"Race is on, but winners already known" (Linux foundation)
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The race is on, but we already know the winners

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
~ By Morgan Gillis, executive director, LiMo Foundation
| www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/FREE/724893539/1021 | July 15, 2008 - 5:59 am EDT --

A race is underway, and the whole world is watching — even though the winners have already been determined.

Major, mainstream media — BusinessWeek, Forbes, The New York Times, USA Today, etc. — are suddenly all geeked up to talk about mobile-phone software code: With so many large companies and industry consortia seeking to claim a role, which operating systems will ultimately capture the heart of the next-generation handset?

There would not be so much attention and conjecture if the stakes weren’t so high. The inevitable ramification of the business-model shakeup and operating-system jockeying that are taking place in the mobile ecosystem is no less than a second cellular revolution. Something dramatic is about to happen in the lives of mobile consumers and enterprise users everywhere — the rollout of the “real” mobile Internet experience — and the mobile industry’s coalescence around two or three broadly accepted operating systems is the critical, triggering event that will throw it into motion. This has set off a fierce race among high-profile players — LiMo Foundation, Google, Microsoft, Nokia/Symbian and others — to deliver one of the entrenched operating systems.

The outcome of the race? That’s a tough question that will be answered in terms of which operating systems yield the most inventive, important new mobile Internet application development; even many of the mobile industry’s leaders are covering their bets by investing in multiple efforts. But who will be the winners? That one’s easier. It’s the consumers and business users who are about to see their lives transformed.

The real thing

The first cellular revolution successfully brought us mobile voice and messaging, and, recently, a rudimentary Web-browsing capability has emerged. But, marred by low-grade, non-optimized features and underwhelming content (except in the world’s most advanced markets such as Japan and Korea), this contemporary mobile Internet experience has proven to be of limited appeal — almost strictly to technology aficionados.

Today’s handsets utilize very advanced hardware, with very fast processors and substantial storage capacity, and high-speed cellular networks are already in place. So what’s the holdup with the real mobile Internet?

Industry fragmentation among so many proprietary, incompatible operating systems has discouraged innovation in next-generation, optimized services. Application code must be customized for each of the disparate operating systems in use across the mobile industry, making it too costly for third-party application developers and content providers to roll out business and entertainment services tailored for the peculiarities of the mobile handset.

Conversely, industry unification around a reduced number of operating systems would allow for innovative, network-independent services to flow through to consumers. This is happening now. The number has come down from 30 or 40 to 5 or 6 front-running operating systems, and there will be more convergence — though not down to only one. The mobile industry will not allow it.

Openness is in

The mobile industry is deeply reluctant to follow the lead of the PC world and cede the heart of the device to one proprietary platform controlled by a single large party dedicated to its own business agenda.

In order to ignite the real mobile Internet, the handset operating system must mediate interoperation of diverse technologies, content and business models seeking to converge on the handset, and this cannot happen under traditional, commercial governance, which typically produces only silo-ed solutions. This realization has led to a gathering consensus within the mobile industry that closed, proprietary, in-house platforms must be replaced with industry solutions.

Even within this context, significant challenges must be overcome. Open environments have historically lacked industrial-strength governance, and two historical characteristics of the mobile industry have been significant fragmentation and a brutally tough intellectual property (IP) landscape. If a mobile operating system is to be broadly accepted, it must elegantly draw on both open-source principles and this industry’s unique, real-world requirements.

Against this backdrop of complex factors has formed today’s race to deliver the winning next-generation handset operating systems.

Conclusion

Business as usual has prevented the mobile industry from bringing the mobile Internet to life for mass consumer and business users, and this is why value-system restructuring within the mobile ecosystem is not optional. Indeed, the industry’s tectonic plates are shifting. Companies are coming together in a revolutionary manner in which they simultaneously collaborate and compete, in order to spur innovation and bring about the next-generation mobile Internet experience.

Today, the mobile industry’s global followers are asking, with which two or three operating systems will the real mobile Internet be enabled? That question is premised on an answer — coalescence on a few handset operating systems, triggering a second cellular revolution — that mass common business users and consumers have been waiting for.
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Morgan Gillis is executive director of LiMo Foundation (http://www.limofoundation.org), a non-profit industry consortium dedicated to creating the first truly open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices. Write to Morgan at execdirector@limofoundation.org . Write to RCR Wireless News at rcrwebhelp@crain.com .

"Chinese Telecom: Who Wins, Who Loses?" (BW)
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Chinese Telecom: Who Wins, Who Loses?
A restructuring will shift power among Chinese operators, but will foreign players become full participants in the world's largest market?
~ Chi-Chu Tschang | www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2008/gb2008079_485740.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_global+business | China July 9, 2008, 7:20AM EST --

As China's telecom restructuring gathers steam, there is one big question looming for the world's global telecom players: Will China's long-sought-after telecommunications market finally open to the likes of Vodafone (VOD), Telefonica, and SK Telecom, all of which have been limited to minority stakes of under 7% in Chinese telecom operators?

The restructuring looks certain to shift power among the Chinese players. The country's dominant cell-phone operator, China Mobile (CHL), will see stronger competition after China's six telephone operators are merged into three supercarriers. China Mobile will swallow China Railway Communications and take over its fixed-line business.

The country's largest fixed-line operator, China Telecom, will acquire China Unicom's (CHU) CDMA operations and move into the mobile-phone business (BusinessWeek.com, 6/3/08). Weaker rivals China Unicom and China Netcom will become more formidable competitors after their merger (BusinessWeek, 6/2/08).

China Mobile Likely to Remain Top Dog
However, Jonathan Dharmapalan, head of Ernst & Young's Global Telecommunications Center in Beijing, isn't predicting that China Mobile will be unseated from its top spot in the market anytime soon. "China Mobile is a very strong, very capable, well-managed operation," he says. "They will see two stronger competitors in the marketplace, but they've always shown themselves to be able to navigate through that. They do have a head start."

