compared to the first half thanks to shipments to Sony Ericsson and the US-based vendor, the sources added.
Related stories:
Sony Ericsson feature phone orders to Taiwan partners to be reduced significantly in 2010, say sources (Mar 19)
Motorola orders to push Arima Communications handset shipments to 20-25 million units in 2010, say sources (Jan 5)
Arima Communications sets 2010 handset shipment target at 14-16 million units (Dec 15)
Arima Communications lands ISDB-T mobile TV handset orders from Sony Ericsson (Dec 3)
Arima Communications shipped one million handset in August, says paper (Sep 8)
Monstrous Growth in Mobile Data
Wedbush Securities is bullish on software firms that handle data traffic.
WE FIRMLY BELIEVE THAT mobile broadband data is becoming the largest opportunity and key issue facing mobile operators. Mobile data services are contributing an increasing portion of carrier revenue and offsetting declining voice revenue.
Mobile data continues to grow robustly, increasing 21% year-over-year in the fourth quarter in the U.S. Mobile data now represents 30% of U.S. carrier average revenue per user (ARPU) and ranges from 22%-45% world-wide at the carriers we survey. While this is an attractively growing revenue stream, mobile data is also creating issues on mobile networks as mobile data moves from low-bandwidth intensive-messaging applications to bandwidth-hogging multimedia applications.
According to Cisco Systems' (ticker CSCO) February Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, mobile data should grow at a compounded annualized-growth rate (CAGR) of 108% from 2009 to 2014, to 3.4 exabytes-per-month by 2014, and 66% of mobile data traffic by 2014 will be video. To solve this explosion in data, carriers need more spectrum, more coverage, improve backhaul, and handle mobile data more intelligently.
We also believe data offloading to WiFi and Femtocells [small wireless-broadband stations that expand cellular signals] networks is intriguing. On the software front, vendors of data mediation, policy management, data analytics, and media optimization/compression are best positioned in our opinion and we expect all boats to rise. Companies such as Openwave Systems (OPWV), Comverse Technology [traded over the counter], Byte Mobile [closely held], Mobixell/724 Solutions [closely held], Acision [closely held], Ericsson (ERIC), Nokia (NOK), Vantrix [closely held], Ulticom (ULCM) and Dilithium Networks [closely held] should all benefit.
We expect more smartphone announcements coming out of the International CTIA Wireless Conference, as well as other connected devices. Despite macro weakness, smartphones continue to be a highlight. According to Strategy Analytics, smartphone shipments increased to 173.8 million units in 2009, from 151.1 million in 2008. Smartphones are expected to grow another 20% in 2010.
At CTIA, we expect several smartphone announcements such as additional carrier announcements for Google's (GOOG) Nexus One and Palm's (PALM) Pre and Pixi, new WiMAX phones on the Sprint network, possible indications of an Apple (AAPL) 4G phone, and a further foray by Research In Motion (RIMM) into the consumer market. We also expect other manufacturers to highlight new phones. We also expect other connected devices to highlight the show such as netbooks and tablets. Together, we believe these devices will contribute meaningfully to the usage of mobile applications and robust growth of wireless data.
As the market continues to move through 3G, the battle for 4G superiority is opening up. After years of catch up, the North American market has taken the lead in broadband mobile with 4G. Sprint, Clearwire, and cable operators are already driving forward with WiMAX and carriers such as Verizon Wireless [a joint venture of Verizon Communications (VZ) and Vodafone (VOD)] and AT&T (T) Mobility are pushing forward with LTE (Long Term Evolution) launches. We believe the introduction of new devices and 4G networks will feed off of each other, leading to an acceleration of mobile data growth.
It was recently indicated that Clearwire (CLWR) subscribers use seven gigabytes of data per month. This has led to the government scrambling to get additional spectrum to the market, which we believe will be key for broadband wireless. We also expect additional network build outs and more intelligent handling of wireless data.
-- Scott P. Sutherland
-- Suhail Chandy
Double top breakout occurred today:
Definition:
Double Top Breakout
Double Top Breakout
X ? double top breakout
X X ? double top
O X O X
O X O X
O X O X
O X
O
For a double top, prices rise to a certain level and then retreat because the supply outstripped the demand at that level. If prices rise again to the level at which they retraced before, it is called a double top. If prices continue to carry through that level, a double top breakout is recognized by our alert system. The double top breakout alert implies that the buyers are now creating more demand than there is supply at the level of the double top and we have a breakout.
Google: Nexus One Not Exactly Jumping Off The Shelves
By ERIC SAVITZ
Alas, the Google (GOOG) Nexus One smart phone is looking like a bust.
Certainly, it is nowhere near as popular as the first edition Apple (AAPL) iPhone, according to data from Flurry Inc., which were reported by Bloomberg.
Flurry notes that it took Apple 74 days to sell the first 1 million iPhones in 2007. The Android-based Nexus One in its first 74 days - it hits that mark on Friday - will have sold about 135,000 phones.
The slow sales in part likely reflects Google’s decision to sell the phone exclusively via its own Web site; Apple had a strong selling partner in AT&T (T), which to this day remains the exclusive U.S. carrier for the iPhone.
Flurry adds that the Motorola (MOT) Droid, another Android-based phone, sold at a similar rate to the first iPhone, with sales of about 1 million units in the first 74 days.
The Nexus One, which is actually manufactured by HTC, is $179 with a 2-year contract from T-Mobile, or $529 unlocked.
Infineon gains on production expansion
Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:58am GMT
Shares in German chipmaker Infineon (IFXGn.DE) rise 2.8 percent to the top of Germany's DAX index .GDAXI after the company says it expands its production at its Dresden plant, with planned investments of 18 million euros ($24.60 million).
"News about rising demand is always good for the share," says a trader. "But one should not forget that the stock is also reversing yesterday's losses."
The company's shares fell 2.9 percent on Monday.
Reuters Messaging rm://christoph.steitz.reuters.com@reuters.ne
When KOP formally announces they have retained an investment banker things will finally get interesting...and enlightening.
Wireless Carriers Refine 4G Technology
By RUTH BENDER And GUSTAV SANDSTROM
Have you tried to download and watch a video on your smart phone? Chances are you had to wait a while.
Wireless carriers, faced with rapid growth in wireless data usage and subscriber demand for faster connections, are turning to a fourth-generation technology called Long Term Evolution, which boasts faster download speeds and has greater capacity than the networks supporting today's third-generation phones.
Backers say it will transform mobile handsets into terminals for high-definition video streaming and a new generation of online games, and help operators' search for new revenue sources to offset the decline in traditional voice and text-messaging revenue. Others caution, however, that the shift will be gradual, given the huge expense of setting up LTE networks and time needed to allocate new wireless spectrum. Moreover, the solution to boosting speed and easing network congestion may also have to include other technologies, such as the WiMax wireless broadband standard.
