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Qualcomm Co-Founder Skeptical Of Broadband Wireless Potential Oct. 27, 2005
The technology is likely to be too expensive to become as popular as existing mobile phones, said Qualcomm's Andrew Viterbi.
By Dylan McGrath
EE Times
http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=172901008
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Broadband wireless technology is likely to remain too cost prohibitive to ever achieve user numbers close to the 2 billion people who currently use mobile phones, according to Andrew Viterbi, co-founder of Qualcomm and currently president of the Viterbi Group LLC, a technology advisory and investment company.
Delivering a keynote address here Wednesday (Oct. 26) at the GSPx signal processing conference, Viterbi said broadband wireless could provide a "nomadic desktop experience" for business and professional users, but that high-speed wireless connectivity is not necessary for the majority of applications that consumers are interested in. Ultimately, he said, the user base for broadband wireless would peak at "hundreds of millions," rather than billions, of users.
"A lot of the dumb things that people do don't take that much bandwidth," Viterbi said, referring to applications such as gaming.
Applications such as two-way gaming and video conferencing, which would require the speed of broadband wireless, will not appeal to a wide enough base of users to bring down the cost of broadband wireless, Viterbi said. While consumers would not necessarily say that they do not want broadband wireless functionality, he said, they would not be willing to pay an extra $50 a month or more for this capability.
Viterbi acknowledged that the situation is not the same in Europe as it is in the U.S. or the rest of the world. European carriers paid dearly for the additional spectrum required for broadband wireless in 2000, he said, and will likely push harder to make low-cost consumer terminals available for its use in order to capture some return on their investment.
One application that people have been counting on to support the need for broadband wireless is high-quality audio and video broadcast. But Viterbi expressed doubt that people would be interested enough in this capability to justify paying the additional cost.
"We are going to get broadcast, and that is going to need high speed," he said. "But we've had audio broadcast for 100 years and video broadcast for 50 years, so what's new?"
Meanwhile, companies keep moving to bring broadband wireless to the market. Motorola Inc. and Intel Corp. Thursday agreed to collaborate to advance the use of mobile WiMAX technology, based on the proposed IEEE 802.16e standard, for both fixed and wireless broadband applications.
Earlier this month, mobile communications industry pioneer Marty Cooper warned that broadband wireless blanket coverage could be disruptive to the business, referencing recent announcements by Google and Earthlink that they are prepared to offer blanket Wi-Fi coverage across San Francisco and Philadelphia, respectively.
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A Technology Milestone Reinforces Acceleration Toward Next-Generation Wireless Capabilities
Thursday October 27, 5:38 pm ET
- QUALCOMM to Continue Development Support for Faster Version of EV-DO High-Speed 3G Standard -
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/051027/lath144.html?.v=2
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- QUALCOMM Incorporated (Nasdaq: QCOM - News), a leading developer and innovator of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and other advanced wireless technologies, today said that the recent successful end-to-end CDMA2000® 1xEV-DO Revision A test calls signal the acceleration of the market drive toward the Rev. A version of EV-DO. The calls were conducted using prototype equipment based on QUALCOMM's Cell Site Modem(TM) (CSM(TM)) CSM6800(TM) chipset for base stations and the Mobile Station Modem(TM) (MSM(TM)) MSM6800(TM) chipset for mobile handsets and mark a major milestone in the development of CDMA and the EV-DO Rev. A standard. EV-DO Rev. A supports peak data speeds of 3.1 Mbps on the forward link and 1.8 Mbps on the reverse link and the higher system capacity required for compelling next-generation wireless services.
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"The evolution to EV-DO Rev. A is a significant milestone for CDMA technology that will allow Sprint Nextel to further our leadership in wireless data services," said Barry West, CTO of Sprint Nextel. "Besides increasing data speeds, it will facilitate real time applications that ride on top of the all IP wireless converged network. Applications such as voice over IP, high-performance push-to-talk, and higher-speed data access are just some of the examples of new services our customers will enjoy with the advent of EV-DO Rev. A."
"QUALCOMM is very pleased with these successful end-to-end test calls of EV-DO Rev. A technology," said Luis Pineda, senior vice president of product management for QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies. "The Company has committed significant development resources to the Rev. A effort, supporting our customers and partners as they offer new mobile capabilities and higher-quality wireless multimedia. Working with industry partners such as Sprint Nextel has enabled QUALCOMM to be part of these technology developments that we believe will redefine wireless mobility for people around the world."
The successful test calls using EV-DO Rev. A technology are a significant milestone in the development of the standard that enables new wireless capabilities on mobile handsets. In addition to providing peak data rates of up to 3.1 Mbps on the forward link and up to 1.8 Mbps on the reverse link, EV-DO Rev. A also provides lower latency with Quality of Service (QoS) to enhance the user experience for delay-sensitive applications such as VoIP and video telephony. Gold and Platinum Multicast services that are supported by EV-DO enable the delivery of high-quality multimedia content to a large number of users simultaneously. Industry-wide efforts are underway for further developments of CDMA technology that will enable even faster data rates and new mobile capabilities.
For more information on the chipsets enabled by EV-DO Rev. A, please visit www.cdmatech.com/solutionfinder.
About QUALCOMM
QUALCOMM Incorporated (www.qualcomm.com) is a leader in developing and delivering innovative digital wireless communications products and services based on CDMA and other advanced technologies. Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., QUALCOMM is included in the S&P 500 Index and is a 2005 FORTUNE 500® company traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market® under the ticker symbol QCOM.
Except for the historical information contained herein, this news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, including the Company's ability to successfully design and have manufactured significant quantities of CDMA components on a timely and profitable basis, the extent and speed to which CDMA is deployed, change in economic conditions of the various markets the Company serves, as well as the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including the report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 26, 2004, and most recent Form 10-Q.
QUALCOMM is a registered trademark of QUALCOMM Incorporated. Cell Site Modem, CSM, CSM6800, Mobile Station Modem, MSM, and MSM6800 are trademarks of QUALCOMM Incorporated. CDMA2000 is a registered trademark of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA USA). All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
QUALCOMM Contacts:
Trip Meade, QUALCOMM CDMA Technologies
Phone: 1-858-845-7571
Email: qctpublicrelations@qualcomm.com
or
Jeremy James, Corporate Communications
Phone: 1-858-651-1641
Email: corpcomm@qualcomm.com
or
Bill Davidson, Investor Relations
Phone: 1-858-658-4813
Email: ir@qualcomm.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: QUALCOMM Incorporated
Pantech Launches Qualcomm BREW Phone In India
by S Karat at 12:17AM (EDT) on October 26, 2005
http://www.contentsutra.com/blog/_archives/2005/10/26/1322871.html
MobileKorea.tv: The Korean handset maker Pantech announced Wednesday it will roll out 300,000 CDMA handsets in India, starting with the compact, slim PA-711 phone. The PA-711 is a stylish and compact CDMA handset which features the unique Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW) platform, which allows users to download a range of entertainment applications to personalize their handsets. It also includes the T9 Text Input function, which offers a range of language characters and enables wireless Internet access and email functions.
The PA-711 handset will become available in India from next month and will be introduced other markets subsequently. The PA-711 will retail at Rs 3,999 ($90).
Qualcomm: WiMax doesn't scare us
Warts and all
By Jo Best
Published: Wednesday 26 October 2005
http://networks.silicon.com/broadband/0,39024661,39153668,00.htm
Qualcomm has hit back at claims that the arrival of mobile WiMax will compromise the success of 3G.
Jeff Belk, senior VP at Qualcomm, told silicon.com: "The WiMax guys are saying existing 3G is 'disruptive' in terms of performance. At this point, that's patently false."
With the first pre-WiMax rollouts starting to arrive in Europe, Belk also criticised the lack of facts and figures provided by proponents of the technology.
With the first full standards yet to be published for mobile WiMax, speeds of between 10 and 75Mbps and ranges of 3km to 50km have been bandied about by various would be WiMaxers.
Belk said: "It's time for some real data to enter the debate... There's a real, real dearth", adding on speeds and range: "I feel there's a concerted effort to provide disinformation".
However, with big names like Intel publicly declaring their support, WiMax will eventually make an appearance – although how far it makes the leap beyond backhaul is under discussion.
Several analysts – not to mention vendors betting on the long-range broadband technology – have predicted that come 2007, laptops will be packing WiMax functionality. Qualcomm's Belk disagrees.
He said: "Folks from the WiMax Forum will talk about how it will suddenly show up in laptops. I've been in first-hand conversations with basically all the key laptop makers and they have no magic wand I can see."
That said, Belk believes WiMax is not without a future. "I'm never going to say that a wireless technology won't come to fruition – with time, money and smart people any thing can come to fruition," he said. "It's not undoable but it's certainly not trivial."
And, like any other standard, Belk is predicting an uphill struggle for the evolution of WiMax.
He said: "EV-DO [developed by Qualcomm] wasn't without its warts in rolling out, both in the network and... the laptop side, just as HSDPA [an upgrade to W-CDMA 3G networks] won't be without its warts and, frankly, neither will be WiMax. That's painfully clear."
EoNex Technologies, Inc. is one of the Qualcomm authorized suppliers of CDMA ASICs, see link below:
http://www.qualcomm.com/technology/licensing.html
ASICs:
Agere Systems Inc.
EoNex Technologies, Inc.
Fujitsu Limited
Infineon Technologies AG
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
Lucent Technologies Inc.
Motorola, Inc.
NEC Corporation
Renesas Technology Corp.
Texas Instruments Incorporated
VIA Telecom, Inc.
Sprint sets EV-DO launch dates
http://life.firelace.com/2005/10/sprint_sets_evdo_launch_dates.html
October 27th and November 11th are your dates to watch while they are not set in stone. Hard launch markets will have major marketing campaigns in them. Also, hard launch markets have larger coverages than any of Verizon's current EV-DO coverage. Jealous yet?
EV-DO Soft Launch Markets: Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus, Connecticut, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Ft. Myers (all of Southwest Florida), Greensboro, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Orlando, Raleigh, Rio Grande Valley, Sacramento, San Antonio, Seattle/Tacoma, St. Louis, Tampa, Boise, Reno/Carson City/Lake Tahoe, St. Cloud, Grand Rapids
EV-DO Hard Launch Markets: Birmingham, Boston, Buffalo, Chattanooga, Chicago, Cincinnati, Honolulu, Jacksonville, Knoxville, Little Rock, Los Angeles, Louisville, Memphis, Nashville, New York City/New Jersey, Puerto Rico, Kingsport/Johnson City, Norfolk, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Richmond, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Tallahassee, Tulsa, Washington DC/Baltimore, Wichita
Via PCSIntel
Posted by darkmoon on October 22, 2005 11:32 AM | Permalink
Taiwan market: Qualcomm signs first BREW partner for 3G services
Daniel Shen and Yinxuan Wang, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DigiTimes.com [Friday 21 October 2005]
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20051021A6031.html
Qualcomm Taiwan and Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications (APBW) on October 20 announced that Qualcomm’s BREW (binary runtime environment for wireless) platform would be the basis for various 3G services on APBW’s CDMA 2000 1X infrastructure. APBW is the first 3G operator to adopt BREW in Taiwan.
The BREW platform, unlike a Java-based platform, allows compatibility among different 3G systems and among 3G handset models equipped with Qualcomm chips and those without such chips, emphasized Qualcomm Taiwan president Tony Li.
APBW will offer BREW-enabled 3G services including downloading of ring tones, mobile on-line games, office tools and information services, according to APBW CEO James Jen.
Of the other four 3G licensees in Taiwan, two to three are expected to adopt BREW in the first half of next year, local industry experts pointed out.
Qualcomm to enter mass shipments of WCDMA chips to Taiwan handset makers by year-end
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20051021PR206.html
Excerpts from the Greater-China press: October 21, 2005
Qualcomm will enter mass shipments of WCDMA chips to Taiwan handset makers BenQ, HTC and CMCS, by the end of this year, according to industry sources. Ericsson Mobile Platforms (EMP) has reached an agreement with Compal Communications, whereas Freescale will begin shipping its fourth-generation WCDMA chips to Motorola's contract makers in Taiwan, indicated the sources. [DigiTimes]
Europe's Mobile Phone Market Grows 10% In 3Q - GfK Research
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/14442.php
BERLIN -(Dow Jones)- Market research firm GfK said the European handset market has delivered 10% growth in the third quarter, with a phone from Sony Ericsson proving the hottest sell in the period.
In the third quarter each of the last three years, the European cell phone market was ignited by color, camera, and third-generation wireless technology. But not this year.
The third-quarter's hottest global system for mobile communications, or GSM, phone is a reheated block phone from Sony Ericsson, the K750i. The top third-generation phone based on the WCDMA standard is Nokia Corp.'s (NOK) relatively ancient first-quarter launch, the 6680.
Still, at 10% sequential unit growth, Europe outpaced other big geographies in the quarter, and this global rebalancing generates a positive average selling price vector for the industry.
The third-quarter's only significant technical development is the dominance of 90 nanometer circuitry in WCDMA baseband chipsets, which lengthens battery life by 40%. Tom Dailey, managing director of GfK Equity Research, said Nokia's six-month jump on Qualcomm Inc.'s (QCOM) MSM 6250 chipset paid off: while Qualcomm doubled its WCDMA baseband share to 14%, the Nokia/Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) team still leads by a wide margin.