But what does it mean for foreign telecom operators? For the past couple years, China's telecom players have put their investment plans on hold, while China's bureaucrats have bickered over the telecom restructuring plan. Now that it is finally taking shape, network equipment manufacturers like ZTE, Huawei, and Ericsson (ERIC), and handset manufacturers like Nokia (NOK) and Motorola (MOT) are expecting a flood of new orders.

"The restructuring of telecommunication will be the good opportunity for not only China operating companies but also foreign operators who want to invest," says Lee Suk Hwan, CEO of SK Telecom (China) and a member of China Unicom's board of directors who voted in favor of the restructuring. "Before restructuring, there were so many uncertainties."

No Guarantees of Increased Ownership
Before the restructuring, Spain's largest telecom operator, Telefonica, had a 5% stake in China Netcom (BusinessWeek.com, 6/19/08). Telefonica now says it hopes to raise its stake in the merged China Unicom-China Netcom entity to 10% within the next 18 months. However, there's no guarantee it will actually happen. In 2000, Vodafone then-CEO Chris Gent said he wanted to raise the British telecom giant's stake in China Mobile to 20% in four or five years' time. Today, Vodafone's stake in China Mobile is a paltry 3.23%.

That's largely because China has been notoriously reluctant to loosen its grip on what it considers its strategic telecom sector. When China joined the World Trade Organization, it pledged to allow up to 49% foreign investment into the telecom industry by 2007. But as of today, no foreign strategic investor in China Mobile, China Netcom, and China Unicom is anywhere near that ceiling. After China Unicom and China Netcom merge, SK Telecom and Telefonica will see their stakes in the new company shrink to 3.8% and 2.1%, respectively. "Right now, the [telecom] services market is still a young market for China. It's still expanding rapidly. And it's unlikely the authorities would want to open that up to foreign participation while it's still in such a growth phase," says Peter Lovelock, deputy director of Telecommunications Research Project Corporate, a Singapore-based telecom consulting company.

Among China's top four telecom carriers, only the country's largest fixed-line operator, China Telecom, does not have a foreign partner. China Telecom had been in discussions with potential partners, but shelved those talks until after the restructuring plan came out. China Telecom will need to raise at least $16.2 billion to buy China Unicom's CDMA network. Not surprisingly, speculation over which foreign telecom operator will likely partner with China Telecom has started up again.

China Telecom Seeks Synergy
China Telecom, however, is unlikely to take on a foreign strategic partner just for the money. China Telecom earned $3.3 billion in profits last year on $25.8 billion in revenues and should not have any problem tapping the capital markets for funding. "The primary goal is not only for additional capital, but also for the synergy in enhancing our operations and management," Lisa Lai, manager of China Telecom's investor relations department, wrote in an e-mail. "We have been approached by a number of parties. However, at present the company has not commenced any substantive discussion on this issue."

When the other Chinese telecom operators sold minority stakes to foreign strategic investors in the past, not surprisingly, they were aiming to get something in return. China Mobile wanted to learn how mobile-phone standards were set globally, so it partnered with Vodafone and sat by its side on international standard committees to learn the rules of the game. China Unicom teamed up with SK Telecom to build muscle in negotiating to reduce the royalties both had to pay to CDMA patent-holder Qualcomm (QCOM). "The move to allow foreign investment is not driven by funding but more for technological know-how," says Hwai Lin Khor, a research analyst with ABI Research Singapore.

Even though financing needs may not be the driving force behind the opening of the telecom sector, many observers are predicting that China will eventually open up to greater foreign investment, particularly as Beijing begins to issue 3G licenses to each of its three new telecom giants.

In Search of "Other People's Money"
This could provide foreign telecom operators, particularly those that have already rolled out 3G cell-phone services in their home markets, with the opportunity they have been waiting for. Foreign telecom operators have the technology and experience their Chinese counterparts lack. "We should attract more foreign investment when we roll out 3G and use other people's money to build the networks," says Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications professor Lu Tingjie.

Tschang is a correspondent in BusinessWeek's Beijing bureau. With Moon Ihlwan, Jennifer Schenker, and Kerry Capell

Nokia's Symbian - per NOK's 'development officer'


Nokia's Symbian - per NOK's 'development officer'
A conversation with Nokia’s Mary McDowell, chief development officer
~ By Phil Carson | www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/SUB/290280005/1015 | Story posted: July 3, 2008 - 5:59 am EDT -- Story modified: July 3, 2008 - 1:28 pm EDT --

Won’t it take time to develop an open-source version of Symbian, giving competing open-source groups time to get their products out?

One of the factors that sets our initiative apart is the promise of backward compatibility with Symbian Version 9 and S60 3rd Edition. That means developers can release something today and it’ll be compatible with the consolidated release of the Symbian Foundation.

Because of the compatibility promise, because we’re starting with an asset that’s been in the market for a decade, that gives us a 10-year time-to-market advantage. Also, from a Nokia standpoint, this is the basis for our high-end portfolio. So our commitment to making this successful, for us and our partners, is incredibly high.

What sort of work is necessary to make Symbian “open source”? It’s not just a function of revealing the code, right?

The work is mostly crawling through the code to identify third-party components in Symbian and S60 and ensure that our suppliers don’t get ‘open-sourced’ if that was not their intention. So we have to go through the platform module by module to make sure the code is ‘clean’ before we transition it to open source.

Was this deal driven or initiated by Nokia? It appears to be positive news for all Symbian Foundation members, but perhaps best for Nokia, with its installed base of Symbian users.