"LTE will be an even bigger shake-up than 3G [was]—because while with 2G and 3G we were clearly in the world of telecoms, with LTE we shift a little more into the world of information technology," says Frederique Pujol, head of radio technologies and spectrum practice at research institute IDATE.
As growing numbers of people use smart phones, such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone or Research In Motion Inc.'s Blackberry, industry experts warn that mobile data demand could outstrip network capacity as early as 2011 or 2012. AT&T Inc., the largest wireless operator in the U.S., has said wireless data traffic has expanded in volume by a factor of nearly 5,000 over the past three years.
The world's top telecom-equipment makers—in particular Telefon AB L.M . Ericsson of Sweden and the French-American company Alcatel-Lucent—are pushing LTE as the next technological leap.
Major wireless operators have also committed to the technology. TeliaSonera AB late last year launched the world's first commercial LTE service in Stockholm and Oslo, and Verizon Wireless said last week it is on track to deliver LTE to 25 to 30 U.S. markets by year end. NTT Docomo Inc. of Japan plans to launch the service in December 2010. AT&T, European operators such as Vodafone PLC and France Telecom, as well as China Mobile, are also committed to LTE.
While third-generation network upgrades to High-Speed Packet Access Plus, or HSPA+, will help increase network capacity and speed over the next few years, industry leaders say that the eventual transition to LTE is not only necessary to provide higher speed and increase capacity, but will also be an important tool in the industry's quest for new sources of revenue growth.
In contrast to 3G, LTE handles everything that is transmitted as data, similar to the Internet. Hence, in addition to the promise of landline-like Internet speeds for wireless, the Internet protocol-based architecture gives operators the advantage of better integrating mobile networks into fixed networks, according to IDATE's Mr. Pujol.
In 2010 there will only be a maximum of 100,000 LTE subscribers, mainly in Sweden, Norway and the U.S., according to IDATE. But IDATE estimates that 380 million subscribers are likely to have access to mobile data through LTE networks by 2015, mainly in the U.S. and Western Europe, but also in China, Japan and South Korea.
LTE can also be an important tool for reducing operators' fixed costs, said Hugh Bradlow, chief technology officer at Australia's Telstra Corp., as each LTE base station reduces the cost of delivery per byte of data transmitted. Still, he cautions, "From a technology perspective, LTE is certainly an improvement. But it's not a revolutionary improvement, it's an evolutionary improvement."
In order to make returns on their investment, operators may have to abandon flat-rate pricing and instead find models to charge users depending on how much data they use.
"Allowing subscribers to download multigigabyte HD movies with a $30 all-you-can-eat data plan does not seem like economics that is sustainable after the operator invested billions of dollars to deploy its LTE network," says Scott Siegler, an analyst at research firm Dell'Oro.
Not only will the rollout of LTE networks cost operators considerable amounts of money, deployment isn't likely to take off until new spectrum bands and LTE-based devices become available. As 2G and 3G frequencies won't be able to handle LTE, governments will have to sell new frequency bands through auctions, a process that can be long and complicated.
IDCC options saw interesting call activity today. A total of 371 put and 2,207 call contracts were traded raising a low Put/Call volume alert. Today's traded Put/Call ratio is 0.17. There were 5.95 calls traded for each put contract.
A significant increase in the trading volume of a stock's option often is a precursor of movement by the underlying stock. In such instances, Put/Call Ratio can be used as an investor sentiment indicator, where a high ratio implies that the overall investor sentiment is bearish and a low Put/Call ratio implies that the overall sentiment is bullish.
InterDigital closed at $25.93 in the last trading session and opened today at $26.01. The stock price rose $0.02 (+0.08%) to $25.95 in today's trading session. IDCC is trading between the range of $25.86 - $26.10. Volume is 297,123 in relation to the three month average volume of 438,179 shares. IDCC is trading above the 50 day moving average and higher than the 200 day moving average. The stock's 52 week low is $18.41 and 52 week high is $31.79. InterDigital has earnings per share of $1.17
H.P., Tech Powerhouse, Stumbles in Smartphones
By ASHLEE VANCE
Hewlett-Packard is one of the world’s most successful makers of desktop computers, laptops, servers and printers. It owns a powerful consumer brand, and it is a growing provider of services for businesses. In the first quarter, the company’s sales rose 8 percent.
But in smartphones, H.P. has been on a steady slide into irrelevance.
Sales of H.P.’s hand-held products, including its iPaq smartphone, dropped to $25 million in the quarter, down from $57 million in the same period last year. Apple, by contrast, had sales of $5.6 billion for iPhones and related products during its most recent quarter.
H.P.’s anemic performance in the smartphone market has left analysts perplexed. Globally, unit sales of smartphones are now running just about equal with laptops, and by 2012, smartphone sales are expected to eclipse the entire personal computer market.
The world’s largest computer maker is on the verge of missing the next great phase of the computing revolution.
“We are trying to figure out whether H.P. wants to be in the smartphone game or not,” said Kevin Restivo, an analyst with the research company IDC. “Whatever the strategy is, H.P. needs to move quickly right now, because we’re in the halcyon days of smartphone growth, and it won’t last forever.”
H.P. acquired the iPaq line of personal digital assistants in 2001 when it bought Compaq Computer. The first phone version, running Microsoft’s Windows Mobile software, appeared in early 2007, and H.P. recently released its latest model, the iPaq Glisten.
But H.P. has put little effort into the design or marketing of the devices, and the iPaq has been overshadowed by products from companies like Research In Motion, HTC and Apple that look better and cater more effectively to customers looking for both business functions and entertainment in one device.
H.P.’s stumble — a rarity under its chief executive, Mark V. Hurd — comes despite the company’s repeated insistence over the years that it wanted to be a big player in smartphones.
In 2006, for example, H.P. broke off hand-helds as a separate business unit, saying the split would help the division capitalize on the fast growth of smartphones and related devices. In addition, H.P.’s current head of hand-held products, Steve Manser, previously led product development at Palm, a pioneering smartphone maker, and the unit is part of H.P.’s personal systems group, which is headed by Todd Bradley, Palm’s former chief executive.
H.P. continues to say that it is serious about smartphones, even though sales of hand-helds have fallen about 80 percent over the last five years. “We are committed to the phone space,” said Phil McKinney, the chief technology officer in H.P.’s personal systems group, in a recent interview. However, he declined to discuss the company’s future smartphone products or plans.
Smartphones offer hardware makers a way to build more extensive relationships with customers. Apple has delivered more than three billion software applications through the store tied to its iPhone. Now, it is looking to expand sales of software and content through the iPad, a tablet computer due out next month.
Researchers at H.P. have talked for years about software and services that will let people print easily from their phones, manage their photos in new ways and communicate with each other through mobile versions of social networks.