In the fourth quarter, the 95 gram Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (005930.SE) Z500 (with Qualcomm chipset) is the first 3G phone to feel like a 2G phone - it's a proven form factor and is 50% lighter than leading 3G phones, so we think it will ramp nicely through year-end, Dailey said.
The quarter's other winners include Sony Ericsson, a joint venture of Sweden's Telefon AB LM Ericsson (ERICY) and Japan's Sony Corp. (SNE), which gained over 200 basis points of European GSM share and then late in the quarter launched two segment-killers: the W800 music phone, and its first 3G offering with the new Ericsson mobile platforms chipset, the K600 series. Elsewhere in GSM, Nokia gained 200 basis points of share in the Middle East.
Lackluster WCDMA sales increased 11% sequentially, but GfK was encouraged by what was being sold, and by who was selling it. "Some pivotal 2G operators have warmed to 3G, and at the same time, we've seen less price-driven selling. It means that after 30 months of 3G in Europe, the phones are finally good enough to pull demand," Dailey said.
The decline of the CDMA and PHS standards in China continues to feed GSM sales, which are growing at nearly 30% year-over-year. The biggest beneficiary of the trend is Nokia, which has a tiny position in the former two but has surged in GSM.
Lu Wang, GfK China analyst, said: "Nokia's renewed distribution strategy has revived their fortunes, and they have been on a share-gaining streak all year." Low-end phones did particularly well, which is terrific news for Texas Instruments, which gained significant share by via chipsets in both Nokia and Motorola Inc.'s (MOT) key low-end phones.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
Mobile Television: Yet another battle for airwaves
BY ANAND GURNANI
Indiantelevision.com Team
(18 October 2005 12:20 am)
http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k5/oct/oct226.htm
CANNES: Television has always been a battle for the airwaves and with the emergence of yet another screen which recieves content over the air, the scene is burning red.
And this time around though there's not just TV broadcasters that are eyeing the hot cake, there are the telecom carriers (who already have the volumes, scale and CRM) the content producers, the mobile content specialists and so on. Mobile television is THE big wave currently and everyone's trying to get on board.
Various technologies like 3G and DVBH, etc are being tested and while technology selection will play a significant role for the players, it is the formation of a distribution value chain that works for all, which is the key issue.
The panelists for the session on Mobile TV distribution and funding at MIPCOM included Orange (France) Executive VP (Marketing) Julien Billlot, Freemantle Media (UK) Senior VP for Interactive Claire Tavernier, Qualcomm Senior Director Omar Javaid, BskyB(UK) Director of Business Development Stephen Nutall and Qpass (Austria) GM Europe Christian Lutz. The panel was moderated by MBlox Executive Chairman Andrew Bud.
All of the panelists have made and are making significant investments in Mobile TV.
Omar Javaid, whose company Qualcomm is investing a billion dollars to create MediaFlo a Mobile TV service in the US said, "We all have an interest in Mass market and for that we are investing a billion dollars into Mobile TV. The service should be available by around the same time next year. We believe that the quality not only of the user experience, but also the basic broadcast quality has to be better."
Giving his take on the business, BSkyB's Nutall said, "Its going to be a couple of years before this becomes big, but now is the right time to get in and garner expertise. BSkyB has alway been very innovative in the way we use technology for delivering our content and Mobile TV is yet another extension and great VAS for us."
"Very soon our Tier 1 customers will be offered broadband and mobile access to our content including Mobile TV," he added.
The operator's perspective in the panel was provided by Orange (France). Executive VP for marketing Billot said, "I think Mobile TV is already happening today. Currently we have over a 100,000 consumers and by the end of the year the number's going to go up to 500,000 and we expect it to reach a million by the end of next year."
"Mobile TV is one of the best applications that we can offer," he added.
Freemantle Media is one of the early movers amongst content creators to have built a strong strategy around the Mobile. SVP for Interactive, Tavernier shared, "The Traditional TV Value chain is under threat with PVRs and fragmentation. For a content provider it is a question of survival. For us though, the other reason is that creating content for the mobile is great fun and a lot of people at Freemantle are excited about it."
"We are taking on creative people from other industries like gaming and are developing some content especially for the mobile screen. Part of it will be extensions of our brands while part will be completely new programming," she added.
Defining the roles and laying the rules for the game
As of now there is no clear picture as to what the value chain will eventually emerge to be when Mobile TV gains a mass market.
There are various arguments as to the role that the carriers will play. The carriers obviously are trying to garner expertise in content but many on the other side of the fence believe that content ought to be left to the specialists. At the same time it is very clear that getting a mass market is not possible without the carriers and their subsidising and packaging Mobile TV enabled handsets. Also the carriers are extremely significant in terms of they being the ones who've got carriage, billing and CRM.
"Content creators who develop domain skills for mobile content and ringtone portals which have billing relationships with customers for content are going to play a key role," opined Freemantle's Tavernier.
While the content creators are investing in developing mobile content expertise, the carriers too are investing in content. "We at Orange France are investing Ten Million Euros to buy content," remarked Billot.
Emphasising on the significance of the operators, Qualcomm's Omar Javaid pointed out that his Mobile TV venture was not bypassing operators but partnering with them. "We are not going direct to the consumer. We will look for wholesale buyers and shall reach consumers via the operators," he said.
Bandwidth and Spectrum are important issues and the limited availability of the same is playing a defining role in the value chain. "There is no spectrum for Broadcast to Mobile in the UK and so we are looking at other technologies." said BskyB's Nutall.
As the Mobile TV scene evolves, there's sure going to be some surprises to spring up as is always the case with any new content technology. For now though its wait and watch.
Wednesday October 19, 02:29 PM
LG Elec Launches Three-Standard 3G Mobile Phone In China
http://au.news.yahoo.com/051019/3/wf7u.html
BEIJING, Oct 19 Asia Pulse - The world's fourth biggest mobile phone producer, South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. (KSE:066570), has launched a new 3G mobile phone in China, which is able to back the three telecom standards including TD-SCDMA, GSM and WCDMA.
The new model was wholly developed and manufactured by LG Electronics' R&D center based in China, a spokesman of the company said.
It is integrated with the TD-SCDMA chip from one of LGs partners COMMIT, and LG Electronics advanced WCDMA technology. The mobile phone is compatible with video telephone, flow media and Java techniques and keeps the same step with LGs WCDMA mobile phones.
There are so far three mainstream standards for 3rd generation mobile phones (3G), namely WCDMA, CDMA2000 and China-developed TD-SCDMA, the spokesman said. LG Electronics launched the new model after studying the timetable for 3G license issued by the Chinese government.
The China-based R&D center of LG Electronics has been devoted to developing TD-SCDMA mobile phones since its establishment.
(XIC)
Users awash in emerging wireless options
Companies facing complex decisions on how best to outfit mobile users
By Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service
October 19, 2005
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/10/19/HNwirelessoptions_1.html?source=rss&url=http://www.inf....
The days of simply giving traveling employees a cell phone for talking and a laptop for dial-up data are long gone, replaced by a complex landscape of overlapping choices. There are decisions to be made regarding devices, carrier contracts, performance and reach -- with all the major technologies offering moving targets to boot.
In addition to Wi-Fi wireless LANs and cellular data, both of which keep getting faster, there are two major emerging options that use OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing). Most highly hyped is mobile WiMAX, but another system called FLASH-OFDM (Fast Low-latency Access with Seamless Handoff-OFDM) has already been deployed and is now owned by cellular giant Qualcomm.
The Wi-Fi versus cellular question poses speed against coverage. Public Wi-Fi hot spots can offer several megabits per second shared among users in a coffee shop or airport. The still-emerging IEEE 802.11n specification is intended to boost that speed to about 100Mbps and improve range, and it may eventually show up in hot spots. But despite the chain operations of companies such as T-Mobile USA and the aggregation of sites by service providers such as iPass, hot spot users still frequently have to set up and pay for new accounts.
Also 3G (third-generation) cellular data services offer coverage across a metropolitan area -- though they can vary from one location to the next -- and the number of metropolitan areas covered is growing. For example, Verizon Wireless now offers the high-speed EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized) flavor of its CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) service in 84 U.S. markets, and Sprint (Profile, Products, Articles) Nextel offers it in 75 markets, according to the companies. Sprint Nextel plans to gradually upgrade its network to the next version of EV-DO, called Revision A, in late 2006 and early 2007. Verizon also will use Revision A but hasn't said when. The new version is expected to significantly boost upstream speed.
On the other side of the 3G fence is UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), a step on the migration path of GSM operators such as Cingular Wireless (Profile, Products, Articles). It is now available in six markets but will reach 15 markets to 20 markets by year's end, according to Cingular spokesman Ritch Blasi. Those rollouts will use a new version of the technology, called HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access), which will match the average speed of EV-DO as quoted by Sprint Nextel and Verizon. (All 3G networks have "burst" speeds that may be available in locations with low congestion.)
Blasi gave two selling points for UMTS over EV-DO: It carries both voice and data, so users can talk while using data on the same device, and it's used more widely outside the U.S. Cingular plans to offer in the first half of next year a dual-band PC Card UMTS modem to reach both overseas and U.S. networks, Blasi says.
3G is now being integrated into mass-production notebook PCs: Dell (Profile, Products, Articles) made a splash last month by announcing plans with Verizon for EV-DO notebooks and with Cingular for HSDPA-equipped systems. It is also emerging in a growing number of handheld devices. The Microsoft (Profile, Products, Articles) Windows Mobile-based Treo phone that Palm Inc. announced last month will use Verizon's EV-DO network.
Mobile WiMAX, a variant of the fixed WiMAX that is expected to emerge in standard form later this year, has strong backing from Intel (Profile, Products, Articles) but is unlikely to ship until 2007. As with Wi-Fi, high volumes, economies of scale and global compatibility will drive its success, according to Intel, though standardization and radio frequency issues need to be worked out.
Proponents say the technology will deliver metropolitan-area coverage to users in motion, but at higher data speeds than 3G and with better multimedia performance. Some observers say it will be embraced mostly by cellular competitors that don't have 3G spectrum.
Flash-OFDM was pioneered by Flarion Technologies, which earlier this year agreed to be bought by Qualcomm. Flarion networks have been deployed by a few carriers and been the focus of trials by others, including Nextel Communications. It is designed to deliver speeds in the same range as mobile WiMAX and can be used in a wide range of frequency bands.
Laptops should be equipped with Wi-Fi, which is generally the best way for workers to stay connected when at home or in different offices, says Bob Egan, an analyst at Tower Group. However, there are better ways to tackle high-speed data on the road than turning on Wi-Fi at a hot spot, even with an aggregator to handle accounts with different providers, he says.
"It's complex, it's hard, you can't scale it, and the success of Wi-Fi and these public access areas is also destroying its usability, primarily because of interference," Egan says.
Wide-area wireless is likely to be the best long-term solution, according to Egan. By the time mobile WiMAX is widely available, it won't have a big edge in performance or price over 3G, he says. But Egan advises against buying a laptop with a built-in 3G card. A PC Card modem bought separately from the notebook is the best bet, because when an improved network technology such as EV-DO Revision A comes along it can be swapped out, he says. Even better, large companies that buy a lot of gear and services from a mobile operator should be able to get the cards for "next to zero." A notebook manufacturer wouldn't offer such a deal, he says.
One hurdle that remains is related to those great deals. The 3G cards that U.S. mobile operators sell today are locked to their networks, so corporations will have to sign on to a long-term contract to get a discount. An end to that practice, which could happen if 3G cards turn out to be a big success, would change the equation for enterprise customers and for carriers' WiMAX rivals, in Egan's view.
Buying a notebook with a carrier-locked 3G radio would tie a company too closely to a carrier, agrees analyst Eddie Hold of Current Analysis Inc. But he disagrees with Egan's view on overall strategy.
A PC Card modem for EV-DO sucks up notebook battery power more than built-in Wi-Fi and doesn't deliver the same class of performance, Hold says. The tale is not told solely in bit-per-second performance, says Hold. For example, there is greater latency on an EV-DO network, which can cause excruciating delays on Microsoft Exchange as the client software swaps data with the remote server.
Hold advises buying 3G cards only for the few employees who really need them. Most can get their jobs done at locations where Wi-Fi is available, he says. Those who actually do work farther afield or in transit are usually doing something that could be accomplished on a handheld device such as a BlackBerry, which doesn't require broadband speeds, Hold says.
Over time, companies may be able to buy combinations of these technologies. Sprint Nextel holds licenses across much of the U.S. for spectrum that may be approved for mobile WiMAX, and Hold says T-Mobile may upgrade its GSM-based infrastructure to UMTS to supplement its network of Wi-Fi hot spots.
The Many Flavors of OFDMA
By Tim Sanders
October 19, 2005
http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/article.php/3557416
Start with a definition of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) (define): OFDM works by splitting the radio signal into multiple smaller sub-signals that are then transmitted simultaneously at different frequencies to the receiver. OFDM reduces the amount of crosstalk in signal transmissions.
When we talk about broadband wireless access, most of the action takes place at the Media Access Control (MAC) layer (layer 2) and the Physical (PHY) layer (layer 1 or the Air Interface).
There are numerous types of broadband wireless air interfaces including single carrier, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA). Others are Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) a cellular 3G technology, and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) also cellular 3G.
With the advent of WiMAX, the terms OFDM and OFMDA, scalable OFDMA (sOFDMA), and Flarion's alternative version of OFDMA, Flash OFDM, have all become buzzwords—and subject to the standards process. Other terms such as Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Time Division duplex (TDD), and Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) modes play a part in the various flavors of this modulation scheme.