I can’t comment on the mechanics of how the deal got going. But I can say there was high-level engagement by all parties, so this was quite a feat. Clearly, Nokia has a market share advantage in the Symbian ecosystem and we’ll be a major contributor here. We must continue to execute well to sustain our leadership. If we do that, we’ll be well-positioned.

Will an open-source Symbian platform help spread the base for Nokia’s Ovi and related Web-based applications and content plays?

We do want to get out of the ‘plumbing business’ and focus more on interesting applications, creative services visible to the consumer. We’ve talked a lot about our Ovi strategy. This enables us to do that. The fact that we have network operators on the Foundation board from Europe, the U.S. and Japan speaks well to the global opportunities of the platform.

What’s your reaction to analysts’ remarks that this is competitively driven by other, large open-source efforts?

Symbian has had a great run in the 10 years of its life and this is about positioning Symbian for the next 10 years. Of course, we have to be responsive to market dynamics. Value is shifting to higher layers in the software stack and that’s where vendors like Nokia and its Foundation partners want to focus their attention.

Many of the members of the Symbian Foundation also hold membership in the other, large open-source efforts such as LiMo and the Open Handset Alliance. How do you see them deciding where to place their efforts among these various platforms?

Ultimately, those companies will decide where they want to invest their resources. The Foundation won’t do the R&D itself, that’ll be done by the Foundation members. If I were in their shoes, I’d put my money on the proven platform rather than the speculative one.

Is Nokia coordinating or controlling the R&D effort, to drive time-to-market?

Clearly, at the early stage, the majority of the developers will be Nokia employees, because Symbian employees will become Nokia employees. But the governance of the Foundation is managed by the board, which is comprised of the five handset vendors, the three network operators and two chipset manufacturers. In that sense, governance is balanced.

We’re going to be investing a lot from an R&D perspective to push the platform forward. Certainly that creates a good opportunity for Nokia.

4G migration paths: WiMAX vs. LTE (Yankee Group & RCR)


4G migration paths: WiMAX vs. LTE
~ By Roberta Wiggins, Yankee Group | www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/SUB/407839105/1014 | Story posted: July 3, 2008 - 1:32 pm EDT -- Story modified: July 3, 2008 - 2:24 pm EDT --

The migration of mobile networks to 4G is driven primarily by un-served latent demand for personal and mobile broadband services. As the industry shifts from a communications to a media-centric network design, service delivery requirements demand high-performance networks. Mobile WiMAX and LTE are emerging as the primary candidate radio technologies. Key questions include:
--How do service providers decide between these two technologies?
--What are the key factors influencing their migration decisions?
--What is timing of commercial WiMAX and LTE deployments?
--How will mobile service providers position WiMAX and LTE relative to 3G?

RCR Wireless News and Yankee Group conducted a recent survey to better understand mobile operator’s decisions surrounding their migration paths to 4G. Decisions differ both regionally and by service provider type. Mobile operators in North America and Western Europe are drawn to LTE, while WiMAX has greater support in emerging countries where a 3G license may not be available and operators need to create a parallel broadband network to support data services. Fixed players and cable MSOs, which are looking to use 4G to add wireless and mobility to their convergence bundles, have different points of views. It is important to note that this survey is predominantly both a mobile operator and a North American perspective. The respondents were heavily weighted to North America with only small representation in EMEA, and Latin America.

Survey responses demonstrate that mobile operator migration decisions, whether WiMAX or LTE, are influenced primarily by technology availability, closely followed by business model. Operators need to know they have chosen the right technology, that it is available now and has a vendor ecosystem is in place. Mobile operators are well aware of nominating the wrong technology. The situation is further complicated with some players seeking convergence between WIMAX and LTE .

Change in business model
For operators in highly competitive markets or new wireless players, such as cable MSOs or fixed-line operators, it is more about a new business model. They perceive 4G more as a means to gain a competitive service advantage and market penetration. These players fall within Yankee Group’s categorization as “Innovative Challengers,” “Regional Pioneers” and “Capital Constrained Entrants.” For example, Sprint Nextel Corp. in the U.S. and Mobilink in Pakistan chose WiMAX because they want to be first to market with 4G. Mobilink is initially focused on using WiMAX to address pent-up demand for basic broadband services. For both Sprint and Mobilink, 4G is about mobile Internet; it enables a change in business model for the mobile operator to broadband IP and VOIP services.

In North America and Western Europe, 4G is all about LTE from a mobile operator perspective; with the exception of Sprint, WiMAX is for the large part being deployed only by ISPs. In the U.S., AT&T and Verizon enjoy common ownership of wireless and wireline; Sprint had to build WiMAX to have its own broadband network. Operators in emerging countries like Mobilink in Pakistan are more drawn to WiMAX.

Our survey data reinforces that LTE has superiority among mobile operators: 56% of respondents are developing or plan to develop LTE (30% CDMA2000; 26% GSM/WDCMA/LTE), while 30% of the respondents aligned with 802.16e. The future for UMB is dismal: among CDMA service providers, only 2% say they will follow it as a migration path to 4G, compared with 48% for LTE and 36% for WiMAX.

How will mobile service providers position WiMAX and LTE relative to 3G? Among those companies surveyed that are 3G operators, the majority (51%) are positioning WiMAX/LTE as an enhancement to 3G. Only 9% say they will position it as a replacement. We believe that this is logical given the significant investments these players have made in 3G technology.

Timing demand
The key factor influencing the rate at which operators plan to roll out 4G networks is overwhelmingly market demand (76%). Only 24% of respondents stated competition. Contrary to these results, we believe that market competition is playing an increasing role in 4G deployments, as service revenues for traditional services saturate. While usage today is still predominantly voice and texting, the emergence of portable media oriented devices and applications like video streaming, social networking etc. are anticipated to rapidly drive demand for mobile broadband. Given the high capex and opex in deploying 4G networks, timing is critical.