While prototypes of such services exist, full versions have yet to make their way to H.P.’s iPaq.
Analysts say that it is not too late for H.P. to turn around its smartphone business. Despite being in the phone market for only two and a half years, Apple ended 2009 as the third-largest smartphone maker, trailing Nokia and R.I.M., the maker of the BlackBerry. While smartphone sales over all grew 15 percent last year, Apple’s surged 82 percent.
H.P. also has valuable access to retail stores through its personal computer and printer businesses. About 86 percent of Windows-based smartphones are sold through such stores.
But the longer H.P. dallies, the stiffer the competition gets. Acer, the world’s second-largest PC maker, has already made a vast commitment to the smartphone market. It bought a smartphone maker called E-Ten in 2008 and has released about 10 phones over the past year, including devices that run both Windows and Google’s Android software.
At the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, last week, Acer unveiled a wide variety of upgraded smartphones at a large, rented compound planted in the middle of the show grounds.
“From our point of view, it’s important to become the No. 1 seller of mobile products,” said Gianfranco Lanci, the chief executive of Acer, in an interview at the show. “Smartphones will become bigger than laptops, and it’s a huge opportunity.”
H.P.’s top PC competitors, including Dell, Lenovo and Asustek, also had new phones on display.
H.P., meanwhile, came off as a virtual nonentity at the show, which is the global cellphone industry’s biggest annual event. The company made no cellphone announcements, saying only that it would begin selling a tiny Android-based laptop that runs on a low-power ARM chip designed by Qualcomm.
Although Microsoft says that it expects H.P. to offer a smartphone later this year that uses the newest mobile version of Windows, Mr. McKinney of H.P. steered away from the subject in the recent interview.
Indeed, H.P. seems to be putting more focus on products just to the side of the smartphone category. Noting that there is already a lot of competition in the cellphone market, Mr. McKinney pointed to a slate computer that H.P. will release this year to compete head-to-head against Apple’s iPad.
“I am not going to say we are not focused on phones, but we are looking to see if there are opportunities in these new kinds of form factors,” Mr. McKinney said. H.P. is experimenting with mobile devices that have varying screen sizes, he said. “There is clearly a gap that has opened up for a device that has north of a 3.5-inch screen and less than a 9-inch screen.”
Shipments of new smartphones to drive HTC revenues higher in 2Q, says paper
Commercial Times and press release, February 22; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Monday 22 February 2010]
HTC is expected to see its revenues expand significantly in the second quarter of 2010 buoyed by shipments of its newly released smartphones, including the Android-powered HTC Legend and HTC Desire as well as Windows Mobile-based HTC HD mini, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.
Telecom service providers in Europe, including Vodafone, T-Mobile and Orange, are all expected to start selling HTC's new smartphones in April, the paper said.
HTC unveiled the HTC Legend, Desire and HD mini smartphones at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. The HTC Legend is equipped with a 3.2- inch AMOLED HVGA display, while the HTC Desire is designed with a large 3.7-inch AMOLED WVGA display to enhance and maximize content experience and the HTC HD mini includes a capacitive touch panel, according to the company. The HTC Desire is powered by a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and supports Adobe Flash 10.1, .
The HTC Legend will be available in Europe through Vodafone and in the direct channel beginning in April. It will be also available to other parts of the world including Asia in early second quarter, HTC said. The HTC Desire and HD mini will be broadly available to customers across major European and Asian markets in April or early second quarter. Additionally, the HTC Desire will be exclusively available in Australia through Telstra.
Acer Aims to More Than Triple Phone Sales in 2011 to 10 Million
By Simon Thiel and Tim Culpan
Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Acer Inc., the world’s second- largest laptop computer supplier, aims to sell 10 million mobile phones next year, up from a 2010 target of 3 million.
“We push aggressively into the mobile-phone market and it’s working nicely,” Gianfranco Lanci, president of Taipei- based Acer, said at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain today.
Acer, the fastest-growing major computer supplier according to Gartner Inc., bought smartphone maker E-ten Information Systems Co. last year to enter the market for handsets that can access the Internet. The company sold 500,000 handsets since it started shipping mobile phones last year, Lanci said.
The company will continue to win market share and will still be able to keep its current profit margin of about 15 to 20 percent in the mobile-phone business, Lanci said. “We have done the same thing in the laptop market, we know how to keep costs under control and operate efficiently,” he said.
Infineon Introduces World's Smallest HSPA+ Solution for 3G Smart Phones
Neubiberg, Germany and Barcelona, Spain – February 15, 2010 – Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) today at the Mobile World Congress 2010 announced the availability of XMM™6260, the latest platform in its 3G slim-modem family. The XMM 6260 platform is optimized as a slim-modem for smart phone architectures coupled with an application processor or as a standalone solution for PC modems and data cards. This advanced HSPA+ platform is based on two new highly integrated Infineon devices: the X-GOLD™626 baseband processor and the SMARTi™UE2 Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver. Together with the Infineon 3GPP Release 7 protocol stack, the XMM 6260 platform comprises a fully integrated HSPA+ system solution.
Smartphone manufacturers require scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions. The slim-modem concept provides customers with the flexibility to adopt the latest application and operating system technologies and to scale multiple platforms while benefiting from a high degree of reuse on the modem.
“The XMM 6260 platform is the fourth generation of successful 3G platforms from Infineon perfectly matching the requirements of advanced smart phones and mobile internet devices,” said Weng Kuan Tan, Division President of the Wireless Solutions Division at Infineon. “It continues the fast evolution of our leading baseband and transceiver technology by adding advanced HSPA+ features, while significantly reducing board space, power consumption, and BOM (Bill of Material) costs”.
The heart of the XMM 6260 platform is the new X-GOLD 626 baseband processor, manufactured by TSMC in its latest 40 nm process technology. The X-GOLD 626 has an integrated power management unit, enabling best-in-class power consumption in both active and idle mode. The new processor is combined with the recently announced market-leading SMARTi UE2 RF transceiver. The 65nm CMOS transceiver employs a revolutionary new digital architecture that significantly reduces the number of external RF components, and hence reduces board space and power consumption. The entire XMM 6260 modem platform fits in less than 600mm² PCB (Printed Circuit Board) area, making it the smallest HSPA+ solution worldwide. Customers benefit from lower cost and space savings, which significantly increases design flexibility, to create unique and feature rich handsets and mobile internet cards with innovative form factors.
The X-GOLD 626 is based on the scalable ARM11™ architecture, which is used across all Infineon 2G and 3G platforms. This common architecture ensures Infineon’s customers a high degree of reuse of their hardware and software investment when developing handsets across the entire cellular portfolio. The XMM 6260 3GPP Rel7 HSPA+ platform supports HSPA category 14 (21 Mbit per second) in the downlink and category 7 (11.5 Mbit per second) in the uplink. In addition the platform includes numerous advanced Release 7 features such as receive diversity, interference cancellation, and CPC (Continuous Packet Connectivity), which significantly improve power consumption and system performance.