The marketplace today seems to have decided that OFDM (or OFDMA) offers real advantages for broadband wireless transport. The WiMAX Forum has clearly focused on these technologies. Qualcomm's recent acquisition of Flarion only underscores industry confidence in this technology. The topics are, of course, very complex and in this article we will only be able to provide an overview. If one any particular aspect of this discussion is relevant to you, we recommend that you conduct further research.
Before we delve into the arcane minutia of what are essentially subtle differences in OFDMA, let's go over the history of the topics involved.
The background
We are all used to the term Wi-Fi, which generally refers to the 802.11a/b/g/n family of standards. However, 802.11 standards were written for indoor wireless networks. Many vendors built proprietary MAC and PHY systems that extended these capabilities to outdoor networks. Some of these systems used a single carrier. Several leveraged OFDM capabilities. Others chose WCDMA or UMTS approaches. But the idea was to create effective outdoor networks. This was and is a very fragmented marketplace.
Enter the 802.16 movement, which sought to define a proper metropolitan area network (MAN) standard for broadband wireless or WiMAX. This standard has evolved into two standards: One delivers fixed broadband wireless (802.16-2004) and another delivers mobile broadband wireless (802.16e). Interestingly, both support multiple PHY modes, none of which include WCDMA or UMTS.
802.16-2004 (fixed) 802.16e (mobile)
Single Carrier Single Carrier
OFDM 256 FFT OFDM 256 FFT
OFDMA 2048 FFT OFDM 2048 FFT
sOFDMA 1024 FFT
sOFDMA 512 FFT
sOFDMA 128 FFT
The WiMAX Forum chose the OFDM 256 FFT mode for the first fixed WiMAX product profile. The first product profiles for mobile WiMAX have yet to be chosen as the standard is not yet ratified. However, it appears some version of OFDMA will get the nod, which brings us to why it makes sense to understand a bit about OFDMA.
There is a third flavor of OFDMA competitive to WiMAX called Flash OFDM that Flarion uses which is also very similar, but more on that later.
There could ultimately be WiMAX product profiles that have the same PHY mode for both fixed and mobile. For example, some vendors believe there will ultimately also be an OFDM 256 FFT mode for 802.16e. The rule is that three vendors must agree on the product profile for the Forum to define a product profile for interoperability testing. Many mobility proponents seem to prefer an OFDMA version. In any event, product profiles with different modes will not be interoperable. Also, profiles of modes at a given FFT size (512 for example) will not interoperate with the different fixed FFT size mode of 2048.
So what does OFDMA accomplish? In simplified terms, the OFDMA mode attempts to optimize mobile access by many simultaneous users through breaking a signal into sub-channels. Some camps believe OFDM can accomplish this as well as and cheaper than alternatives. Others believe OFDM is best suited for simple mobility or portability. Sub channelization was added to OFDM on the uplink and downlink technology but ultimately rejected by the IEEE 802.16 working group. Whatever the relative merits for mobility, the two modes are essentially very similar.
Much in common, among the differences
The OFDM modulation scheme offers many advantages for broadband wireless transport. It supports high data rates. The design not only obviates multipath interference (where reflected signals return slightly out of phase, creating interference at the receiver) it can actually utilize multipath to increase signal quality by processing the reflected packets to increase gain. This technique also improves non-line of sight delivery. It supports both TDD and FDD, the latter of which provides symmetrical data delivery.
The good news is that for most practical purposes, the terms sOFDMA and OFDMA can be used interchangeably as they are so similar. Both support sub channelization as a key technology. Flash OFDM is a bit different.
Sub channelization allows all four variations (OFDM, Flash OFDM, sOFDMA and OFDMA) to split channels up into sub channels, even into several thousand sub channels. Essentially, a user on an OFDMA network is assigned a number of sub channels across the band. A user close to the base station would normally be assigned a larger number of channels with a high modulation scheme such as 64 QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) to deliver the most data throughput to that user. As the user moves farther away, the number of sub channels is re-assigned dynamically to fewer and fewer sub channels. However, the power allotted to each channel is raised. The modulation scheme could gradually shift from 16 QAM to Quaternary Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) (four channels) and even binary phase shift keying (BPSK) (two channels) at longer ranges. The data throughput drops as the channel capacity and modulation change, but the link maintains its strength.
Cell sizes must not expand or contract. Each user must have a strong link to their base station until handoff. The tradeoff is lower throughput at the edge.
In fixed wireless links, which typically use high gain directional antennas, this technique is less necessary. For mobile applications, especially with high speed handoffs, it is necessary. Customer devices typically feature omni-directional antennas which radiate in all directions but have lower gain than directional antennas. In this environment, sub channelization is necessary.
For more details on sub channelization, see the WiMAX Forum White Paper on Sub channelization [.pdf].
Another technique called scalability was developed, resulting in sOFDMA.
Two Flavors of WiMAX
Enter scalability. Because channels differ in size in different countries, the 802.16 standard supports all of the various channel sizes, ranging from 1.25 MHz to 20 MHz.
For a variety of complex technical reasons, Intel makes the argument that keeping the sub channel spacing fixed by changing the FFT size based on channel size or bandwidth provides better signal quality. One of the simpler arguments is that the Doppler shift of a moving body (amongst other aspects) affects signal quality if the sub channel spacing is not maintained at a fixed size. There is an excellent tutorial on Scalable OFDMA on Intel's website.
The OFDMA 2048 FFT version was conceived as a fixed FFT and is supported in both 802.16-2004 and 802.16e. One company in the forefront of this type of OFDMA technology is Runcom.
The scalable or sOFDMA versions encompass the 128 FFT, 512 FFT, and 1024 FFT as promoted by Intel and others. This last flavor of OFDMA can actually shift its FFT size based on channel and bandwidth, thus becoming scalable. So, for example, a user traveling through a cell might receive signal through 128 FFT or 512 FFT depending on factors such as channel size.
The Korean WiBro standard is basically a subset of the sOFDMA at 1024 FFT. For a variety of reasons, it appears most likely that the first product profile chosen by the Forum may be a sOFDMA one, though that is not certain as of press time for this article.
About Qualcomm and Flarion
The acquisition of Flarion by Qualcomm is big news. Many look at it as a stamp of approval for OFDM and OFDMA. Qualcomm itself is directly involved in research into OFDM. Although Flarion's specific iteration of OFDMA, called Flash OFDM, is very similar to the other flavors we've discussed in that it uses sub channelized OFDM (Flarion calls its sub channels "tones"), its technology has several unique features.
The biggest single difference is that Flarion has vertically integrated the MAC and PHY layer as well as the link and network layers much more closely together than in the other approaches.
One other major difference is that Flarion already has product in the field.
"We have been booking revenues since October of 2003," says Ronny Haraldsvik, vice president of marketing for Flarion. "We believe our vertically integrated MAC and PHY provide an easier path to multiple standards interoperability."
Haraldsvik adds that Flarion demonstrated handoffs to 802.11 systems in December, 2001. Flarion chose to ensure mobile capability from the beginning as well as to optimize throughput for small channel sizes (such as 1.25 MHz), particularly in low-frequency spectrum. Flarion's product line is optimized for frequencies ranging from below 450 MHz up to 1.9 GHz and 2.4 GHz. The company asserts its technology would work fine above those spectrum ranges, but it admits that the WiMAX sOFDMA and OFDM technologies may be better optimized today at 2.5 GHz and above.
"Higher frequency bands with larger channels such as 10 MHz and 20 MHz are not what we are interested in," says Haraldsvik. "On the flip side, we believe WiMAX will have to make serious engineering adjustments to work as well at lower frequency ranges."
It is Flarion's contention that spectrum does matter in regards to how its Flash OFDM system was designed. In particular it believes trade offs are necessary to optimize service based on spectrum and application.
For more information, see Flarion's white paper on mobile data communications [.pdf].
Conclusions
The physics of broadband wireless forces the designers of OFDMA to make choices, and those choices have tradeoffs. For every advantage engineered, there is always a price. The various flavors of OFDMA are about the demands of mobility and speed of handoffs, the size of the cell, spectrum range, channel sizes, and more.
Ultimately, each flavor has been optimized to meet the needs of a specific marketplace. Luckily, the technologies are flexible enough to allow growth into other segments.
In the long run, the marketplace will decide which products are made, and which products are sold.
Reprinted from ISP Planet.
QUALCOMM announces BREW 2005 Developers Conference 10/19/2005 6:43:37 PM IST
http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/news.asp?dat=68055
QUALCOMM Incorporated announced that the BREW 2005 Developers Conference - India will be held on October 26-27, at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai. The theme for the first annual conference in India is “BREW for Success,” a key focus of the event for the ways in which the BREW solution helps drive success for every member of the value chain, including operators, handset manufacturers, publishers and developers.
The Indian BREW conference will provide a unique opportunity for attendees to understand the potential of the BREW solution and gain valuable insight into the wireless data industry. The event includes a distinguished line-up of speakers from the global wireless industry who will highlight advancements and opportunities in the areas of mobile gaming, customizable user interfaces, multimedia, mobile messaging, business applications and more.
The conference will kick off on Wednesday, October 26 with technical overviews on the BREW solution. Kanwalinder Singh, president of QUALCOMM India and SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) will deliver the keynote address on Thursday, October 27 followed by presentations from international operators including KDDI in Japan, and Tata Teleservices and Reliance Infocomm Limited in India. Dr. Nimish Shrivastava, president of eMbience, will be speaking about his experiences on publishing applications worldwide. Each session has been designed to address the unique needs and challenges of the Indian market and will offer insider tips on how publishers and developers in India can be successful with the BREW solution. Specific conference tracks will include BREW for Gaming, BREW for Entertainment as well as Video and Multimedia.
“We’re excited to host our first BREW conference in India. With earnings for BREW publishers and developers worldwide topping $350 million, the BREW solution has made the promise of success a reality,” said Singh. “We hope that this year’s event will pave the way for members of the Indian wireless data industry to continue to come together and identify new ways to be successful with the BREW solution.”
Vishal Gupta, director of product technologies with QUALCOMM India added, “The BREW solution’s success with international operators such as KDDI as well as local operators Reliance and Tata has proven how the BREW solution can be leveraged to create innovative applications, successfully generate revenue and drive the delivery of wireless data worldwide. This event will provide the perfect forum for all members of the wireless value chain to come together and find new ways to leverage BREW products and services for the benefit of their business.”
QUALCOMM’s BREW solution is designed to meet the distinct and varied needs of wireless operators, handset manufacturers, publishers, developers and end users around the world. BREW products and services include: an open, extensible client platform that supports robust systems and application software including personalized and branded user interfaces for mass market devices; a J2EE™-based, modular delivery system that enables the distribution of content, applications and user interfaces to wireless devices across all air interfaces; a dedicated professional services team that supports the integration of customized implementations; and the wireless industry’s first global marketplace to support the monetization of applications and services developed in all programming languages. The BREW solution can make the wireless visions of innovative companies a reality.
GfK: Handset Sales Up
10.18.05
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=82542&WT.svl=wire1_11
LONDON -- In Q3 each of the last three years, the European cell phone market was ignited by colour, camera, and 3G. But not this year. Q305’s hottest GSM phone is a re-heated block phone from SonyEricsson, the K750i, and the top WCMDA phone is Nokia’s relatively ancient Q1 launch, the 6680. Still, at 10% sequential unit growth, Europe outpaced other big geographies in the quarter, and this global re-balancing generates a positive ASP vector for the industry.
Q3’s only significant technical development is the dominance of 90 nanometre circuitry in WCDMA baseband chipsets, which lengthens battery life by 40%. Tom Dailey, Managing Director of GfK Equity Research noted, “A phone with a dead battery is just no good to a network operator, and Nokia’s six-month jump on Qualcomm’s MSM 6250 chipset paid off: while Qualcomm doubled its WCDMA baseband share to 14%, the Nokia/Texas Instruments team still leads by a wide margin. In Q4 the 95 gram Samsung Z500 (with Qualcomm chipset) is the first 3G phone to feel like a 2G phone – it’s a proven form factor and is 50% lighter than leading 3G phones, so we think it will ramp nicely through year-end.”
European Market Not Without its Highlights…
The quarter’s other winners include SonyEricsson, who gained over 200 basis points of European GSM share and then late in the quarter launched two segment-killers: The W800 music phone, and its first 3G offering with the new Ericsson Mobile Platforms chipset, the K600 series. Elsewhere in GSM, Nokia gained 200 basis points of share in the Middle East.
WCDMA Lagged But the Structure Improved
Lacklustre WCDMA sales increased 11% sequentially, but GfK was encouraged by what was being sold, and by who was selling it. Dailey continued, “Some pivotal 2G operators have warmed to 3G, and at the same time, we’ve seen less price-driven selling. It means that after 30 months of 3G in Europe, the phones are finally good enough to pull demand.”
China GSM Still White Hot
The decline of CDMA and PHS in China continues to feed GSM sales, which are growing at nearly 30% year-over-year. The biggest beneficiary of the trend is Nokia, who has a tiny position in the former two but has surged in GSM. Lu Wang, GfK China analyst observed, “Nokia’s renewed distribution strategy has revived their fortunes, and they have been on a share-gaining streak all year.” Low-end phones did particularly well, which is terrific news for Texas Instruments, who gained significant share by via chipsets in both Nokia and Motorola’s key low-end phones.