The difference between WiMAX and LTE is less about technology and more about availability today, and the commercial positioning of the respective technologies. WiMAX is here now; LTE is at least two years away. Operators have to decide whether to wait or deploy now. There are already approximately 260 WiMAX 802.16d networks deployed in 110 countries; a vendor ecosystem is solidifying. The recent formation of the Open Patent Alliance of a group of WiMAX players including Cisco Systems, Intel Corp., Alcatel-Lucent, Clearwire, Sprint and Samsung promises to drive device and application development and should create a lower cost structure for the technology over time.

But a certain level of confusion still exists around WiMAX. There are various versions of the technology standard (802.16d, 802.l6e and 802.16m) and at differing levels of maturity that service providers regard necessary for commercialization. There continues to be uncertainty around the new Clearwire/Sprint joint venture. Most service providers anticipate a 24-month period before technology will be available for them to leverage, which brings 802.16e closer in timing to LTE in reality.

How do service providers decide between WIMAX and LTE as a 4G migration strategy? Exhibits 2 and 3 present the importance of factors influencing selection decisions among our survey respondents. The responses illustrate that the evolution of the technology is in line with the priorities of service implementation strategies.

Among factors influencing their decision to deploy WiMAX, most important is technology differentiation that can provide capex savings. WiMAX is spectrally more efficient and less expensive than LTE to deploy. But adoption of WiMAX is less about technology, and more about a business model change: a means for mobile operators to enter the broadband market and to create a new business in broadband. They can bundle with mobile service to reduce churn and secure customers. WiMAX offers the means to create a parallel broadband business to mobile and offer broadband to customers.

For operators in highly competitive markets, WiMAX gives them a head start. But there is a risk factor in mobile operators becoming involved in the Internet, a new business that they do not yet understand. WiMAX also offers 3G operators alternate broadband connectivity: a means to compete in broadband without giving up capacity and degrading performance on their 3G voice network. WiMAX can be a parallel network without the overhead of a mobile service.

Meanwhile, as demonstrated in chart 3, for an operator like Verizon, while LTE is a technology transition from CDMA EV-DO, it suits its FDD spectrum, in allocations over 10 megahertz, which include AWS and its recent 700 MHz win. For GSM operators like its parent Vodafone, LTE is simply a continuation of the GSM technology migration path from HSPDA. Less of a decision influencer but still important to operators is the ability to take advantage of the scale of GSM and international roaming. Verizon’s decision was as much business as technology driven: a desire to get on the same 4G standard and become part of the global wireless community that Vodafone has developed.

In the race to 4G, mobile WiMAX and LTE have emerged as the candidate radio technologies. But can both technologies maintain a market position? Are they competitive or complementary? Will they continue to exist as independent 4G alternatives or merge into one industry standard? Intel is conceding that WiMAX is part of LTE and is looking at ways to integrate the two technologies. LTE proponents will also be happy for WiMAX to merge with LTE, but as a subset. The performance of WiMAX and LTE are similar so today’s decisions are more about availability.

WiMAX has its place today, but ultimately, it’s a bridging technology. In the longer term, LTE will likely dominate, with characteristics of WiMAX being absorbed into LTE. WiMAX is a means to accelerate LTE: vendors can take R&D used in WiMAX and apply to LTE.

For more information, go to YankeeGroup.com

Mossberg - PC peaked, future is in pocket computers
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Is The iPhone Making Us Stupid?
~ http://rossdouthat.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/is_the_iphone_making_us_stupid.php | 01 Jul 2008 03:58 pm --

That's one of the topics Walter Mossberg gestured at this afternoon in a talk on "the Future of the Internet and Rise of the Cell Phone," in which he declared that the PC has peaked, and that the future of the internet belongs to pocket computers like the iPhone. The future of the internet, and the future of us: "The internet is a grid," he remarked, "and we're all going to be living on it, and carrying it in our pocket all day long." Mossberg delivered this assessment with a strong note of techno-pessimism woven in: A lot of his talk had to do with the issues constant connectivity raises for deep knowledge ("people hate iPhone users," he remarked, "because you can never have an argument about facts without them whipping out the phone and looking up the answer" - a description that I'm afraid I resemble, even though I have a Blackberry and not an iPhone) and deep reflection (in the future, Mossberg noted, we may never be free of "that subtle feeling that maybe you need to check Slate, or Facebook"), and he echoed some of the points that Nicholas Carr makes in his Atlantic essay on how the internet may be changing the way we think, and not necessarily for the better.

Tellingly, nearly all the questions that followed had to do with how the attendees could get their internet service to work more cheaply and smoothly - especially in Aspen.
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China Tel gathers CDMA Suppliers for 'internal meeting' (China Tech News)

spotted on the ff board ...
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China Telecom Gathers CDMA Terminal Operators For Strategic Adjustment

~ | www.chinatechnews.com/2008/07/01/6942-china-telecom-gathers-cdma-terminal-operators-for-strategic-adjustment/ | July 1, 2008 --


China Telecom (CHA) has convened 23 mainstream CDMA terminal suppliers, including Huawei, ZTE, Samsung, Nokia and Yulong Coolpad for an internal meeting to make preparations for a strategic adjustment in its business.

According to a representative from China Telecom, China Telecom hopes to further unite with the CDMA terminal suppliers by doing so and it is confident that it can do better than China Unicom on CDMA.

Besides introducing to the CDMA terminal suppliers the progress of its acquisition of China Unicom's CDMA network, China Telecom reportedly raised five requirements for them, which include, pushing forward a well-coordinated and fast speed development of CDMA terminal by virtue of China Telecom's powerful channels; ensuring timely supply of terminal products during the acquisition period and the transitional period; coordinating with the transfer of the CDMA network and getting prepared for related work such as changing logos and upgrading software; enlarging the R&D of CDMA terminals{<-? ? ? ?} and increasing the categories of CDMA products; establishing a communication and coordination mechanism, cooperating well with each other and jointly expanding the CDMA terminal industry.