Availability
Samples and a complete reference system of the XMM 6260 are available and presented at the Infineon booth (hall 1, booth B22) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona from February 15 to 18, 2010. Volume production is scheduled to start in second quarter 2011.
Demand for dual-mode/dual-SIM handsets spreads from China
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 9 February 2010]
Demand for dual-mode and dual-SIM handsets – mostly GSM plus CDMA, PHS or WCDMA – offered by China-based and white-box vendors is gaining momentum in markets outside China, according to industry sources.
Seeing the increasing demand, US-based chipset vendor Qualcomm reportedly plans to launch chipset solutions supporting dual-mode and dual-SIM standards, a segment that has been dominated by Taiwan-based rival MediaTek, the sources noted.
Korea-based vendors Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics (LGE) have already launched dual-mode handsets for global markets, and Apple's next-generation iPhone may also support both CDMA and WCDMA standards, the sources indicated.
Taiwan-based handset vendor Inventec Appliances, which has offered dual-mode handsets since 2007, has started marketing its first 3.5G/GSM dual-mode handset, the C-910, in the Taiwan market in cooperation with Chunghwa Telecom (CHT). The C-910 can also be used as a 3.5G data card, the company said.
HTC (High Tech Computer) is also expected to launch dual-mode models in 2010, the sources added.
Speculative questions regarding today's itablet announcement:
a) Will it run on Wi-Fi or 3g networks, or both?
b) Will it include any IDCC handover software?
c) If WCDMA, does it including royalty earning Infinion chips?
d) Is it a licensed product under the existing Apple deal and, if so, does it trigger a step-up in royalty payments.
Sadly, due to Apple's confidentiality agreements we will not know until the product breakdown (if ever). But it's sure nice to hope....
Garmin-Asus taking wraps off first Android gear, M10 WinMo phone at MWC
By Chris Ziegler posted Jan 21st 2010 12:51AM
It might be happening a little later than they'd originally hoped, but Garmin -- through its partnership in Garmin-Asus -- should finally be unveiling some Android-based phones pretty shortly in an effort to kickstart the firm's weak showing thus far in the dog-eat-dog handset world. The VP of the mobile device business over at ASUS is talking up the joint venture's 2010 plans this week, saying that it'll show its first Android product at MWC next month with the hope of striking a pretty even balance between Android and WinMo shipments in the long term (no mention of the G60's proprietary platform, interestingly). What's more, they want to push a solid million units this year, and they'll be looking to reach that goal by building somewhere between 4 and 5 models -- at least one of which is likely destined for T-Mobile USA, as far as we can tell. Android isn't the only thing on the docket for these guys at MWC, though: they'll also be showing the M10, allegedly running Windows Mobile 6.5.3 with a 3.5-inch resistive display and a 5 megapixel camera with a retail price a little over $400. Finally, there are plans in the works for a TD-SCDMA phone for China Mobile that'd be available toward the tail end of the year -- so all things considered, these guys might finally have a shot of making a dent in the market for once.
Infineon Launches New Generation Multimode HSPA+ RF Transceiver SMARTi UE2
Neubiberg, Germany – January 21, 2010 – Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) today announced sample delivery of SMARTi™ UE2, the latest generation multi-band HSPA+/EDGE/GPRS RF transceiver for mobile devices. Its groundbreaking digital architecture reduces the number of power amplifiers from five to one and integrates all LNA’s (Low Noise Amplifier) and interstage filters. This leads to remarkable improvements for next generation smartphones: RF PCB area shrinks by 40 percent, cost of ownership reduces by 40 percent and current consumption economizes by more than 25 percent compared to today´s solutions.
”The SMARTi UE2 provides outstanding benefits for all the major key performance indicators: cost, size, current consumption and RF performance,” says Stefan Wolff, Vice President of the Wireless Solutions Division and General Manager of the Smartphone and RF business at Infineon. ”Our proven leadership in RF will enable our customers to create new smartphones and mobile internet devices with extremely flexible form factors and extended battery life time.”
Infineon offers a complete form-factor reference design with co-developed RF front-end components like power amplifiers and switches from leading component suppliers reducing efforts and time-to-market for customers. SMARTi UE2 samples have been provided to lead customers and mass production is scheduled to start in fourth quarter 2010.
SMARTi UE2
SMARTi UE2 supports Quad-Band EDGE and Six-Band HSPA+ for global roaming and best area and indoor coverage. It boosts data rates up to 28.8Mbps in downlink and 11.5Mbps in uplink at highest signal quality with Rx Diversity and MIMO. SMARTi UE2 and all the RF front-end components are controlled through a standardized digital DigRF V3.09 interface. Built-in routines and a High Level Command (HLC) programming allow shortest calibration time and very simple system integration of the RF subsystem. The interface and programming model is backward compatible to the successful SMARTi UE family and matches perfectly to Infineon HSPA and HSPA+ Baseband modems X-GOLD™ 61x and X-GOLD™ 62x.
Motorola to Offer More Cellphone OEM orders to Mainland
Wednesday, October 28, 2009; Posted: 07:37 AM
BEIJING, Oct 28, 2009 (SinoCast Daily Business Beat via COMTEX) -- SPRD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating) is enhancing its cooperation with Mainland China-based cellphone manufacturers instead of such companies in Taiwan, according to insiders.
Presently, Motorola mainly authorizes mainland OEMs to produce its Greater China-oriented low- and medium-end cellphones, of which most adopt the chips of MediaTek Inc. (TPE: 2454) and Shanghai-based Spreadtrum Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: SPRD)[/].
In detail, the mainland's TCL Corp. (SZSE: 000100) is said to produce the Motorola WX-series low-end mobile phones and E11-branded multimedia phones with the chips of MediaTek and Spreadtrum, respectively. If these phones were well sold, the US company is expected to further boost its outsourcing in the mainland.
Upon Motorola's OEM strategy transformation, insiders anticipated that Taiwan OEMs like Compal Communications Inc. (TPE: 8078), Chi Mei Communications Systems Inc., and Qisda Corp. (TPE: 2352) would have to compete for 3G cellphone and smartphone orders against their US peers.
Obama’s Power-Grid Grants May Revive Industry in ‘Paralysis’
By Daniel Whitten, Nicholas Johnston and Mark Chediak
Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Companies that make smart meters, thermostats and other elements of an electric transmission system gained in New York trading yesterday as the U.S. announced an $8 billion upgrade to the nation’s grid.