GfK AG
Taiwan's TSMC to make 65-nanometer chips for Qualcomm - report
10.18.2005, 09:32 PM
http://www.forbes.com/business/feeds/afx/2005/10/18/afx2285119.html
TAIPEI (AFX) - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (2330.TW) is expected to win contracts from Qualcomm Inc to make handset chips, made using 65-nanometer process technology, the Economic Daily News reported, without citing sources.
TSMC will start delivering the chips for Code Division Multiple Access mobile phone handsets from the first half of 2006.
The report said TSMC also has contracts to make such chips with Altera, Texas Instruments, Freescale and Broadcom.
adela.lin@afxasia.com
al/dg/tr
T-Mobile launches world's first Flash-OFDM service
News
The Slovak Republic is the first in the world to offer commercial broadband wireless service based on Flash-OFDM technology.
By John Blau, Düsseldorf, Germany | Thursday, 20 October, 2005
http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/17DA1E2B3DAD445BCC25709F000A4AD8
Slovakia is home to what Flarion Technologies is calling the world's first commercial launch of a new broadband wireless technology designed to compete with wi-fi and 3G (third-generation) networks.
The network, based on Flarion Technologies' Flash-OFDM (fast low-latency access with seamless handoff - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) technology, went live earlier this week, according to the manufacturer which recently agreed to be acquired by Qualcomm. Service is available in selected areas of Bratislava and in 19 other cities around the country.
The operator of the network is T-Mobile Slovensko, the Slovakian subsidiary of Germany's T-Mobile International.
Flash-OFDM is a proprietary cellular broadband technology that network operators can deploy either for notebook computers of mobile users or serve as a fixed wireless access system, bridging the "last mile" to connect computers in homes and small offices. Key features include an all-IP architecture and fast speeds.
The technology, for instance, is capable of letting users traveling at 250 kilometers per hour to download data at speeds up to 1.5Mbit/s or upload at speeds up to 500kbit/s.
By comparison, although 3G technology is capable of a theoretical speed up to 2Mbit/s in a stationary position under ideal conditions, most mobile phone operators are currently offering download speeds of around 384kbit/s and upload speeds of 128kbit/s. Those operators that upgrade their 3G networks with new HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) technology initially expect to offer throughput rates of between 400kbit/s and 600kbit/s, with a peak rate of 14.4Mbit/s. Telecom New Zealand runs a different 3G technology, EV-DO, which delivers end-user speeds of up to 1Mbit/s. Telecom is considering deploying a revision of the software which should allow users much higher speeds as well.
Initially, customers of T-Mobile Slovensko will be offered mobile data speeds up to 1Mbit/s for downloading data and 256kbit/s for uploading. Siemens built the network.
Last year, Siemens struck a deal with Flarion to integrate Flash-OFDM into its new broadband wireless access systems, and collaborated with T-Mobile in the Continent's first trial of Flash-OFDM technology in The Hague, Netherlands.
Telstra Australia uses Flarion technology in some of its wireless operations, however TelstraClear has chosen Alvarion as a technology partner in the wireless space.
Qualcomm, rival continue battling over patents
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20051019-9999-1b19qcom.html
Broadcom sued again over alleged violations
By Kathryn Balint
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
October 19, 2005
In the latest salvo of an ongoing dispute, Qualcomm, the San Diego wireless technology giant and maker of cell phone chips, has filed its second lawsuit against microchip manufacturer Broadcom alleging patent infringement.
The suit, filed Friday in U.S. District Court in San Diego, accuses Irvine-based Broadcom of using two of Qualcomm's patented technologies for processing digital video without authorization.
Qualcomm spokeswoman Bertha Agia declined to comment on the suit.
Broadcom spokesman Bill Blanning said the company is not deterred by this suit or Qualcomm's previous one.
Qualcomm licenses wireless technology and makes chips for cell phones. Broadcom is developing a cell phone chip that would compete against Qualcomm's.
In May, Broadcom filed two lawsuits and a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission accusing Qualcomm of infringing on 10 of Broadcom's patents. The commission has begun investigating.
Then in July, Broadcom filed an antitrust lawsuit that said Qualcomm had created a virtual monopoly and was stifling competition in the cell phone chip industry. The suit said Qualcomm has demanded licensing terms for its patents that "are aimed to cripple Broadcom as a competitor."
Qualcomm has said all the lawsuits are without merit. It has defended its licensing practices as "lawful, fair, reasonable and pro-competitive."
Qualcomm, in turn, filed its first suit against Broadcom in July. Qualcomm, which has 3,000 patents and pending patent applications in the United States, accused Broadcom of infringing on seven patents.
Yesterday, Blanning, of Broadcom, said it is common for defendants in patent cases to respond with countersuits.
"We remain convinced that our patent claims are very strong, and we are confident of prevailing," Blanning said.
Shares of Qualcomm closed yesterday at $42.45, up 26 cents. Shares of Broadcom closed at $43.61, down 31 cents.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kathryn Balint: (619) 293-2848; kathryn.balint@uniontrib.com
War looming in 3G
Chris Jenkins and Michael Sainsbury
OCTOBER 18, 2005
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,16950544%5E15302%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
VODAFONE'S announcement that it will begin third-generation mobile services at the end of this month leaves Optus as the last major Australian carrier to declare its 3G hand.
With Optus promising to take its Canberra-only service to Sydney and Melbourne by Christmas, the stage is set for full-scale 3G battles between Australia's mobile heavyweights.
Vodafone said its 3G would be available in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and major airports by October 31, with the Gold Cost and Brisbane to come on board in March. Adelaide and Perth would follow in July.
Six handsets from suppliers including Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and Sony Ericsson would be available at launch, along with a 3G datacard for laptops. Pricing was not announced.
Vodafone was finalising termination agreements to allow video calls to any of the 3G networks, with technical aspects of inter-network video calls already settled, a Vodafone spokesman said.
Vodafone marketing chief John Casey said the company's international experience gave it an advantage over other third-generation mobile operators.
"We have everything we have learned globally over the past three years and built it into our new Australian 3G network," he said.
With the competition hotting up, 3G carriers have already begun the scramble to secure subscribers, with all new entrants keen to peg back the lead established by Hutchison's 3, which began operations in April 2003. Hutchison claims more than 500,000 subscribers on its 3 network.
Vodafone has already revealed plans to revive handset subsidies for 3G phones, and Hutchison has been spruiking music downloads and photo kiosks.
From next month, Telstra will give away a Bluetooth-equipped Hewlett-Packard photo printer with mobiles that have 1-megapixel or better cameras, Telstra Pioneer group marketing chief Mike Robey said.
Telstra would also have music downloads available by Christmas.
Earlier this year, Vodafone confirmed it would begin offering "access controlled" services, including adult material, from next year.
Despite years of hype about the potential of services such as video calls, news clips and other web-like content over 3G, local pioneer Hutchison's 3 showed that capped-price voice plans were the way to make fast inroads into other carriers' subscriber bases.
Telstra and 3 have made consumer content the focus of their WCDMA-based 3G services, but Gartner analyst Robin Simpson said he expected Vodafone to use capped plans to make a big push for the small business market.
Despite being relatively big spenders, SME customers were not well serviced by carriers, he said.
"Small businesses aren't consumers. They don't just have one phone. Everyone appears to be waking up to that, but Vodafone appears to be further down the track than most," Mr Simpson said.
Optus also is planning to provide 3G for corporates before tackling the consumer segment, a spokeswoman said.
"3G will play an integral role in building our corporate business market share. Exciting and compelling products for consumers will follow," she said.
Also aimed at the business user, laptop cards are shaping as a key battleground for 3G carriers.
In its launch announcement, Vodafone said it would play "aggressively" in the space, which is already being contested by Telstra's EV-DO-based Wireless Broadband, Hutchison's 3 and Personal Broadband's iBurst.
There are signs the segment is already hotting up, Telstra claiming 30,000 EV-DO users, including a headline laptop card deal for more than 2000 users at accountant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Sydney wireless internet service provider Unwired joined the laptop card battle yesterday. Chief executive David Spence said the card-based service would play a large part in the company's future.
The increased competition could lead to mobile data prices falling from as much as twice the price of an equivalent ADSL plan, increasing uptake in business, Gartner's Mr Simpson said.
Price cuts would not have to be great to encourage take-up, Mr Simpson said. Miserly download limits were an area ripe for competition.
The focus is on business, but the carriers remain very keen to push 3G content to consumers. Vodafone will
migrate its Live-branded service to 3G, and Optus plans to use its relationship with internet heavyweight ninemsn.
Optus would offer a new portal and an enhanced interface later this year, a spokeswoman said.
Telstra's Mike Robey said take-up of the company's web-like i-mode service on 3G had been slow because there was only one compatible handset.
"But on 2G it's going gangbusters," he said, and despite more players entering the 3G market, price competition may not increase.
"I don't think price competition is axiomatic. It is about services."
Telstra's initial 3G experience was that data use dropped sharply after the initial free introductory period, but the remaining usage was several times higher than on 2G services.
Usage had doubled on the past year even on the much-maligned Wireless Applications Protocol, Mr Robey said.
Hutchison had also noted growth in data usage, chief executive Kevin Russell said.
Of the more than 500,000 users on 3, 40 per cent were regular subscribers to at least one data services, he said.
That put the company way ahead of its rivals, he said.
"If we can keep at that level we will be very happy," he said.
Data services still remained a niche area "very dependent on the demographic", Mr Simpson said.
"It is going to be a very slow-growth thing. The bottom line on a 3G network is that you have to fill it up to get the cost efficiencies. We are going to see some pricing stuff, we are going to see some handset subsidies. Content will help a bit, but it's not the killer application. The killer application is still voice. At the end of the day it's going to be about bundling and pricing and capped call plans."
The Australian
Intellectual property drives business value
By FRANK SZIVOS
http://www.fairfieldcbj.com/current_issue/101705frop06.html
You often can't see it or touch it, but intellectual property (IP) might be a company's most valuable asset. Within the last 25 years, IPs (patents, trademarks and copyrights) have emerged as the primary driver of corporate assets.
The Association for Corporate Growth-Connecticut (ACG-CT) and Licensing Executive Society (LES), co-hosted a recent forum at the Millbrook Club in Greenwich, focusing the power of intellectual property in private equity deals. ACG-CT is a global association of professionals involved in corporate growth, development and mergers and acquisitions, while LES is a professional society for professionals engaged in development, manufacture, use and marketing of IP.
Guest panelist James Malackowski, president and chief executive officer of Ocean Tomo, an intellectual capital bank specializing in IP investment issues, said the time is ripe for early stage companies to profit from the importance of IP assets.
"For the U.S. economy, the shift from manufacturing to service is all but complete," Malackowski said. "We have now entered a new phase of economic development where value is captured through IP. Emerging business must have a thorough understanding and recognition of IP as a leading-asset class responsible for significant business growth."
Malackowski pointed out that investors are attracted to companies with IP assets. Research done by Ocean Tomo based in Chicago, has shown that investments in companies with strong intellectual property have a significantly greater chance of raising additional capital and offer half the risk of default. He predicted that investors will eventually hold portfolios of IP assets, similar to having a portfolio of stocks and bonds.
Panel member Emmett Murtha, president, Fairfield Resources International, services clients interested in developing and leveraging intellectual assets. The former director of licensing at IBM, noted that many companies sell off licensing rights to generate significant income. For example, IBM researchers perfected a laser eye surgery technique that it sold for $15 million.
"IBM was able to realize a nice piece of change," Murtha said. "And the company that purchased the IP rights did it so no one could compete and control the market."
Despite IBM's success, many companies have little or no clue about IP assets, often undervaluing or mismanaging them, Murtha said. Consider that:
+ Fewer than 3 percent of patents generate royalty income.
+ The Harvard Business Review reported that more than $1 trillion annually is wasted in patent assets. Failing to harness the power of IP is equally as negligent as failing to assign value to a company's IP portfolio.
+ Ernst & Young reports that patent licensing alone should soar from the $110 billion it generated in revenue in 2000 to $500 billion by 2015.
+ Qualcomm has generated as much as $430 million in licensing revenue in recent quarters while IBM has consistently brought in between $1.5 billion and $2.0 billion annually in licensing royalties.
Of course, mismanaging IPs presents other potential pitfalls. Companies that are negligent about IP rights can face a loss of patents, allegations of patent infringement and reserving enormous sums of money. There are plenty of examples of such problems. For instance:
+ Pfizer lost its patent for Viagra in China.
+ Brody Berman Associates estimates that the average cost of patent litigation is $2.5 million.
+ Research in Motion has reserved $100 million in view of its ongoing litigation
Robert D'Loren, president and CEO of UCC Capital Corp. and another panel member, noted that in the 21st century companies must realize that the power of the Internet that empowers consumers and the emergence of a world economy has dramatically changed the complexion of company assets and increased the value of IP.
"Remember that two years ago, 90 percent of home furnishings were produced here. Now, 90 percent of home furnishings are produced in China," D'Loren said. "The picture has changed incredibly. This is why intellectual property is so important." s
TechFaith: A Firm Grip On Handset Design
TechFaith's models are all over China -- and, increasingly, the world
October 24, 2005
http://yahoo.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_43/b3956086.htm
Like so many other young Chinese entrepreneurs, D.F. Dong could practically smell the opportunity before him. As a sales exec at Motorola Inc. (MOT ) in Beijing three years ago, he saw Chinese cell-phone makers on the rise, but he found their handset designs uninspiring.