China Telecom is said to have set up a terminal operation company similar to China Unicom's Liantong Huasheng to serve as CDMA mobile phone customizing and outsourcing platform.

"How Nokia's Symbian Move Helps Google" (Bus Week)
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How Nokia's Symbian Move Helps Google
The cell-phone maker's choice to eventually give away its smartphone software will mean more mobile Web use—and more Google search ads

~ by Olga Kharif | www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2008/tc20080629_791774.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_technology | News Analysis June 30, 2008, 12:01AM --

Nokia (NOK) rocked the wireless industry June 24 with news it would purchase the portion of Symbian, a maker of mobile-phone software, that it didn't already own — and then give away the software for nothing.

The prospect of free software would surely lure users away from competing cell-phone software makers (BusinessWeek.com, 6/24/08) including Google (GOOG), which in the past year threw its hat into the cell-phone software ring by spearheading the creation of Android, an operating system for wireless devices. Or so the argument runs.

But Nokia's move may play right into Google's hands, by helping to nurture a blossoming of the mobile Web and spur demand for all manner of cell-phone applications — and most important, the ads sold by Google. "There's nothing to say that this isn't what Google's plan was all along," says Kevin Burden, research director, mobile devices at consultancy ABI Research. "They might have wanted a more open device environment anyway. This might have been Google's end game."

Opening the Airwaves
Google, which makes money from ads placed on Web pages and alongside search results, stands to benefit from anything that helps spread the use of the Web — be it on computers or the advanced cell phones known as smartphones that run Symbian software. With the desktop search market showing signs of slowing, the company needs to ramp up usage of its applications from mobile devices. U.S. mobile search ad sales are expected to rise to $1.4 billion in 2012 from $33.2 million in 2007, according to consulting firm Kelsey Group.

But in the U.S. market, Google has long been hampered in getting its applications onto cell phones for a variety of reasons. To now, Web search on phones has been too slow or awkward, mobile data plans and smartphones are often expensive, and carriers and cell-phone makers place restrictions on which applications run on their calling plans and devices.

Google has tried to turn the tide in part by lobbying regulators to make wireless airwaves open to a wider range of applications. It's also been pushing the Federal Communications Commission to make some airwaves available for free public broadband use.

The creation of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of more than 30 companies developing Android, is another part of this multipronged effort to remove some costs currently inhibiting handset makers from making cheaper phones able to access the Web. The hope is that by keeping Android free, more people would be able to afford smartphones and log onto the mobile Web — and ultimately use Google applications. After all, 82% of Apple (AAPL) iPhone owners use the Internet through the smartphone — five times the average consumer's usage, according to Nielsen Mobile.

Google's Win-Win
Nokia may be able to accomplish a lot of that groundwork, much more easily. Android lacks scale, and as a startup effort it's been prone to glitches and delays. It would take months for Android to start to significantly impact smartphone sales. Symbian is already the world's most popular smartphone operating system, with 56% of the market.

With Symbian free and open, Burden of ABI Research expects to bump his smartphone sales projections for 2009 by a "single-digit percentage." While smartphones account for 10% of the total handset market today, they could reach up to 25% of the total in three to four years, thanks in part to the Nokia announcement, says Jack Gold, president of consultancy J. Gold Associates. "Google shouldn't really care all that much what the operating system on a phone is," he says. Adds Burden: "The key to Google making a lot of money is we all use phones with operating systems on them."

Once more phones feature full Web browsers, it's reasonable to assume that more people will flock to Google's mobile sites. "Data I've seen suggests if a company is dominant on the desktop, it's going to be dominant on mobile," says Matt Booth, senior vice-president at Kelsey Group. On their mobile phones, people still go to sites powered by Google, Yahoo! (YHOO), and Microsoft (MSFT), which garner the most traffic in the PC world as well.

Google benefits if its applications come preinstalled on a phone. Being the default search engine on Apple's iPhone has helped Google dominate the nascent U.S. mobile search market, with 61% share, according to Nielsen Mobile. But many users will rely on Google even if it's not the default on a given phone, analysts and investors say. "Google could strike deals with carriers," explains Chris Sacca, a venture capitalist who until recently directed many of Google's wireless efforts. "But Google wants users to get applications on their devices on their own. Google's end goal isn't necessarily to push Google's applications onto people, but to create an open environment where people can choose these applications."

Sticking with Android
And it's not like Google is going to turn its back on Android either. "A lot of the Apple developers are looking at Android [and not Symbian] as their Plan B," says Rick Doherty, director at consultancy Envisioneering Group. T-Mobile USA is expected to introduce its first Android device in late 2008 and Sprint Nextel (S) will likely follow suit in 2009. Besides, it will take several years for Symbian to go fully free and open.

Still, some analysts aren't convinced Google will stick with Android over the long haul. "I don't see any reason for Google to continue down the Android path long term [now that Nokia has made its move]," Gold says. "Google's commitment to Android hasn't changed," Google said in a statement. "And we're very excited to see the momentum continuing to build behind the Android platform among carriers, handset manufacturers, developers, and consumers."

Before long, Google may find itself equally excited by the momentum building around Symbian.

Kharif is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com in Portland, Ore.

Confusing market for 3rd party phone apps (RCR)

Worst of the Week: What does my phone do?
Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWirelessNews.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
~ By Mike Dano | www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080626/FREE/447331634/1025 | Story posted: June 26, 2008 - 1:42 pm EDT --

So Nokia announced plans to acquire Symbian this week. Nokia said the move would improve Symbian’s position in the market and smooth the process for Symbian application development. Yup, I’m sure everything for developers will now be clear as mud.