Echelon Corp. of San Jose, California, rose 4.5 percent, St. Louis-based ESCO Technologies Inc., gained 3.5 percent and Liberty Lake, Washington’s Itron Inc. climbed 3.2 percent after President Barack Obama announced the U.S. was giving out $3.4 billion.
Recipients will kick in the rest of the money. Most of the federal aid will go to utilities to install meters, transformers and other equipment that can control the flow of electricity and reduce power use and homeowner bills.
“The industry was in a state of paralysis, waiting for these awards,” Ben Schuman, an analyst for Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon, said yesterday in a telephone interview.
The investment is a down payment on what Energy Secretary Steven Chu told Bloomberg Television would be hundreds of billions of dollars in investments to upgrade the power grid.
The goal is to jumpstart spending in technologies that would lead to more efficient energy use, and clear the way for renewable electricity adoption, he said.
“This is not about selling widgets, this is about technology deployment, this is about getting more bang for the buck,” said Christine Tezak, an analyst for Robert W. Baird & Co. “The better you understand electricity usage, the better your investments are going to do.”
Tezak said that the money will test a range of technologies and determine whether national deployment of a comprehensive so- called smart grid is feasible.
Electric Utilities
FPL Group Inc., of Juno Beach, Florida, the largest producer of wind power; Constellation Energy Group of Baltimore; and Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy Corp. will each spend at least $250 million to add to the federal grants. Publicly traded and municipal electric utilities were among 100 grant winners in 49 states to upgrade the power grid.
Smart-grid equipment makers such as Itron, Echelon, EnerNOC Inc. of Boston and ESCO stand to benefit from the government funding, Schuman said.
“We look forward to the momentum that these grants will generate in the industry and the economy,” Malcolm Unsworth, Itron’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The grants, ranging from $400,000 to $200 million, will be used to develop and install technology to make electricity transmission more reliable and aid the delivery of energy generated from sources such as wind and solar power.
The money comes from the $787 billion economic stimulus legislation approved by Congress in February. Jared Bernstein, chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, told reporters Oct. 26 that the grants will “save or create tens of thousands” of jobs.
‘PR Effort’
“I truly think that this is more of an expensive PR effort on the part of the president,” said Patrick Creighton, a spokesman for the Institute for Energy Research, which is partly funded by energy companies. “If these smart meters and thermostats would truly save energy, create jobs and help the economy, than why does it need a massive government subsidy?”
Obama made the announcement at FPL’s DeSoto Next Generation Solar Energy Center, which will generate enough power for 3,000 homes when it is completed. He highlighted new technologies to transmit renewable electricity from places like Arcadia, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of Tampa, to locations where energy demand is greater.
“Frankly, after the market meltdown, the renewable energy industry was basically on its deathbed,” FPL’s Chief Executive Officer Lewis Hay III said in a telephone interview. “Through initiatives like this and some of the items they put in the stimulus bill, it really has revived the renewable industry.”
During Lunch
Hay, who told Obama about the DeSoto project during a lunch Oct. 8, said the company will use technology developed by Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co. and managed by Cisco Systems Inc. of San Jose. FPL will spend $378 million to go along with the government’s $200 million to buy 2.6 million smart meters, 9,000 power-distribution devices and advanced monitoring equipment for 270 substations.
Mayo Shattuck, Constellation’s chief executive officer, said during a conference call with reporters that his company won’t buy the equipment unless Maryland regulators approve a rate increase to pay for it.
“It is our hope that we will receive the commission’s final approval by year’s end, so we can begin providing our customers with the savings, reliability, service quality and environmental benefits as soon as possible,” Shattuck said.
Constellation’s Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will provide new electric meters to 1.1 million households that will allow real-time monitoring of electricity use and help customers adjust their consumption during peak times.
‘Manage and Control’
“Consumers will have the power to manage and control their energy use, and we can add more clean-energy sources to the generation mix,” Luke Clemente, general manager of GE Energy Services’ smart grid business, said in a statement.
GE is bidding for Areva SA’s transmission and distribution unit with CVC Capital Partners. Areva is the world’s third- biggest maker of transmission and distribution equipment behind Germany’s Siemens AG and Switzerland’s ABB Ltd.
GE and other companies are interested in the Areva division because of the growing demand for more efficient electrical grids. GE said in February that the market for so-called smart meters that help distribute electricity more efficiently would grow to $12 billion in five years.
Echelon gained 61 cents to $14.33 and Itron gained $1.86 to $59.65 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. Esco rose $1.37 to $40.91 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Whitten in Washington at dwhitten2@bloomberg.net; Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 28, 2009 00:00 EDT
Inventec Appliances aims at 4Q09 revenues of NT$15 billion
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Wednesday 28 October 2009]
Taiwan-based handset maker Inventec Appliances expects consolidated revenues to increase from NT$11.6 billion (US$354 million) posted in the third quarter to NT$15 billion in the fourth mainly due to peak season effects and the launch of new models, according to the company.
The third-quarter revenues represent a sequential growth of 52.3%, thanks to increasing shipments of new iPods and TomTom's PNDs, the company noted.
Operating profits totaled NT$2.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2009, with a gross margin of 9.7%. Net profits stood at NT$230 million, or NT$0.43 per share, for the nine-month period, according to company data.
Nokia Weighs In on Start-Ups, Global Markets
From Venture Capital Dispatch:
Nokia faces fierce competition from Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android operating system, but the Finnish cellphone giant is competing through investing in start-ups and acquiring key technology, a company executive said Tuesday.
Mary McDowell, executive vice president and chief development officer at Nokia, spoke at the VentureWire Technology Showcase in Redwood City, Calif. Nokia Growth Partners, with $350 million under management, is actively investing, having recently invested in Zvents, a local-search company, and Nasdaq-listed KongZhong, a Chinese mobile-Internet company, she said. Nokia also recently invested $35 million in mobile payments company Obopay.
The firm is particularly interested in investing in start-ups innovating in payments and transactions, analytics and advertising, and gaming and virtual worlds, she said.
“We tend to look for companies that have success in the fixed Internet world and are moving to mobile, though we’re always interested in mobile ideas,” McDowell said. “Also those with traction in the U.S. who are looking to make a move to global markets. We can help facilitate that.”
In terms of acquisitions, she listed three types. The first was what she called “transformational” deals, such as the acquisition of mapping data company Navteq for $8.1 billion, which “fundamentally change the course of our business.”
“We do see location as something very critical to our future,” McDowell said.
Second are smaller deals that may not fundamentally change Nokia’s business but still have “core technology that further our ambitions,” she said, such as the 2007 acquisition of mobile-data-sharing company Avvenu, backed by Charles River Ventures and other investors, or the acquisition of mobile-ad company Enpocket, which was backed by firms such as BlueRun Ventures.
Finally, there are acquisitions that are more about the team and expertise of the company, such as angel-backed online travel service Dopplr Oy and venture-backed social network Plazes AG, she said.