So in July, 2002, he persuaded 13 designers and engineers from Motorola to quit and set up China TechFaith Wireless Communication Technology Ltd. (CNTF ), a shop that would develop ready-to-build phone designs for the legions of domestic players joining the fray. "Chinese branding was getting stronger, but the research and development was mostly imported from Korea," says Dong, now 34 and chairman of TechFaith. "I knew I could make money with an R&D company."
There's little doubt that the opportunity was there. By the end of 2002, Dong had signed up three Chinese companies and had 100 people working for him. Today, TechFaith employs 1,800 designers and hardware and software engineers, occupying four floors of an old TV factory in a grubby industrial district near Beijing's Fourth Ring Road. The company has developed more than 100 handset designs for 9 of the top 10 Chinese manufacturers as well as Japan's NEC (NIPNY ), Kyocera (KYO ), and Mitsubishi. While many of TechFaith's phones are bare-bones models, the company has also made handsets that play videos and MP3 songs, take photos with 3-megapixel cameras, and include the latest third-generation (3G) technology. Profits, meanwhile, are expected to jump to nearly $39 million on sales of $90 million this year, up from earnings of $18 million on revenues of $47 million in 2004, according to investment bank Kaufman Brothers.
There's just one wrinkle in Dong's happy tale. After opening at $16.25 in an initial public offering on NASDAQ in May, TechFaith's share price traded sideways for three months before tumbling to a recent $9. Investors, it seems, are concerned that China's handset market is due for a shakeout, which could trim the ranks of TechFaith's customers. Another potential worry is growing competition from the 50-plus Chinese rivals that provide handset-design services.
JOINT VENTURE
Despite the stock swoon, there are plenty of believers in the TechFaith story. Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM ) and Intel Corp. (INTC ) own stakes in the company. And TechFaith and NEC Corp. have a joint venture that last year designed about 20 phones for China and is now developing models -- including 3G handsets -- for international markets. "TechFaith is the leading design house in China in terms of hardware development," Koji Yamasaki, an NEC senior general manager, wrote in an e-mail interview. Kaufman Brothers notes that while other independent Chinese handset designers have so far made only GSM phones (the largest global standard), TechFaith also uses Qualcomm's CDMA technology and is far ahead in 3G. Kaufman analyst Brian White says TechFaith has twice as many engineers as its nearest competitor -- paid $1,000 a month on average, about 10% of what engineers get in the U.S. And, he adds, the company's operating margins of 46% are among the best in the business. "The future for TechFaith is bright," White says.
Dong, meanwhile, says he's not concerned about flagging sales at Chinese cell-phone makers. "If they're losing money, they'll have to outsource to us," he says. But he knows he must expand beyond China to keep growing. Today 70% of Techfaith's sales are to NEC and other non-Chinese customers, although much of that work is on handsets destined for China. So the company is negotiating for design jobs from four of the world's top six mobile-phone makers and this year is opening sales offices in Japan and the U.S. If Dong can successfully break into international markets, TechFaith's future may be bright indeed.
QCOM predicts phone will be person’s only computer
Etre 2005 But when that comes, so
By Mike Magee in Athens: Monday 17 October 2005, 10:23
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26982
QUALCOMM’S chairman Irwin Jacobs said today that today’s and tomorrow’s phones and PDA matched the power of a Pentium III PC just a few years ago.
And he forecast a time when people wouldn’t have more than one computer, and that computer would be a mobile phone.
More and more capabilities of the chips in a handset are being used for GPS, for cameras, for media, and for supporting DVD style video. And that will grow in the future, he said.
"The key is making a handset indispensable, " he said. If you compare a phone of today with a PC of a few years ago, the memory and processing power is equivalent.to a Pentium III running at 550MHz, he said.
While the storage capabilities of a phone versus a computer aren’t quite there yet, he said that would change in time as Moore’s Law kicked in to the equation.
Other higher capacities of bandwidth in the future would help to shift the movement towards mobile phones rather than PCs. Games, video, and the rest were all eminently suitable for the mobile phone.
We’re not typing this on a mobile phone, however. It’s still a little too small for our clunky fingers and the screen size yet isn’t big enough. And when the screen is big enough and the keyboard is good enough, what difference will there be between that kind of mobile phone and a thin and light PC, the type we’re using?
If such things do arrive, we probably won’t care that much whether it’s got an Intel chip, an AMD chip or any other kind of chip, just as long as it lets us communicate successfully.
Larger screens with lower power consumption and the ability to view full colour in broad daylight were on the way, and downloadable interfaces for graphics user interfaces.
Jacobs said that one problem was loading the cellular networks but it was licensing high power channels to partially overcome these problems. Most metropolitan districts in the US would be able to supply video on demand by the next of year, said Jacobs.
Intel has made little progress, said Jacobs, but has made great effort to stay in the market, particularly with WiMax. CDMA was able to break into a world that was TDMA by having a significant capacity advantage. If you come in with a new technology, it's unclear where that opening may be, said Jacobs.
We used this notebook to call around when we were at Computex in Taipei earlier this year, using wi-fi and Skype and a price that thrashes the mobile phone tariffs. What price mobile phones then? Or notebook computers when they practically do the same?
Cellular companies find niche in sports marketing
Sprint joins with NFL, NASCAR to give fans update and analysis
By Childs Walker
Sun reporter
Originally published October 15, 2005
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-bz.sp.cellular15oct15,1,3962203.story?track=rss&ctrack=1&....
Cell phones may be the next frontier in sports media.
And you thought they existed only so that your spouse could tell you to stop at the grocery on the way home.
Fans have been able to check scores and statistics on their phones for years, but companies such as Sprint Nextel are taking that notion to another realm in partnership with the NFL, NASCAR and ESPN.
Sprint signed a five-year, $600 million sponsorship deal with the NFL this summer and recently announced its "NFL Mobile" package. For $5.99 a month, Sprint customers can access game highlights, fantasy football analysis and programs from the NFL Network. Sprint also provides NASCAR content to its customers as part of its sponsorship deal with the auto-racing circuit.
ESPN, meanwhile, plans to launch its own cell service, ESPN Mobile, for the approaching holiday season. Customers will be able to get updates on their favorite teams and manage their ESPN fantasy teams through black and red phones bearing the network's logo. ESPN will use Sprint's network to distribute its content. "Certainly, I think cell phones are going to become launching pads for people for all kinds of things," said Steve Gaffney, director of sports marketing for Sprint.
"And sports is at the core of our marketing plans," Gaffney added.
Such content - video or data - remains a small part (about 7 percent) of the way wireless phone companies make money. But Sprint, with its large NFL and NASCAR deals, is betting that will change.
"I think they understand that part of the way to recoup their investments is to get people to use their cell phones for more than just voice," said Linda Barrabee, an analyst for the Yankee Group, a Boston-based financial consultant.
The major cell companies already deliver broadcast and video content over their phones.
Sprint and Cingular offer a live broadcast service called MobiTV that features programming from MSNBC and Fox Sports, among others.
Sprint and Verizon Wireless also offer on-demand video clips from news and entertainment programs. Verizon's V-Cast also features sports content including clips of post-game interviews, highlights and fantasy updates.
Industry experts estimate that about 500,000 Americans subscribe to such services, but they see several impediments to wider use.
The screen surface is small, and at 10 to 15 frames a second, images appear about half as fast as on regular television, creating a stilted effect.
That problem may soon vanish, however. Qualcomm has already demonstrated a service called MediaFlo that produces television at regular speed on cell phones. Sprint plans to roll out new phones that will show video at speeds near those on broadcast television.
Cell companies must also lower prices for phones that can handle video (they were costing $250 and higher but have recently dropped to less than $100) and educate potential buyers about the new entertainment products, Barrabee said.
The NFL kept a close eye on the changes in cell phones. League officials were excited not only about the millions in sponsorship dollars available from companies like Sprint but also about spreading league content to new forums.
The NFL sits in the enviable position of owning a product everyone wants. That means the league can piggyback onto technological trends without having to invest in creating new products.
"Where it's going, nobody knows, but you'd have to have your head in the sand to not understand that media is being consumed in different ways in this country," said Brian Rolapp, the league's director of new media.
It's not clear whether the NFL wants its games broadcast widely over cell phones. For now, league officials view phones more as vessels for fans to check highlights and stats during short gaps in their days.
Under the league's next television deal, which lasts through 2011, games carried on Fox, CBS and NBC will not be broadcast on cell phones. ESPN will be allowed to broadcast Monday Night games on ESPNMobile under its deal.
The lack of live games is fine with Sprint. "It's like snack food," Gaffney said. "We want to provide the best little bits and pieces, but if you want the main course, you go home and watch the game on TV."
Barrabee agreed, saying, "People aren't going to turn their phones on and watch an hour at a time."
Gaffney said Sprint has cast its lot with the NFL and NASCAR because the leagues deliver the most consistently high ratings in sports and because customers of each show a propensity to buy sponsoring products.
"You're talking about two of the largest fan bases and probably the most rabid fan bases in the United States," he said.
Barrabee said it's too early to know if the costly NFL deal will pay off for Sprint: "It's going to be about how well they execute and get consumers interested in buying their new products," she said."But it's definitely a good brand to associate with."
childs.walker@baltsun.com
The Winding Road to Wireless Broadband
October 14, 2005 7:52AM
Whereas 3G is now a viable option for many enterprises, WiMax is not. Although it's often portrayed as a "super-Wi-Fi" technology that creates citywide hot zones, most users won't access WiMax via cards in their notebooks as they do with 802.11b. WiMax is really an infrastructure technology, like DSL or cable modem service.
For detail, see link:
http://www.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=03200000QITC
High-Tech Leaders Urge Congress to Finalize DTV Transition Now; Legislation to Free Spectrum for Wireless Broadband, Public Safety Endorsed by CEOs of Software, Telecom Companies
October 14, 2005 10:30 AM US Eastern Timezone
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20051014005....
WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 14, 2005--With Congressional action to mark up DTV legislation approaching rapidly, 31 CEOs and corporate presidents of leading U.S. high-tech companies are calling on the House and Senate Commerce Committees to enact a "hard date" now for the successful conclusion of the transition from analog to digital television.
Among the leaders signing the letter, which the High Tech DTV Coalition sent to every member of Congress, are: Alcatel North America President and CEO Hubert de Pesquidoux, Aloha Partners President and CEO Charles Townsend, AT&T Chairman and CEO David Dorman, Cisco Systems President and CEO John Chambers, Dell President and CEO Kevin Rollins, Intel Corporation Chairman Craig R. Barrett, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, QUALCOMM CEO Paul E. Jacobs, Texas Instruments President and CEO Richard K. Templeton, and T-Mobile USA President and CEO Robert Dotson.
"The completion of the DTV transition will free up spectrum that will provide tremendous opportunities to promote growth in the United States economy," the CEOs wrote. "We encourage you to pass legislation that would complete the transition at the earliest possible date, but in no event later than January 1, 2009."
The October 12, 2005 letter cited the estimated 1.2 million jobs that would result from extending broadband access to all Americans. The letter stressed the economic benefits of using the newly freed spectrum resulting from the transition to extend broadband Internet access and next-generation mobile services to all Americans. "New and innovative technologies that will help meet the goal of universal, affordable broadband access are already being developed and readied for early deployment in this spectrum," they said. The CEOs also noted the benefits to the country of releasing spectrum for public safety communications upgrades, as recommended by the 9/11 Commission.
"These CEOs, who are leading their companies in wireless innovation, underscore the need for Congress to quickly enact a hard date completing the DTV transition," said High Tech DTV Coalition Executive Director Janice Obuchowski. "We applaud the efforts of the House and Senate committee leadership to move rapidly toward legislation that will bring consumer and homeland security benefits to Americans and put this spectrum to its highest and best use."
The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has scheduled a mark-up next week of legislation to set a hard date for completing the DTV transition. Action is also pending in the House of Representatives, where Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) is drafting hard-date legislation.
Jim, thanks for the interesting post on Media Flo and DVB-H; and also for your confirmation of the QCOM Chipset inside Toshiba 903T GPS worldphone.
Vodafone adds Toshiba 903T GPS worldphone
Friday October 14, 2005 8:54 AM EST - By: Ritwik Sinha
Source: engadget
http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/340/C4840/
Continuing with its strong tradition of making frequent additions to its handset offering line, Vodafone has now come out with the Toshiba 903T GPS phone. This is much on the expected lines as the addition of this handset has been talked about in the news for the past couple of months. The new addition is a 3G handset that will support GPS services both in Japan as well as rest of the world.
Toshiba’s 903T GPS handset will be particularly used by Vodafone for its new high-end NAVI service that also offers you assistance in navigation enquiries, like providing you with route related information. The phone has a 2.4-inch 240 x 320 display screen where you can search different maps to find the way to your desired destination.
The phone boasts of a 64MB memory card and is also offering a 1.92 megapixel built-in camera.
Samsung's positive outlook lift Qualcomm this morning, IMO.
Symbol Time* Trade* Change* After Hrs Chg* Bid* Ask*
QCOM 8:46AM ET 42.21 +0.51 (1.22%) N/A 42.16 42.26
SKorea's Samsung Elec says Q4 outlook positive on strong global IT demand
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=5434395&subject=companies&action=artic....