See, I think that the landscape for third-party applications in the mobile industry is about as complex as it can possibly be. And I’m amazed that — as far as I can tell — there’s only one company (one!) that is even attempting to make it easier for users to get a hold of third-party applications for their phones (and, by extension, for developers to sell their applications). That company is Handango, which offers a library of applications for various smartphone operating systems.

I mean, seriously, there must be at least a half-dozen major smartphone operating systems out there right now (BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm and Symbian come to mind) and that count does not include Java and BREW platforms. Add everything together and the market for third-party applications for cellphones is both so massive and so complex as to be incomprehensible.

So where does one go to add features and services to a phone? Generally, carriers serve as the touch point for such explorations, but I am highly unimpressed with the information most are providing on the subject. For example, Verizon Wireless just launched the Palm Centro, but I dare you to use Verizon Wireless’ Web site to find out what sorts of third-party applications are available for the device.

Now, I know that this example isn’t really fair. I know that Verizon Wireless’ customer service would be happy to help a Centro user get the most out of his or her phone. But what about that causal shopper who’s simply interested in the topic? Where can they get information on the various third-party applications available for that device? (Handango tells me there are more than 2,000 such applications available!)

So what’s my point? My point is that the wireless industry in general needs to focus on selling software like it has previously focused on selling technology and hardware. Carriers have done a pretty stellar job when it comes to marketing their networks (“Can you hear me now?”) and — with a helping hand from their suppliers — they’ve done a similar job for their devices (iPhone, anyone?). But when it comes to the long and growing list of neat things you can do with your phone, just about everyone on the value chain has been suspiciously silent.

What’s most surprising is that companies like Research In Motion Ltd., Qualcomm Inc., Nokia Corp. and others host conferences for third-party application developers. These conferences serve to encourage and reward developers for their work. I suspect a better use of this time, money and energy would be to put it toward a user conference — let people know what they can do with their phones!

Ignorance is bliss — unless you’re paying $10 per month for a mapping service from your carrier because you just don’t know about the better, free application available from that third-party developer.

OK! Enough of that.

Thanks for checking out this Worst of the Week column. And now, some extras:

--There’s a new startup called Instinctiv that offers an application for iPhone users that claims to predict what type of music they’ll like. What’s funny? Sprint Nextel just launched its iPhone killer, which is called the Instinct. The irony is so ironic.

--FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is moving ahead with a plan to auction off a nationwide spectrum license and require the winner to cover 50% of the total U.S. population within four years and 95% of the population by 10 years. Oh, and the winner would also have to provide free Internet access. In related news, Kevin Martin is crazy.

I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at mdano@crain.com.

SingleClick Systems - remote access to home media; $10/mo


Remote access to home media extends to phones

A network management system that lets users get to the video, music and other files on a home or small-business LAN will soon offer that remote access from mobile phones.
~ By Stephen Lawson , IDG News Service (a Network World affiliate) | www.networkworld.com/news/2008/062508-remote-access-to-home-media.html | 06/25/2008 --

SingleClick Systems said Tuesday that its SingleClick Remote Access technology, which was announced earlier this year, will work with Apple iPhones, Research In Motion BlackBerrys and about 7,000 other types of mobile phones starting July 15. The company is set to show the new capability at the Connections 2008 conference in Santa Clara, beginning Tuesday evening. (Watch a slideshow of gadgets for summer time fun.)

Without installing software on the phone, users will be able to get to their media via a password-protected Web portal and then view or listen to it, according to SingleClick CEO Scott Zarkiewicz. But there's a catch: It has to stream over the mobile network. In addition, some mobile operators place restrictions -- not always enforced -- on the use of mobile data connections for streaming media.

SingleClick has been making management systems for small LANs for several years, and Dell began including its software on selected PCs as Dell Network Assistant in 2005, according to Zarkiewicz. Customers can view, monitor and repair their networks with the software and designate one computer as the network's media server, then install special software on it. Any system on the network can then access multimedia content from that server.

With a remote-access offering introduced earlier this year for $10 per month, that content is available on customer's own remote PCs or those of friends and relatives who have been given password access to an individual Web portal. Starting July 15, that same service will include access from mobile phones. The service initially will be available from SingleClick's Web site, and the company is seeking other channels for it.

After a user chooses the files they want to enjoy, the software on the media server will transcode them for delivery on the phone. The system uses the open source Wireless Universal Resource File (WURFL) database for information about particular phone models and their multimedia capabilities. Based on what kind of media player is on a particular phone model, the media server software will transcode the content. It will also gauge the speed of the wireless network connection and adjust the quality of the media to play over that connection.

For example, if an iPhone user tried to watch any kind of video that resided on his media server PC, the server software would transcode it into Apple's QuickTime format and first show the user a sample of what the video would look like at the best possible quality, Zarkiewicz said. The video would play on the iPhone's Quicktime player rather than through the browser, he said.

However, the new capability is intended less for iPhones than for other handsets, such as BlackBerrys, that may not have good media players built in, Zarkiewicz said. And while video may frequently be degraded by the available cellular connection, music often plays fine with just 32Kbps or so, he said. Also, consumers who want to show photos on their phones will be able to easily get to whatever images they have on their home network and view them on the phone, he said.

The mobile feature can also act as a VPN for viewing shared files within a small business, according to SingleClick.

3G car; Q's royalty% on price of car ?

Wouldn't that be nice. Also think Omnitracks and MediaFlo are naturals for automobiles.