Wi-Fi Alliance® announces groundbreaking specification to support direct Wi-Fi connections between devices
Upcoming Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ Wi-Fi Direct program will make it easy to connect devices directly to one another in a new kind of Wi-Fi network
Austin, Texas, October 14, 2009 - Wi-Fi devices will soon be able to connect in a new way that makes it more simple and convenient than ever to do things like print, share and display. The Wi-Fi Alliance is nearing completion of a new specification to enable Wi-Fi devices to connect to one another without joining a traditional home, office, or hotspot network. The Wi-Fi Alliance expects to begin certification for this new specification in mid-2010, and products which achieve the certification will be designated Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct.
The specification, previously code-named "Wi-Fi peer-to-peer," can be implemented in any Wi-Fi device, from mobile phones, cameras, printers, and notebook computers, to human interface devices such as keyboards and headphones. Significantly, devices that have been certified to the new specification will also be able to create connections with hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED legacy devices already in use. Devices will be able to make a one-to-one connection, or a group of several devices can connect simultaneously.
"Wi-Fi Direct represents a leap forward for our industry. Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn't available," said Wi-Fi Alliance executive director Edgar Figueroa. "The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise."
The specification targets both consumer electronics and enterprise applications, provides management features for enterprise environments, and includes WPA2® security. Devices that support the specification will be able to discover one another and advertise available services. Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Wi-Fi Direct devices will support typical Wi-Fi ranges and the same data rates as can be achieved with an infrastructure connection, so devices can connect from across a home or office and conduct bandwidth-hungry tasks with ease.
"With Wi-Fi technology already shipping in millions of consumer electronics devices and handsets every year, this is a terrific innovation for the industry," said Victoria Fodale, senior analyst and market intelligence manager at In-Stat. "Empowering devices to move content and share applications without having to join a network brings even more convenience and utility to Wi-Fi-enabled devices."
The Wi-Fi Alliance plans to publish its peer-to-peer specification upon completion, and will begin certifying devices for the Wi-Fi Direct designation in 2010. Only Wi-Fi Alliance member companies will be able to certify devices to the new specification.
New Chief of Patent Office Takes Aim at a Massive Backlog
By AMY SCHATZ
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's new chief has kicked off an effort to overhaul the patent-application process, seeking to fix the backlogged and financially strapped agency and help the Obama administration earn some good will with the business community.
On Thursday, Director David Kappos scrapped controversial rules that would have limited the number of patent claims companies could file and the information they could submit to back up claims. The rules were proposed during the Bush administration in a bid to accelerate the patent process, but many in the business community believed the opposite would result.
The Obama administration this week also pledged to help push through legislation to overhaul the patent process this year.
"It's a high priority for the administration," said Mr. Kappos, who previously served as IBM Corp.'s top intellectual-property lawyer. "The administration is very committed to getting it done as quickly as possible."
The patent office has a backlog of more than 700,000 patent applications, and a $200 million funding shortfall for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
Although the office has traditionally operated with a backlog, the pile has increased in recent years. Even though there has been a drop-off in applications during the recession, it hasn't helped examiners catch up. One reason is that overtime has been cut, so examiners spend fewer hours processing applications. What's more, because the office is entirely funded by user fees, the dropoff has left it with a budget gap.
Patent rules haven't changed significantly in five decades, despite many attempts by Congress.
This year, a fragile compromise between pharmaceutical and technology companies on a Senate bill could make a difference. The bill would institute a "first-to-file" system that would award patents based on the date an application is filed, rather than on the date of invention was made.
"The Senate did a good job of getting a compromise," said Intel Corp. Chief Executive Paul Otellini, who joined other CEOs in Washington this week to lobby administration officials and lawmakers on issues including patents. "I worry that the agreement [between drug and tech companies] is transient."
Mr. Kappos's moves are part of an effort by the Obama administration to help the business community with faster, higher-quality patent approvals -- a priority for companies, especially those in the high-tech and pharmaceutical sectors.
U.K. drug maker GlaxoSmithKline PLC challenged the Bush administration's rules in federal court in 2007. It was joined by pharmaceutical and tech companies and universities, which worried the rules would limit their ability to get quality patents.
The rules, which were stayed by the court because of the lawsuit, would require shorter applications to help speed processing. They also would limit how much information could be submitted after an application was filed, a special concern for drug companies that routinely submit data later.
"We're not here to penalize the U.S. innovation community," Mr. Kappos said.
Sherry Knowles, GlaxoSmithKline's chief intellectual-property counsel, welcomed the decision to scrap the rules, but some public-interest groups and companies disagreed.
"The rules were a good idea because they sought to implement reasonable limits on the amount of times you could apply for a patent," said Daniel Ravicher, a law professor and executive director of the nonprofit Public Patent Foundation.
Mr. Kappos has taken other steps to improve the agency's efficiency. He recently proposed adjusting the compensation system for patent examiners, in an effort to give staff an incentive to process applications differently, including handling routine ones more quickly.
The patent examiners' union helped draft the new rules, which would give examiners more time to study applications, with the aim of decreasing their need to seek extensions to resolve questions about the applications.
Somebody else we can sue...
Dell reportedly set to launch mobile phones with AT&T
New touchscreen smartphones will run on Google's Android operating system
By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Dell Inc. reportedly is about to join the mobile phone fray with a new smartphone that will use Google Inc.'s Android operating system and run on AT&T Inc.'s wireless network.
The new Dell phone will launch in early 2010, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal that cited unnamed sources close to the matter. The phone is said to come with a touchscreen similar to Apple Inc.'s iPhone and will include a small digital camera.
Dell began hinting that it would enter the mobile phone market in August when it showed off a small, mobile device at an event in China. The new phone is said to be similar to that device, but with some new features and changes from the demonstration model.
It will be the first time Dell has launched a mobile phone, and the company is said to be in discussions with other U.S. wireless carriers about launching phones that use Google's Android operating system. The Dell device would be AT&T's first Android-based smart phone.
Currently, T-Mobile is the only U.S. carrier to offer smartphones running Android, but Google and Verizon Communications Inc. said on Tuesday they would soon offer mobile phones with Android.
Dell shares were down 20 cents at $15.31 after the reports came out. AT&T's stock was off by 55 cents a share at $26.19, while Google's shares rose $18.09 to $516.83.
Spreadtrum on a tear...hits 52 week high.
MUNICH (Dow Jones)--The semiconductor sector has passed the worst of the slump, demand is growing and there is better visibility, but it will take years to return to pre-financial crisis sales levels, according to German chip maker Infineon Technologies AG's (IFX.XE) Chief Financial Officer Marco Schroeter.
"In the last four to six weeks the situation has changed," Schroeter, who is also a member of Infineon's management board, said in a recent interview with Dow Jones Newswires, echoing more positive recent comments from firms across the sector.