Article layout: raw
SEOUL (AFX) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said it expects to continue achieving solid results in the fourth quarter, backed by robust worldwide demand for most of its major products, including chips, LCD products and handsets.
"Samsung Electronics anticipates positive fourth-quarter results as demand for IT products tends to surge in the year end period," investor relations head Chu Woo-Sok said.
The semiconductor business is expected to enjoy a surge in demand for chips in the fourth quarter, driven by higher sales of PCs and mobile equipment, which should compensate for expected weakness in chip prices.
DRAM chip prices are seen dropping less than five pct by the end of this year, it said.
The company noted that its successful migration to finer process technologies in both DRAM and NAND Flash products will continue to help reduce manufacturing costs and boost profitability.
Samsung currently produces DRAM chips on the 80 nanometer and 90nm processes, and the company has recently finished developing a 512Mbit DDR2 memory device on a 70 nm process.
Yields per wafer at 70 nm will be 100 pct higher than those using 90 nm technology.
In the LCD business, Samsung expects global demand to grow 7 pct in the fourth quarter from the third quarter on seasonal sales of TVs, notebook computers, and computer monitors. As a result, tight supply conditions will continue.
Sales of its large panels are expected to expand by nine pct from the third quarter to 13.1 mln sheets in the fourth quarter, with TV panels surging 29 pct and notebook panels jumping 21 pct.
The full ramp-up of S-LCD, a joint venture with Sony Corp, will help Samsung secure higher global market share and further strengthen its price competitiveness in large TV panels 32 inches and above.
Fourth-quarter handset sales are expected to remain similar to the third quarter, even with the usual year-end inventory write-offs.
Samsung upgraded its forecast of this year's global handset market to 760 mln units from 720 mln, citing sharper-than-expected growth in replacement demand in Europe and North America, where third-generation wireless services are becoming popular.
In order to cope with an increasingly competitive global handset market, especially at the low-end to medium-priced segment. Samsung said that it will continue to focus on the high-end, premium handset sector.
The company expects stronger average selling prices in the fourth quarter with the launch of new premium products such as D600 and 3G phones.
The digital media business is expected to benefit from strong seasonal demand, accelerated by a recovery in domestic consumption, it said.
For the home appliance division, the company said that it will expand the output at its overseas operations to improve profitability.
(1 usd = 1,047 won)
eunkyung.seo@xinhuafinance.com
seo/tr
Samsung Electronics Expects 1st Profit Rise in 5 Qtrs (Update1) Listen
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a2uk.wCJiVrM
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Samsung Electronics Co., Asia's biggest maker of semiconductors and mobile phones, forecast its first profit increase in five quarters, citing a rebound in prices of liquid-crystal displays and mobile phones.
A shortage of LCD television panels, higher handset prices, and ``strong'' chip demand will push up net income in the fourth quarter, Chu Woo Sik, head of investor relations at the Suwon, South Korea-based company said during a conference call today. Third-quarter net income fell 30 percent from a year ago to 1.9 trillion won ($1.8 billion), in line with estimates.
The forecast by Asia's largest electronics maker by market value may help ease investor concern that prices of electronic goods will fall further, after disappointing results from LG.Philips LCD Co. and Apple Computer Inc. Samsung also raised its global handset shipments for 2005, ahead of earnings from bigger rivals Nokia Oyj and Motorola Inc. next week.
``Samsung's optimism is a relief,'' said Lee Seung Mun, who helps manage $1.6 billion at Midas Asset Management Ltd. in Seoul. ``Especially with LCDs and LG.Philips, there was a lot of concern out there in the market.''
Shares of Samsung rose as much as 1.8 percent after the announcement and traded 1,000 won higher at 563,000 won at 2:02 p.m. on the Korea stock exchange. The stock has risen 24 percent this year, against a 33 percent gain in the Kospi index.
`Even Better'
Profit and sales in the fourth quarter from the chip, LCD and telecommunication businesses will be ``even better'' than in the third quarter, Samsung's Chu said.
The net income result was in line with the median estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Operating profit fell 22 percent to 2.1 trillion won from a year earlier, while sales rose 1.4 percent to 14.5 trillion won. The company was projected to report operating profit of 2.1 trillion won and revenue of 14.7 trillion won, according to the survey.
``Samsung is way ahead of its competitors, and is generating steady profit as increasing shipments and cost-cutting efforts offset price declines,'' said Lee Kun Hak, who helps manages the equivalent of $600 million at CJ Asset Management Co. in Seoul. ``The outlook in the fourth quarter looks positive.''
Chief Executive Yun Jong Yong, 61, said last month that he expects Samsung's full-year profit to fall as much as 20 percent from last year's record 10.8 trillion won, when the company earned more than Microsoft Corp., because of lower product prices.
``The numbers are good,'' said Kishore Suratkal, head of technology research in Asia at Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong ``We are actually forecasting a rebound for Samsung across the board.''
LCD Shortage
Samsung said net income fell, partly because of a $200 million charge from the U.S. government for price-fixing on chips. After setting aside $100 million in provisions last year for the case, Samsung yesterday agreed to pay $300 million, the second- largest criminal antitrust fine in U.S. history, for its role in a global scheme to fix prices of computer memory chips.
Shipments of LCDs rose 21 percent in the quarter just ended from the previous three months. Samsung, the world's second- largest LCD maker, said demand for screens will rise 7 percent in the current quarter, leading to a shortage of panels used in televisions that may last until the third quarter of 2006. The company expects to sell 13.1 million LCDs, measuring at least 10- inches diagonally, this quarter, it said.
Operating profit from liquid-crystal displays in the quarter just ended unexpectedly rose 30 percent from a year earlier to 300 billion, while sales from the division rose 41 percent to 2.7 trillion won. The results from the business beat the operating profit of 204 billion won and sales of 2.5 trillion won projected by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Mobile Phones
The results are a contrast to LG.Philips, which on Oct. 11 reported an inventory buildup for some panels and forecast average prices to fall during the fourth quarter, triggering declines of LCD makers' shares across Asia the following day.
Samsung, the world's third-largest mobile phone maker after Nokia and Motorola, said operating profit from telecommunications fell 10 percent to 550 billion won, while sales dropped 5 percent to 4.6 trillion won. Profit and sales fell short of the operating profit of 608 billion won and sales of 5 trillion won median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
Handset shipments rose 10 percent to 26.8 million units in the quarter, with profit margins rising to about 13 percent from about 12 percent in the second quarter, Chu said.
Fourth-quarter shipments, which usually fall from the third quarter because of inventory adjustments, will probably be similar to those of the third quarter and average handset prices will rise, Chu said. Samsung's handset profit margins will probably have a ``sharp'' rise in the first quarter of next year, the company said.
`Upside'
``A profit margin recovery in the LCD and telecommunication businesses will be the pillars of growth,'' said Isaho Nakasho, who oversees $40 million in Asian shares, including Samsung's stock, at Fuji Investment Management Co. in Tokyo. ``Samsung's stock still has about 10 to 15 percent upside from here.''
Samsung, the world's second-largest chipmaker after Intel Corp., said income from semiconductors fell 31 percent to 1.35 trillion won. Sales fell 3 percent to 4.6 trillion won, shy of the record that division President Hwang Chang Gyu predicted last month. Operating income and sales were in line with analysts' estimates.
Chip Prices
Samsung forecast fourth-quarter prices of computer chips known as dynamic random access memory to fall as much as 5 percent from the third quarter, when they dropped 3 percent, amid ``strong'' demand, Vice President Kim Il Ung said during the conference call.
Fourth-quarter prices of Nand flash memory used in products such as Apple's line of iPod music players, will probably fall about 20 percent from the third quarter, less than the 30 percent decline the company had projected in July, as the shortage of the product will probably last another two quarters, Kim said.
Samsung's chip profit decline exceeded that of smaller rival Hynix Semiconductor Inc., which yesterday reported third-quarter net income fell 3.5 percent. Hynix Chief Financial officer Chung Hyung Ryang yesterday said the company expects fourth-quarter DRAM prices to be ``stable to slightly down'' from the third quarter.
Samsung's 2005 capital spending may exceed the 10.27 trillion won budget after the company spent 85 percent of it chip budget, Chu said. Next year's overall spending will probably be similar to what the company invests this year, Chu said.
(Samsung's earnings conference call started at 10 a.m., Seoul time, and can be accessed at {LIVE <GO>}, or at http://www.samsung.com/AboutSAMSUNG/InvestorRelations )
To contact the reporter on this story:
Young-Sam Cho in Seoul at ycho2@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: October 14, 2005 01:02 EDT
Three Picks In Handsets For A Strong U.S. Market
Ed Lin, 10.13.05, 12:34 PM ET
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2005/10/13/handsets-wireless-telecommunications-1013markets06.html?par...
SG Cowen analyst Christin Armacost said a third-quarter survey of survey of U.S. wireless retailers reinforces a "positive view on continued strength in overall handset demand."
In a research note, Armacost said survey results are positive for Brightpoint (nasdaq: CELL - news - people ), Qualcomm (nasdaq: QCOM - news - people ) and Motorola (nyse: MOT - news - people ), "all of which benefit from continued strength in the U.S. market and share shifts in their favor."
Total activations, including new and replacement accounts, rose 5% quarter over quarter, compared with a 2.8% increase in the second quarter. Armacost also noted that a higher percentage of respondents reported "net insufficient inventory" in the latest survey and sees support for a 2005 forecast for 18% handset sales growth year over year worldwide. The U.S. represents 15% of the worldwide market.
Armacost said Motorola continues to lead in the U.S. with some share gains at Verizon Wireless in the quarter, building off success at Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Vodafone (nyse: VOD - news - people ). Cingular is a joint venture of SBC Communications (nyse: SBC - news - people ) and Bellsouth. T-Mobile is a unit of Deutsche Telekom (nyse: DT - news - people ).
"While we believe that share gains will drive outperformance for Motorola over the next one to two quarters, we continue to look for increased competition in the fourth quarter of 2005 and 2006," Armacost said.
Qualcomm will benefit from strength in CDMA adoption, while overall handset growth, increased outsourced logistics business, and a favorable inventory situation will boost Brightpoint.
Local and StateNews Customers of Qualcomm, the San Diego maker of chips for mobile telephones, are testing a chip that can download videos, games and other data from the Internet three times faster than its current fastest models.
Thursday, October 13, 2005 (MercuryNews.com)
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/search/search_results.htm?pubName=mercurynews&orderBy....
Qualcomm Customers Test Chip for Faster Wireless Internet Use
October 12, 2005 17:25 EDT -- Qualcomm Inc., the world's No. 2 maker of chips for mobile telephones, is having customers test a chip that can download videos, games and other data from the Internet three times faster than the current fastest models.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=conews&tkr=QCOM:US
HSDPA gets 3G up to speed
by Ian Poole
Thursday 13 October 2005
High speed downlink packet access technology is giving 3G networks the speed of CDMA systems, says Ian Poole
http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2005/10/13/36550/HSDPAgets3Guptospeed.htm
No sooner had 3G mobile phone networks started to roll out than there was the promise of even higher speeds with HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access). Using this, 3G is better able to compete with the speeds being offered...
Article Continues Below... by other cellular systems such as cdma2000 used elsewhere around the globe, and it is also better able to meet the expectations of those who have become accustomed to high data speeds offered by Wi-Fi and ADSL.
Now, after the development of the standards, operators are beginning to release information about launch dates for services. Cingular in the US announced its first HSDPA networks will be in operation in late 2005, and T mobile has announced its intention to launch services in Austria and Germany in 2006. Also mobiles are beginning to appear on the market, now that silicon manufacturers have brought their products to market.
Higher speeds
Currently the networks that are being rolled conform to the Release 99 version of the UMTS standard, and this offers a maximum data rate of 2Mbit/s, although current networks are only able to provide speeds of 384kbit/s. The following release of the standard was Release 4 and this reflected a number of updates to the network. However, it was within Release 5 of the standard that the features for HSDPA were included.
Using HSDPA the maximum capability has been raised to 14.4Mbit/s on the downlink from the base station or Node B to the mobile or user equipment (UE). Although this requires sharing between users, and it is dependent on channel usage and factors such as the radio conditions, the overall data rate achievable will be much higher. This will enable many new features to become faster and more accessible, thereby bringing higher revenue levels to the operators.
Silicon
HSDPA mobiles have just started to reach the market in advance of some of the networks going live. LG has announced a mobile using a Qualcomm chipset. However, Freescale has also brought its offerings to the market. The first was the i.300 platform which sampled in the first quarter of 2005.
It is now being shipped and used by several mobile manufacturers. This platform is being been further developed as the MXC 300. This will be sampled in the 4th quarter of 2005 and it adopts a single core modem architecture and a protocol enhancement which allows the entire protocol stack to be run on a single processor rather than using the conventional approach that splits the protocol stack across the DSP and conventional processor.
John Diehl, director and general manager, platforms division at Freescale, says: “The Freescale HSDPA platforms are delivering such a level of integration that our customers can utilise a ten times increase in data rate for less than a five per cent increase in silicon area.”
Different services require different speeds. As a result, Release 5 specifies 12 categories of downlink speeds for end user devices. This wide range of speeds gives device manufacturers more leeway to use different combinations of scheduling and tolerance to the radio channel conditions to achieve various data rates. Both the i.300 and the MXC 300 support 3.6Mbit/s (the first HSDPA category being rolled out), and it is anticipated that Category 8 (7.2Mbit/s) and category 10 (14.4Mbit/s) will be supported during 2007.