All Chrystlers WiFi 2009 - Omnitracs MediaFLO would have something to offer. Would think all fleet cars (taxis/limos) could benefit. Did Q's Wingspan get completely shuttered? Lower insurance rates for Omnitracs-equipped vehicles?
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Chrysler will offer wireless Internet access in 2009 models
The struggling automaker's announcement comes shortly before California enacts a law that requires hands-free cellphone use while driving.
~ By Ken Bensinger, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
| www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wificar25-2008jun25,1,2980140.story |June 25, 2008 --

Have you ever thought rush hour on the 405 Freeway might be more bearable if you could check your e-mail, shop for a book on Amazon, place some bids on EBay and maybe even, if nobody is looking, download a little porn?

Then perhaps you should be driving a Chrysler.

The nation's third-largest automaker is set to announce Thursday that it's making wireless Internet an option on all its 2009 models. The mobile hotspot, called UConnect Web, would be the first such technology from any automaker.

Struggling Chrysler is hoping that providing motorists access to the information superhighway will set it apart from competitors and help reverse a dismal year; through May, sales are down 19.3% compared with 2007, the worst drop-off in the industry.

"It's a notion of always wanting to be connected wherever you are," said Scott Slagle, Chrysler's senior manager of global marketing strategy, who has been testing the technology since last week, allowing his daughters to surf the Web from the back seat. "There's a demand for that."

Coincidentally, Wi-Fi on wheels is being unveiled just days before new hands-free legislation goes into effect July 1 in California and Washington state. Those laws, designed to reduce accidents caused by driver distraction, prohibit talking on a cellular phone without a headset or other hands-free device.

Perhaps not surprisingly, safety advocates were less than overwhelmed by Chrysler's innovation.

"Surfing the Web is something people really don't have any business doing while they drive," said Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Assn. "It's definitely a distraction."

His and other safety groups say the only way to drive safely is without using any electronic devices, headset or no.

Chrysler says that when the car is in motion, the service is intended to be used only by passengers. The privately held company acknowledges, however, that there is no way to prevent a driver from steering with one hand and Web surfing with the other.

"We're relying on the responsibility of the consumer to follow appropriate legislation," said Keefe Leung, Chrysler's engineer for the product.

In that case, Californians tempted to Google and drive can breathe a big sigh of relief: The new laws don't proscribe use of computers or the Web, except for drivers under 18 years old. There is a different law on the books preventing the use of television screens or video screens farther forward than the rear of the front seats, but it's unclear whether that measure applies to computers browsing the Internet.

State Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto), who authored the California laws, is trying to clarify that situation. He's introduced legislation prohibiting drivers from using any "mobile service device" (including computers) or text-messaging while driving.

"It's great to see technology advance," Simitian said. "But this raises a lot of concerns."

In Chrysler's defense, it's not the first company to offer Internet access in cars. Avis Rent A Car introduced Avis Connect in January 2007. Like UConnect Web, Avis Connect (which costs $10.95 a day) operates on the 3G network using a cellular-based signal.

The device used by Avis is also available through its manufacturer, Autonet Mobile, for $595 plus a $39 monthly subscription rate. Users get download speeds of 600 megabits to 800 megabits per second.

Avis spokesman John Barrows said the device, which is portable, is fairly popular but not in as much demand as GPS units.

"We emphasize that this is not for use by the driver while operating the vehicle," Barrows said.

Chrysler will formally roll out the technology Thursday at an event in Detroit spotlighting its 2009 lineup, which will appear in showrooms in September. The automaker did not disclose pricing, but said there would probably be a base charge for the option, plus a monthly or annual fee.

UConnect Web is an extension of the company's UConnect system, which provides Bluetooth connectivity for cellphones and MP3 player integration with the car stereo. Rival Ford provides similar services, but without Web access, in its popular Sync system.

With the added Internet connectivity, drivers and passengers will be able to get such devices as laptop computers and Nintendo Wii consoles online. As to what users can download while in the car, Chrysler's Leung said anything was fair game.

"There are no limitations in content," he said.

Nokia’s Dominance Threatened? Stock Down 30% Since April
Posted Jun 20, 2008 10:40am EDT by Dan Frommer in Investing, Networking and Communication, Products and Trends, Information Technology
From Silicon Alley Insider, June 20, 2008:

Nokia, which has led the cellphone market for years, is getting shelled. Shares falling again today, leaving the stock down about 30% from recent highs in April.

Why? Well, for one, the Western European cellphone market, where Nokia does a lot of business, isn't doing so hot. But now Nokia has Nokia-specific problems, too -- it's about to see a lot more competition at the high end of its business from Apple's iPhone 3G and new 3G BlackBerry gadgets from Research In Motion (RIMM).

Earlier this week, Nokia unveiled two new phones designed to compete in the high-end, business smartphone market, the E71 and E66. But AmTech analyst Mark McKechnie says the new phones still aren't a "credible response" to RIM and Apple. (Based only on the pictures we've seen, and what we know about the strength of the iPhone and RIM's email system, we agree.) And McKechnie says European brokers are now "voicing concerns of competition at the high-end," too.

Why does this matter? Because Nokia's smartphone business, while small unit-wise, means a lot to the company's sales and profits. The 7% of Nokia's phones that sold for more than $300 last year represented 15%-20% of its cellphone revenue and 20%-25% of its gross profit, McKechnie says. So if Apple's expansion into Europe and Asia -- and new phones from RIM -- cut into Nokia's high-end smartphone sales, it's in trouble.

"Mobile Start-up Goldrush!" (Forbes)
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Mobile Start-up Goldrush!
~ Elizabeth Woyke | The Wireless World - www.forbes.com/technology/2008/06/15/mobile-startups-networks-tech-wireless08-cx_ew_0616startups.html | 06.16.08, 6:00 PM ET -
It's gold-rush time in the wireless industry.