Earlier this month Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding NV (ASML.AE) raised its sales expectations for the September and December quarters, as did industry heavyweight Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) for its September quarter.
Demand, especially from industrial and automotive customers, has increased, Schroeter said. Moreover, "we now have visibility into the next two quarters and it looks better than six weeks ago," he said. "However, quarterly growth rates could flatten in the second quarter," but won't see such a sharp declineas in the first fiscal quarter of 2009, which ends Dec. 31, he added.
Infineon supplies logic chips used in the communications, automotive and industrial sectors. Its products are also used for passports and chips used on cell-phone SIM cards and credit cards.
Still, it could take three years until Infineon reaches the sales level prior the crisis, Schroeter said, but the signs are encouraging.
Infineon's book-to-bill ratio now stands at above 1 times, up from a floor of 0.6 times in the December quarter last year, Schroeter said.
As a result of the improved conditions, Infineon has now scrapped the shorter working hours previously brought in to mitigate the effects of the slump and factory utilization has recovered to almost full utilization from the levels of around 40%-60% seen in recent months, he said.
Referring to Infineon's fourth quarter results for the period ending Sept. 30, Schroeter said: "We won't disappoint market expectations," without elaborating.
According to a poll of Dow Jones Newswires of three analysts, fourth quarter operating profit of EUR28 million and sales of EUR832 million are expected. Estimates exclude Infineon's wireline operations.
Infineon said in July it will sell its wireline operations to U.S. private-equity firm Golden Gate Capital LLC for EUR250 million and the closing of the transaction is expected within the next few weeks.
After a recent capital increase in which Infineon raised EUR725 million the Neubiberg, near Munich-based company will be able to refinance its debt and has built up a solid cash position.
Schroeter said the company has no acquisition targets in mind right now, but might consider an acquisition after a minimum of two-to-three quarters of strong operating performance.
Meanwhile, Schroeter poured cold water on recent market speculation that Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema (AFKS.RS) might take a major stake in Infineon.
"We were in talks with Sistema earlier this year," Schroeter said, "but after the successful completion of our rights offering in August we are currently no longer in talks for an investment from an anchor shareholder into the company."
Spreadtrum hits 52 week high. Somebody's buying their chips - and their stock.
Data,
Thanks for that.
Packing up the razor blades as I type... :)
Patents as financial assets
Trolls demanding tolls
Sep 10th 2009
From The Economist print edition
Intellectual property comes of age as an alternative investment
Alamy
FOR those who got burned investing in bricks and mortar, it may be time for a punt on property of a more intellectual kind. Patents have traditionally been the domain of wild-haired inventors and computer geeks. These days they are just as likely to attract the interest of slick investors, from hedge funds and private-equity firms to venture capitalists and even distressed-debt funds. What was once viewed as a stodgy legal asset is fast becoming a sought-after financial one.
The market is still small but it is growing quickly—by perhaps 20-30% a year, reckons Coller Capital, an investment firm that has snapped up, among other prizes, IBM’s portfolio of medical-device and health-care patents. Intellectual Ventures, based near Seattle, has spent a large chunk of the $5 billion it has raised from investors on buying patents; at the last count it had 27,000. Fortress, a big hedge-fund and private-equity group, is also active. Ron Epstein of iPotential, a patent-brokerage firm, says he is getting an ever-increasing volume of calls from hedge funds looking for patents related to mobile telecoms, medical equipment, biotechnology and the internet. He estimates that $4 billion-worth were bought and sold last year overall.
There are several kinds of seller. Some are inventors and universities that lack the resources to chase infringers or to develop their intellectual property (IP) while it still has value (patents expire 20 years after filing). Then there are distressed technology minnows, selling patents in the recession to raise the cash to survive. Administrators of bankrupt firms, alerted to the potential value of their charges’ patents by the growth in trading, are increasingly looking to sell them. Another source of supply is large technology providers that are trying to manage their IP more actively. The majority of a typical firm’s patents are of little or no use to its core businesses. Well-timed patent sales are also a way for public technology firms to meet quarterly profit targets, says Coller’s Peter Holden.
Buyers also come in different shades, both industrial and financial. Of the financial ones, some hope to profit from the market’s relative youth and illiquidity, seeking out undervalued patents and taking advantage of pricing inefficiencies (and the difficulty of valuing such a complex asset) to sell them at a hefty mark-up.
Others are longer-term holders, pejoratively referred to as “patent trolls”, who are looking for an income stream from collecting royalties. Ugly they may be to those they harass, but lazy they are not. Such investors typically undertake exhaustive analysis of the relevant technologies and the firms that may be using them. Negotiations with those they deem to have breached a patent can be tortuous. Even by the standards of alternative investors, this is esoteric stuff. But the returns can be handsome and, with a broad enough portfolio, fairly predictable.
As the market evolves, its supporting infrastructure grows more sophisticated. New brokers are popping up. Like estate agents, they package together information—on the patent’s validity, infringement by others and so on—and try to maximise proceeds for clients. iPotential has helped some clients get more than ten times the initial asking price. ICAP Ocean Tomo, another broker, began running patent auctions in 2006, and this year an affiliate set up an IP exchange. Its index of patent-rich shares is tracked by several exchange-traded funds. IP is moving out of the lab and into the financial mainstream.
Traders See Upside in Palm, Downside in Nokia
By TENNILLE TRACY
NEW YORK -- Options traders kept a close eye on mobile-phone makers and wireless-network providers, showing particular interest in Palm, Sprint Nextel and Nokia.
Traders flocked to Palm's options after analysts at Morgan Joseph downgraded the company to "sell," from "hold," saying sales of Palm's Pre phone appear to have slowed significantly.
But while analysts offered a cautious forecast, shares of Palm climbed higher and options traders gravitated toward bullish contracts.
Traders picked up 38,000 "calls" that allow them to buy the company's stock, compared with 17,000 "puts" that allow them to sell it, according to Trade Alert.
Traders focused mostly on September calls that convey the right to buy Palm's stock for $17. Priced at 25 cents, the contracts make money if the stock rises above $17.25 before expiration on Sept. 18, about 27% above the closing price of $13.55, representing a 5.5% gain.
Shares of Palm staged gains Thursday after slipping lower for most of August. They started the month near $16.
Meanwhile, in Sprint Nextel, the wireless-network provider that has exclusive rights to offer Palm's Pre phone, traders picked up 36,000 calls and 21,000 puts.
Trading in Sprint Nextel coincided with a study from J.D. Power & Associates that said the company had improved its customer service.
The bulk of activity took place in Sprint Nextel's August $4 calls, where a mix of both buyers and sellers congregated.
Those contracts are priced at 10 cents and make money if Sprint's stock rises above $4.10 before Aug. 21, a level it hit most recently on Aug. 5.