Apart from the silicon and the phones themselves, developments have been ongoing in other areas to ensure that services operate correctly when the updates to the networks are rolled out. Conformance testing is one such area. The GCF (Global Certification Forum), the body that oversees the certification for UMTS and also for GSM, will see test cases submitted for approval for HSDPA in October this year.
Aeroflex will be submitting its test cases that will be fully Release 5 compliant (pictured above). Phil Medd, product manager for Aeroflex, says: “This represents a major step forwards and has helped move forwards the introduction of the test cases in a timely fashion.”
Having the test cases available will enable the new mobiles hitting the market to be fully tested and certified prior to their release. With the complexity of 3G, and the very high customer expectations arising from the current reliable 2G services that are offered this is particularly important.
Next steps
With HSDPA now becoming a reality, the next step is HSUPA (high speed packet uplink). This enhancement, which is part of Release 6 of the standard is expected to start roll out in 2007. The release was “frozen” in March of this year, enabling developers to move ahead with their programmes knowing that only minor changes and clarifications would be made.
The introduction of HSUPA will help applications that require a more symmetric balance between the uplink and downlink. Accordingly new applications such as IMS (IP multimedia services) can be accommodated more easily. Apart from this it will have advantages for other non IMS applications, including basic functions such as transferring or emailing large files.
The upgrades to networks to provide the new high speed services can be achieve relatively easily as it is essentially a software change. In this way it is a particularly cost effective option for network operators. For the end user a new mobile is needed, although this is not a major problem as most people upgrade their mobiles relatively frequently. Accordingly it should be possible for the take up of the new services to be quite fast, allowing operators to see a return on their investment.
3 Hits 10 Million Subs
10.11.05
http://www.unstrung.com/document.asp?doc_id=82125&WT.svl=wire1_1
HONG KONG -- Hutchison Whampoa Limited ("Hutchison") today announced that, as of 7 October, the Group's 3G global customer base is over 10 million. This milestone comes after only 18 months of operation with full handset availability.
Hutchison's Group Managing Director, Mr Canning Fok said, "This important milestone confirms our Chairman Mr Li Ka-shing's remarks made at the last interim results announcement and reflects the 3 Group's continuing ability in achieving above market expectation customer take-up. More importantly, 3 Group customers have a better than market average ARPU profile in all our markets.
The Group's 3G business has established significant market shares in its largest markets and in all these markets its share of market revenues is even higher than the share measured by customer numbers. This is among other things supported by strong and growing customer take-up of the Group's mobile broadband Internet and data services, and its mobile media products.
"We are continuing to introduce new and innovative products and services in all of these areas and I am confident that we will maintain our leadership position in this industry as we move into the important Christmas market season ahead," Mr Fok added.
3 as a global brand has achieved several major developments since its launch:
3 is the first operator to launch dual mode WCDMA networks and multi-media video mobile services in the world.
3 has the fastest global network rollout in history and its network buildout for all markets continue to progress according to business plan.
Nine markets have commenced services to date (i.e. Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Sweden and the UK).
3 has already marketed more than 30 models of 3G handsets.
Over 30 million full version music clips have been downloaded over 3's networks.
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.
The Coming Mobile-Video Deluge
October 11, 2005
NEWS ANALYSIS
By Olga Kharif
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc20051011_9768_tc024.htm
As carriers gird for an expected surge in demand for TV mobile phones, many are looking to Qualcomm to deliver the goods
When Qualcomm announced plans for a network that would deliver video over mobile phones last November, analysts met the idea with more raised eyebrows than approving nods. Qualcomm (QCOM ) had built its reputation on licensing wireless technology and making cell-phone chips. The concept, dubbed MediaFLO and championed by Paul Jacobs, who later became Qualcomm's chief executive, came across as costly and too far outside the company's core areas of expertise.
Even though demand for TV over cell phones had taken off in Asia, it was still unproven in the U.S. What's more, the number of technologies for beaming video to wireless handsets was already on the rise. Investors wondered what would set MediaFLO apart -- and whether Qualcomm would ever break even on the estimated $500 million it would take to build the network.
Almost a year later, Jacobs's announcement is looking distinctly less odd. Early video services from providers Cingular Wireless and Sprint Nextel (S ) have attracted more than 500,000 subscribers, according to MobiTV, which provides TV services for both carriers.
BALLOONING BASE. Cingular has seen its video-user numbers surge with virtually no advertising. "It has been very popular, and that tells us that there's something there," says Rob Hyatt, executive director for mobile content at Atlanta-based Cingular, the largest U.S. wireless operator. Other providers, including Verizon Wireless, have joined the race to add customers intent on watching news, sports, and entertainment clips over their cell phones.
Mobile video is set to take the wireless industry by storm (see BW Online, 12/1/04 "TV Phones Prep for Prime Time"). The U.S. mobile video user base may balloon to more than 20 million by the end of 2007, up from less than 1 million today, says Albert Lin, an analyst at American Technology Research (ATR). Assuming each subscriber pays $5 a month for such services, that would translate to a $1.2 billion market. Worldwide, more than 250 million people are expected to be watching mobile video by 2010, generating some $27 billion in sales, vs. with $200 million today, according to market consultant ABI Research.
Why the meteoric rise? For starters, the technology has improved, and prices on video-capable handsets have dropped. In fact, now that some devices are available for less than $100, "adoption rates are going up like a hockey stick," says Key Sar, associate director of content programming at Verizon Wireless, the second-biggest U.S. mobile-phone carrier.
CAPACITY HOG. And, researchers say, mobile-phone subscribers are increasingly eager to watch video programming on the go. Surveys by market consultant In-Stat show that 1 in 8 consumers is interested in buying mobile-TV service. That compares with 1 in 9.4 who indicate a desire for wireless games. "Watching video on cell phones could eventually easily surpass [demand for games, ringtones, and wallpapers], to reach 100% of the population," says Cingular's Hyatt.
The demand surge will be a mixed blessing for mobile-phone operators. Providers currently transmit video -- ranging from snippets of news and movie trailers to program previews from popular channels such as CNN, MTV, Comedy Central, and ESPN -- over the same networks that transmit calls.
But in a few years, robust demand for video could hog capacity and overwhelm networks. If 40% of mobile subscribers watch just eight minutes of video a day, that would stretch network limits, according to a September report by researcher Analysys. Networks could become overloaded by as early as 2007.
What's an overburdened carrier to do? Many analysts believe service providers will be forced to use a separate, mobile-TV broadcasting network. Unlike a cellular network, a mobile-TV network would beam content one way to phones in much the same way TV programming is transmitted into homes.
"WONDERFUL DISCUSSIONS." Now, Qualcomm's MediaFLO is emerging as a leading broadcast candidate for some of the biggest operators. Sprint Nextel could become the first to commit to MediaFLO in the coming months, say analysts at investment bank Deutsche Bank. Dale Knoop, general manager of Sprint Nextel's multimedia services, admits his company is considering MediaFLO, though he wouldn't comment on which technology the company will ultimately employ.
"The interest is phenomenal, we're having wonderful discussions" with carriers, says Rob Chandhok, vice-president of engineering & market development for MediaFLO at Qualcomm, which should announce customer trials within 6 to 12 months. He wouldn't comment on specific providers. Executives at Cingular and Verizon Wireless say they're considering all technology options.
There's plenty of reason to take a long look at MediaFLO. Analysts say it may prove to be the most economical and to offer the most TV-like experience of all the technologies on offer. But there's no lack of competition.
CHANNEL SHORTAGE? Here's a look at what MediaFLO is up against: One option is to simply beef up high-speed networks. Carriers could implement a technology called multimedia broadcast & multicast service (MBMS), which effectively compresses network traffic and turns cellular towers into TV-broadcasting stations.
The beauty of MBMS is that it mostly requires only software upgrades, which could be relatively cheap compared to full-scale equipment overhauls. It's also an industrywide standard, which means that MBMS equipment will be available for many manufacturers, who would compete on price.
Still, MBMS is inferior to MediaFLO, analysts say. MBMS initially will allow carriers to broadcast only one to three TV channels, says Alastair Brydon, a co-author of the Analysys report. That might not sit well with U.S. consumers used to having 300 cable channels at their fingertips at home. By contrast, MediaFLO will offer 20 video channels. Carriers could offer more channels via MBMS, but to do so, they would need to acquire additional airwaves to transmit information over networks -- and radio spectrum doesn't come cheap.
Also, MBMS equipment may not become available until 2007, a year after MediaFLO's debut, says Brydon. By that time, mobile video might already be overwhelming networks, causing outages and fueling customer dissatisfaction.
TIME LAG. Another alternative is Digital Video Broadcasting-Handhelds (DVB-H), which is being pushed by cell-phone maker Nokia (NOK ) and its U.S. partner, Crown Castle (CCI )(see BW Online, 8/1/05, "Wireless-Tower Outfits: Rising High"). DVB-H is similar to MediaFLO in several ways. Just like Qualcomm's system, the DVB-H network operated by Crown Castle would specialize in video broadcasting. Wireless service providers will sign up to use the network and its programming for a fee. That means they will lose some control over the service. But they won't have to spend billions on costly network overhauls.
Compared with DVB-H, MediaFlo allows for a much better video experience, at a much lower cost. With DVB-H, changing a channel might take up to 10 seconds, says ATR's Lin. "That's almost by itself a show-stopper," he adds. "People are going to shun the services."
With MediaFLO, channel-surfing is near-instant. Plus, DVB-H will only allow users to view up to 10 channels. And because DVB-H will require transmitters to be densely seeded throughout a metro area, "it will cost twice as much in operating and capital costs" as MediaFLO, says Lin. MediaFLO will require only two to three transmitters to cover a whole city, Qualcomm claims.
THE RIGHT COMBO. A third option is beaming video to cell phones from satellites. But the example of South Korea, one of the first countries to widely adopt mobile TV, shows that good satellite reception requires setting up hundreds of so-called repeaters throughout cities, which can be costly. What's more, today's satellite-radio antennas are too bulky and power-hungry to fit into a slim mobile phone.
All in all, this is good news for Qualcomm. In fact, by the end of 2007, MediaFLO may command more than half of all mobile-video users, estimates Lin. The other half might be getting their video via cellular, MBMS, or DVB-H technologies, he figures.
But customers may prefer to mix and match, taking advantage of the unique possibilities offered by each technology. For example, users might call on their cellular networks to deliver video clips on demand -- a service that won't be possible on one-way broadcasting networks such as MediaFLO or MBMS. "I think there's an opportunity for different services to coexist, it's not an [either/or] decision," says Sprint Nextel's Knoop.
SPREADING THE WORD. Even with just a chunk of the market, MediaFLO, due to launch in October, 2006, could be lucrative for Qualcomm in the coming years. Qualcomm is mum on its pricing plans. But even if it charges only $1 a month per subscriber, that could add up to more than $120 million in revenue in 2007 alone. Qualcomm has announced plans to spin off the MediaFLO business into a separate company once it's established.
Qualcomm will certainly face hurdles. New technologies, such as a wireless broadband alternative called Wi-Max, could yet emerge as a threat to MediaFLO's dominance. Successful marketing and execution can have a huge impact on which technology succeeds as well. "It's not always that the obviously best technology prevails," says Bob Shallow, who heads Nokia's music and rich-media business.
And with a huge market like mobile TV at stake, carriers won't be making any hasty decisions. "I think we've got time to figure this out," says Cingular's Hyatt. "Nothing tells us we'll be so overwhelmed with demand that we've got to react within a very short period of time."
Best not to wait too long, though. The wireless video market is taking off, and carriers that don't figure out how to roll out the best services soon risk getting left behind.
Thank richbloem for reposting Da Yooper's post from SI.
KDDI adds most mobile users for 3rd month in Sept
Friday October 7, 3:39 PM
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/051007/3/28ix9.html
TOKYO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Japanese telecoms operator KDDI Corp.'s main mobile unit gained more new users on a net basis for the third straight month in September than dominant NTT DoCoMo Inc. , an industry group said on Friday.
DoCoMo, however, maintained a lead in adding new third-generation (3G) users.
Vodafone K.K., the No.3 Japanese mobile operator owned by Britain's Vodafone Group Plc , posted a small increase in customers for the fourth straight month after five months of losses, according to the Telecommunications Carriers Association, which compiles data reported by the companies.
KDDI's main au mobile unit added 165,100 new customers in September and users of its high-speed 3G service totalled 19.55 million, or 94.4 percent of its customer base.
DoCoMo followed with 124,800 net new customers. It added nearly 900,000 3G users in September, many of whom had switched from its older mobile services. It ended the month with about 34 percent of its customers on 3G.
Vodafone K.K. gained 3,300 new customers and finished the month with almost 15 million subscribers.
Tu-Ka, a former wholly owned KDDI mobile subsidiary absorbed by the parent on Oct. 1, added 1,300 subscribers, snapping a declining streak stretching back to February.
Net customer growth is calculated by subtracting customers who left a service from the absolute number of new subscribers.
The industry had a total 89.1 million subscribers in September, of which 42.7 percent were on 3G services.