Sprint closed at $3.95, up 26 cents, or 7.1%.
There also was noteworthy volume in Nokia, the Finland-based cellphone maker that recently announced a partnership with Microsoft. Under that agreement, Microsoft will provide Office programs on Nokia phones.
In the options market, trading in Nokia took on a bearish tone as investors showed up to sell October $10 calls and buy October $15 puts.
Nokia shares closed the session lower -- down three cents, or 0.2%, to end at $13.16 -- pressured by a decision by Goldman Sachs to downgrade the company to "neutral," from "buy."
Elsewhere, traders scooped up bearish options in Amazon.com Inc., hoping to protect a portfolio of Amazon shares against declines or speculating on such moves taking place.
Traders focused on September $80 puts, which are priced at $2.65 and make money if Amazon dips below $77.35. The shares closed at $84.60, down 1.6%.
On a positive note, SPRD announces 2nd quarter numbers next week. Stock up over six percent today.
Bank Will Allow Customers to Deposit Checks by iPhone
By SUSAN STELLIN
The Internet has taken a lot of the paperwork out of banking, but there is no avoiding paper when someone gives you a check. Now one bank wants to let customers deposit checks immediately — through their phones.
USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company, plans to update its iPhone application this week to introduce the check deposit feature, which requires a customer to photograph both sides of the check with the phone’s camera.
“We’re essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would,” said Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice president.
Customers will not have to mail the check to the bank later; the deposit will be handled entirely electronically, and the bank suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it. But to reduce the potential for fraud, only customers who are eligible for credit and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use the deposit feature. Mr. Peacock said that about 60 percent of the bank’s customers qualify.
USAA may seem like an unlikely innovator in mobile banking. It ranks in size just below the top 20 banks in the United States, and serves mostly military personnel, though many of its products are available to anyone.
But with just one branch, in San Antonio, and customers deployed all over the world, the company has been aggressively developing an anytime, anywhere banking strategy. Three years ago, it introduced the option of depositing a check from home using a scanner. That laid the groundwork for the phone deposit feature, which USAA plans to offer on other phones this year.
“Mobile is going to be a bigger part of how people do commerce and how they interact with their financial institutions,” Mr. Peacock said. “The great value that we see is the time savings.”
About a million of USAA’s 7.2 million customers use their cellphones to access their accounts — either via text message, a mobile browser or an iPhone application introduced in May. The deposit feature, which USAA previewed in an online video in June, puts the bank in the vanguard of the effort to turn cellphones into portable branches.
“USAA has been pretty progressive with this,” said Nick Holland, a senior analyst with Aite Group, a financial services research company.
The most popular banking tasks done on cellphones are reviewing account balances, transferring money, making payments and finding A.T.M.’s, analysts say. But in general, mobile banking has been slow to catch on. Mr. Holland said tighter budgets have forced banks to focus on using technology in ways that cut costs or generate revenue, rather than simply creating buzz.
“If banks can get people to stop calling call centers for mundane inquiries and instead send a text message,” he said, “that saves a bank about $14 for every one of those inquiries.”
Mr. Holland predicted that other banks would follow USAA and offer some type of mobile deposit capability, especially deposit options aimed at small-business customers who may be willing to pay for the convenience.
A study released recently by comScore, a digital audience measurement company, found that more than 15 million people in the United States used mobile banking each month, a number that is expected to grow as networks become faster and more people migrate to smartphones.
“It’s the iPhone that really propelled things to the forefront,” said Marc Trudeau, a senior director at comScore.
While comScore found that just 3 percent of mobile banking customers use Apple devices, Mr. Trudeau said the iPhone had paved the way for applications that let customers accomplish tasks more efficiently than with a phone’s Web browser.
For instance, Bank of America, which has an iPhone app, has more than three million mobile banking customers, and 43 percent of them bank with an iPhone or iPod touch, said Tara A. Burke, a company spokeswoman.
A cellphone is also always at hand, so it is potentially a more convenient than a computer. In fact, comScore found that people most often use mobile banking services at home.
“We’ve all seen the ads showing people banking from a beach in the Caribbean,” Mr. Trudeau said. “The reality is much more mundane than that.”
Infineon Forecasts Sales Growth as Loss Beats Expectations
By Ragnhild Kjetland
July 29 (Bloomberg) -- Infineon Technologies AG, Europe’s second-largest maker of semiconductors, forecast sales growth in the fourth quarter after reporting a smaller loss than analysts had expected.
Infineon rose as much as 7.3 percent in Frankfurt. The third-quarter net loss attributable to shareholders narrowed to 24 million euros ($34 million) from 292 million euros in year- earlier period, Infineon said in a statement today. Analysts had predicted a net loss of 40.9 million euros, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
“The company benefits from rising demand but the figures also show that the management is doing the right things to turn the business around,” said Bernd Laux, an analyst at Credit Agricole Cheuvreux in Frankfurt, who has an “outperform” rating on the stock, in a telephone interview today. “The company is cutting costs and new products have helped to win market share in the wireless business in recent months.”
Revenue will rise in the fourth quarter from the third, the Neubiberg, Germany-based company said. Infineon has suffered as the automotive industry’s sales dropped, reducing demand for its semiconductors. That has partly been made up by chip sales to mobile-phone makers such as LG Electronics Inc. and Apple Inc. Infineon this month sold its Wireline Communications unit to focus on growth in remaining markets.
Garmin-Asus to start marketing Nuvifone G60, says paper
Commercial Times, July 27; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Monday 27 July 2009]
The dual-branded Garmin-Asus Linux-based Nuvifone G60 handset will be available in the Taiwan market starting in the last week of July 2009, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.
In addition, Garmin and Asustek will also begin to market their second co-developed Linux handset, the M20, in the Taiwan market in August at a price tag set below than the G60, the paper added.
Arima Communications to ship 3.5-3.9 million handsets in 3Q09
Daniel Shen, Taipei; Steve Shen, DIGITIMES [Monday 20 July 2009]
Buoyed by increasing orders from LG Electronics (LGE) and an easing in component supplies, Taiwan-based handset maker Arima Communications is expected to see its handset shipments for 2009 peak in the third quarter, reaching 3.5-3.9 million units and representing a 10-20% growth from the previous quarter, according to an estimate by industry sources.
Although Arima's handset shipments are expected to decline slightly to 3-3.5 million units in the fourth quarter, the company's shipments for all of 2009 will be sufficient enough to meet its annual projection of 12-13 million units, the sources added.
The company shipped 5.67 million handsets in the first half, accounting for less than 50% of its projection for the year.
LGE and Sony Ericsson contributed 50% and 45%, respectively, to Arima's total revenues in the first half of 2009. and the ratios are expected to adjust to 65% and 30% in the second half, the sources estimated.