Details were as follows:
NEW SUBSCRIBERS
OPERATOR JULY AUGUST SEPT TOTAL
DoCoMo 229,800 119,900 124,800 49,904,200
au (KDDI) 230,500 185,300 165,100 20,703,600
Tu-Ka (KDDI) -17,800 -12,700 1,300 3,527,500
Vodafone 18,000 3,600 3,300 14,991,500
----------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 460,400 296,300 294,500 89,126,800
NEW USERS OF THIRD-GENERATION SERVICES
OPERATOR JULY AUGUST SEPT TOTAL
DoCoMo 1,196,400 971,700 891,800 16,770,100
au (KDDI) 312,000 262,400 249,700 19,547,400
Vodafone 130,100 160,600 163,500 1,753,600
----------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 1,638,500 1,394,700 1,305,000 38,071,100
Note: Numbers are rounded. Data provided by the
Telecommunications Carriers Association
S&P POWERPICKS PORTFOLIO
By Ken Shea, Steve Biggar, and Robert Gold
OCTOBER 4, 2005
http://yahoo.businessweek.com/investor/content/oct2005/pi2005104_9698_pi071.htm
PowerPicks Pull Ahead in September
The portfolio of S&P analysts' top selections topped the S&P 500 for the month, led by stocks like ValueClick and TXU
The S&P PowerPicks 2005 portfolio -- representing S&P analysts' top picks for the year -- solidly outperformed its benchmark, the S&P 500-stock index, in September. For the month, the portfolio returned 1.36%, vs. the S&P 500's gain of 0.81%, both including dividends.
The portfolio's top gainers on the month included ValueClick (VCLK ), up 18%; TXU (TXU ), up 16%; Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNI ), up 13%; Devon Energy (DVN ), up 13%; and Qualcomm (QCOM ), also up 13%.
The members of the portfolio that fared the worst in September included Invitrogen (IVGN ), down 11%; Pacific Sunwear (PSUN ), down 10%; Commerce Bancorp (CBH ), down 9%; Waters (WAT ), down 9%; and Best Buy (BBY ), also down 9%.
Year-to-date through Sept. 30, the portfolio has generated total return of 9.4%, vs. a 2.8% return for the "500".
About the S&P PowerPicks 2005 Portfolio
The portfolio represents the collective "best ideas" of the Standard & Poor's equity research staff.
Each of the most senior 40 industry analysts on S&P's equity research staff has chosen one of the stocks they follow as the best-positioned for superior growth. The S&P PowerPicks 2005 Portfolio is diversified across all the 10 S&P economic sectors that make up the S&P 500 index.
The portfolio is a "frozen" one, meaning it will undergo no changes throughout the entire year. Its objective is to exceed the total return (capital appreciation plus dividends paid) generated by the S&P 500 index during the next 12 months.
THE S&P POWERPICKS 2005 PORTFOLIOTicker Company Mkt. Cap ($ Mln) S&P Earns & Divd Rank S&P Index STARS Dividend Yield (%) Subindustry
Consumer Discretionary
BBY Best Buy 18,290 B 500 5 0.8 Computer & Electronics Retail
GTRC Guitar Center 1,225 NR 600 5 - Specialty Stores
HET Harrah's Entertainment 6,881 B 500 5 2.1 Casinos & Gaming
LQI La Quinta 1,513 C None 5 - Hotels Resorts & Cruise Lines
NWS News Corp. 52,569 NR None 5 - Movies & Entertainment
PSUN Pacific Sunwear of California 1,647 B+ 400 5 - Apparel Retail
Consumer Staples
BF.B Brown-Forman 5,959 A 500 5 1.8 Distillers & Vintners
CHTT Chattem 717 B None 5 - Personal Products
PEP PepsiCo 84,072 A+ 500 5 1.8 Soft Drinks
WAG Walgreen Co. 39,019 A+ 500 5 0.6 Drug Retail
Energy
CVX ChevronTexaco 115,676 B+ 500 5 2.9 Integrated Oil & Gas
DVN Devon Energy 20,131 B+ 500 5 0.5 Oil & Gas Exploration & Production
NBR Nabors Industries 7,775 B 500 5 - Oil & Gas Drilling
Financials
ALL Allstate 34,654 B+ 500 5 2.2 Property & Casualty Insurance
C Citigroup 232,241 A+ 500 5 3.6 Other Diversified Financial Services
CBH Commerce Bancorp 4,956 A+ 400 5 1.2 Regional Banks
GS Goldman Sachs Group 50,723 NR 500 5 1.0 Investment Banking & Brokerage
NDE IndyMac Bancorp 2,181 B+ 400 5 4.2 Thrifts & Mortgage Finance
SPG Simon Property Group 13,770 B+ 500 5 4.2 Real Estate Investment Trusts
Health Care
COO Cooper Cos. 2,275 B 600 5 0.1 Health Care Supplies
IVGN Invitrogen 3,099 B- 400 5 - Biotechnology
KCI Kinetic Concepts 4,339 NR None 5 - Health Care Equipment
PDLI Protein Design Labs 1,731 C 400 5 - Biotechnology
WAT Waters Corp 5,638 B 500 5 - Health Care Equipment
WLP WellPoint 14,063 NR 500 5 - Managed Health Care
Industrials
ASD American Standard 8,353 B- 500 5 - Building Products
BNI Burlington Northern Santa Fe 16,932 A- 500 5 1.5 Railroads
FDX FedEx 28,563 B+ 500 5 0.3 Air Freight & Logistics
IR Ingersoll-Rand 12,816 A 500 5 1.3 Industrial Machinery
KDN Kaydon Corp 916 A- 600 5 1.5 Industrial Machinery
Information Technology
ADP Automatic Data Processing 26,523 A+ 500 5 1.2 Data Processing & Outsourced Services
DELL Dell Inc. 101,163 B+ 500 5 - Computer Hardware
EMC EMC Corp 32,158 B 500 5 - Computer Storage & Peripherals
MXIM Maxim Integrated Products 13,322 B+ 500 5 1.0 Semiconductors
MSFT Microsoft 291,467 B+ 500 5 1.2 Systems Software
QCOM Qualcomm 68,219 B 500 5 0.7 Communications Equipment
VCLK ValueClick 1,046 NR None 5 - Internet Software & Services
Materials
DOW Dow Chemical 47,592 B 500 5 2.7 Diversified Chemicals
Telecommunications Services
CTL CenturyTel 4,430 A 500 5 0.7 Integrated Telecommunication Services
Utilities
TXU TXU Corp. 18,293 B 500 5 0.8 Electric Utilities
Shea is director of Global Equity Research, Biggar is director of U.S. Equity Research and Gold is senior portfolio group analyst, for Standard & Poor's Equity Research
All of the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect the research analyst's personal views regarding any and all of the subject securities or issuers. No part of analyst compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this research report.
Standard & Poor's Regulatory Disclosure
Any advice, analysis, or recommendations contained in articles labeled "Insight from Standard & Poor's" reflect the views of Standard & Poor's, which operates separately from and independently of BusinessWeek Online. It is possible that BWOL may from time to time publish information that is not consistent with advice, analysis, or recommendations that are published by Standard & Poor's. Standard & Poor's and BusinessWeek Online are each units of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
TV-for-phone content seen as having big future
Knight Ridder - Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Chicago Tribune
By Eric Gwinn and Mike Hughlett
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story.asp?StoryId=Cq0npWeicq1bulvrwlu1pqKLmrq
CHICAGO _ Kelly Hoffman wants to make you a video star. The Austin, Texas, entrepreneur will take your funny video short _ as long it's not raunchy _ and prepare it to be viewed by teens across the nation, at no cost to you.
Hoffman's fledgling Varsity Media is not the only company searching for video clips. Media giant Sony Corp., through its AcidPlanet.com site, is running a contest for the funniest short video.
Those companies and a host of others are looking for fresh content to distribute not only on television and on the Internet, but also on video's next frontier: The mobile phone. Analysts see mobile TV, in its infancy, as a major market within a few years.
"You want to look at the type of viewing that a consumer might want a phone for," said Bill Taylor, a director of product management for Motorola Connected Home. "People will watch sports highlights or news. You might not want to watch `The Godfather' on a 3{-inch screen."
The new format's success will depend on whether entertainment companies like Sony, teamed with carriers like Verizon Wireless, are able to generate programming that phone users will be compelled to buy.
News updates, sports highlights, music videos, snippets of jokes _ this will be standard mobile phone TV fare. "Things you can easily dip in and out of and snack on," said Jessica Sandin, a mobile content analyst for Informa, a research firm in London.
Varsity Media hires teenagers to produce short soap operas, travelogues and other shows aimed at young viewers.
"Teens are responsible for influencing over $400 billion a year in consumer spending," said Hoffman, the company's chief executive. "There are 33 million teens in the U.S."
Sports entertainment giant ESPN plans to repackage much of its TV, radio and Internet material for an ESPN mobile phone to be market-tested this year. ESPN will pay Sprint Nextel to lease its network to carry sports highlights, scores and interviews to a phone made by a contract handset manufacturer.
Manish Jha, senior vice president for ESPN Mobile, says repackaging TV and Web content for the phone means resizing graphics for the small screen and using highlights with close-up shots. "On a small screen, the wide shot doesn't work."
The challenge is for "the carriers and the entertainment industry to keep things fresh," said Lindsay Notwell, executive director of Midwest marketing for Verizon Wireless, which launched a video service, V Cast, earlier this year.
Mobile TV is part of a larger transformation of television. The living room will continue playing host to the most-watched TV screen even as the personal computer increasingly becomes a video viewer.
The third screen will belong to the mobile phone. It could become to video what magazines are to print media: a portable way to get news and entertainment in a dentist's office, airport waiting area or anywhere downtime occurs.
Or as Verizon's Notwell put it, "When you are standing in line for lunch, (with mobile TV) you can kill time, instead of waiting in line annoyed."
Verizon unveiled V Cast in February on the VX8000 phone made by South Korea-based LG Electronics. It plays 15 frames per second, a rate less than broadcast television's 24 frames per second.
In a test, the video played smoothly over Verizon's new network, which has been upgraded for faster transport of video and other data. Recently, Verizon replaced the VX8000 with the LG VX8100 and added the Motorola E815.
While Verizon won't disclose how well V Cast has fared so far, a Motorola executive said the E815 _ which is available only through Verizon _ has been a hot seller. "I'm losing sales because I can't make them fast enough," said Ron Garriques, president of the wireless phone division of Schaumburg-based Motorola.
Verizon's V Cast-equipped phones cost $100 to $150, after a $50 mail-in rebate. The service costs $15 per month and includes news from CNN, sports from ESPN and weather and entertainment programming.
All of the content is delivered in snippets of 30 seconds to five minutes. It isn't live, but it's updated about 300 times daily, Notwell said. V Cast subscribers can also buy premium content for 99 cents a pop, including music videos and five-minute "mobisodes" of "24" and other TV shows.
Sprint Nextel, which launched video service in August 2004, has a different model. Subscribers pay $4 to $10 per month for a channel. The carrier offers more than 20 channels, covering news, weather, sports and entertainment.
Like Verizon, many Sprint Nextel channels offer recorded clips. Sprint Nextel's Fox News is live, while MSNBC News channels are recorded.
For the most part, Sprint Nextel service is not available on a faster network like Verizon's. But the company says it will be early in 2006.
A high-speed network is important for success, analysts say. Without it, mobile phone TV "turns into live radio with a slide show attached," said Roger Entner, a wireless analyst at Ovum, a market research firm. With it, mobile video "suddenly starts to resemble television."
Mobile video is further along in Europe, and even more so in Asia. But it's still in its nascent stages overseas too. Most European wireless carriers get at least 20 percent of their revenue from data transmission, but almost all of that comes from text messaging, not video, Sandin said.
Europe and Asia might be more amenable to mobile phone TV than the United States. That's because public transportation is much more popular for commuters in Europe and Asia _ and bus time or train time is prime time for mobile video, said Hugues de la Vergne, a wireless phone analyst for market researcher Gartner Inc.
In the United States, public transit is significant only in cities such as Chicago and New York. "Most people are behind the wheel of a car," de la Vergne said. "They don't have as much down time to occupy themselves with mobile TV."
Thus, de la Vergne sees "mixed" prospects for mobile phone television in this country.
Other observers, though, are more encouraged.
"I think there is a huge market for this," said Albert Lin, an analyst with American Technology Research. "One of the hallmarks of our time is to pay for video content," be it for satellite television, a video recorder or a ticket to a movie.
Still, mobile television will face hurdles. In the short term, Verizon's service will need more video content to keep people occupied, Lin said, and in the longer term, video must prove it can be a profit center.
If carriers can't make much money from video, they will have less incentive to offer phones with TV capabilities. Video is probably producing little if any profit for carriers today, and that must eventually change, Lin said.
He also expects that as mobile video catches on, the technology to deliver it will change. Currently, video signals move through a carrier's cellular network. But eventually, those signals will be broadcast.
Broadcast systems for mobile phones are being developed, including one project from Qualcomm that's aimed at the UHF radio band.
Why the switch to broadcast? Cellular networks are already becoming crowded with voice and data; video will hog even more space, or "spectrum," as it's called in the wireless world.
Broadcasting, on the other hand, uses spectrum much more cost effectively, analysts say.
John Bucher, a telecom stock analyst at Harris Nesbitt Burns, agreed that mobile video's future lies in broadcasting. However, wireless operators like Verizon and Sprint will likely remain the main deliverers of mobile video.
"Carriers will still be a key part of it," Bucher said. "They control the distribution of devices."
___
(c) 2005, Chicago Tribune.
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