Start-ups from all over are plunging into the industry. Many are based in the PC, navigation device and media player industries. A few are serial entrepreneurs. Some are garage tinkerers. All share a belief in the potential of wireless to make heaps of money--even more than the PC and traditional Web. All think their handsets will find a niche in a crowded industry.

"It's a combination of defensive and opportunistic moves," says Avi Greengart, research director for mobile devices at Current Analysis. "As a consumer electronics company, you can either co-opt the cellphone or compete with it. Others are realizing that consumers will often pay more for phones than for other gadgets."

Velocity Mobile's formula is high-quality, feature-packed phones and stellar customer service at an affordable price. "We're trying to build a product in the prime part of the arena," says President David Hayes. "We're not trying to compete with a $70 Nokia (nyse: NOK) or be an iPhone killer."

The U.K. startup will launch three phones by September. Though new to the market, Velocity isn't exactly a novice. Much of its management previously worked at Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT) on its Windows Mobile operating system. Velocity's phones are manufactured by Inventec, a Taiwanese company that has been making notebook computers for more than three decades. The "best of both worlds" partnership will pair Velocity's sleek design and intuitive software with Windows Mobile software and Inventec's engineering expertise, says Hayes.

Analysts are cautious. "Velocity's challenge is differentiation," says Greengart. "Their pitch is a wish list of features at a moderate price, but consumers are looking for a specific user experience."

That's the challenge in battling the big guys. Their advantages in distribution, branding and carrier relationships mean a product has to be spectacular to compete at all. "Saying you're $10 cheaper or have a different-colored phone isn't enough," adds Greengart. "You have to contend with the best that's out there and the best that's coming."

There's plenty of competition in the pipeline. One of the most anticipated is the Nuvifone from navigation device maker Garmin (nasdaq: GRMN). The phone sports a large touchscreen and other typical cellphone features, such as a Web browser, built-in camera and MP3 player, and will launch in the U.S.--reportedly with AT&T (nyse: T)--this fall or winter. Its most arresting feature is its global positioning system technology, which powers the turn-by-turn directions Garmin is known for and allows users to "geotag" photos with location coordinates.

Computer makers are muscling in. Smart phones from Acer will likely debut this winter after the company completes its acquisition of phone manufacturer, E-Ten. The computer giant seems serious about its mobile foray. At its first-quarter investor relations conference, executives predicted that phones would soon account for 10% of Acer's revenue.

Dell (nasdaq: DELL) could be next. Analysts say a smart phone from the computer maker is imminent, pointing to its recent poaching of Ron Garriques, who formerly headed up Motorola's (nyse: MOT) handset division.

Dell has also stated that it plans to make computing devices with screens as small as 2 inches. That could mean cellphones, personal navigation devices or MP3 players, notes Greengart. "Since Dell got out of the MP3 business, I'm betting cellphones," he says.

Portable media player companies are also diving into the market. iRiver has developed a touchscreen phone for release in Europe at the end of the year. In a nod to iRiver's media player background, the phone can record video, play music and is compatible with Adobe Flash--ideal for watching YouTube videos.

The list goes on: Swedish company Neonode is preparing to launch its N2 phone in the U.S. The card-deck-sized touchscreen handset is currently available in about 14 markets across Europe and Asia. (See: "Innovative Cellphones.")

There's also a pack of customizable, do-it-yourself style phones. Israeli start-up Modu made a splash in February when it exhibited modular handsets that dramatically alter in appearance and function when slipped into plastic cases. Operators in Russia, Italy and Israel will begin offering the phones by the end of the year.

Five-month-old zzzPhone calls itself the first fully customized cellphone service. Customers log onto the company's site, select from two different phone models and custom-tailor their handsets' features, ranging from case color to memory capacity to extra batteries and cameras. The basic model sells for $149; additional features cost between $7 and $59. Owner Larry Horowitz reports that Internet sales are "increasing daily," and a deal to sell phones on eBay (nasdaq: EBAY) will be finalized this month.

But he concedes that the company, which has been contracting out its manufacturing, has stumbled in meeting orders. That has him on the hunt for partners and capital to help zzzPhone establish its own facility. Horowitz, who tends toward dramatic pronouncements, notes, "Our goal to rival Nokia and Motorola in 12 months is teetering between done deal and never [going to] happen."

Other phone manufacturers are pushing into North America from abroad. In early June, Dubai-based i-mate launched an online sales portal to sell its smart phones to U.S. and Canadian customers. Hewlett-Packard (nyse: HPQ) will bring its 3G personal digital assistants to the U.S. by the end of June; it previously only sold them internationally. Asus, maker of the Lilliputian Eee PC, started selling its smart phones in North America this spring. HTC, which overhauled its business to push phones under its own brand, is in some ways a new entrant as well.

Some of these non-traditional players draw inspiration from Apple (nasdaq: AAPL) and Google (nasdaq: GOOG), which have captivated the industry with their mobile products in less than a year. Others point to the industry's move toward more open and faster networks and say new entrants will benefit.

Not every technology company wants a phone. Microsoft says it has no plan to morph its Zune media player into a cellphone, despite in-house expertise in mobile software. Dolby has licensed a mobile version of its digital audio processing technology to companies like Sharp but says it has no desire to build its own phone.

"On paper, these ideas make perfect sense," says Greengart. But he warns that plenty of upstarts disappear every year. "To a degree, these are just the new ones."

Sprint Claims WiMax is "4G", though its comparable to 3G HSPA

Sprint promises WiMAX in SeptemberBefore 'competing 4G' technologies
~ By Bill Ray| www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06/19/sprint_wimax/ | Thursday 19th June 2008 14:58 GMT --

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has laid out a schedule for the company's much-awaited WiMAX deployment, which will now be launched in Baltimore in September. Washington DC and Chicago will also get coverage before the end of the year.

While Hesse was addressing NXTcomm his CTO, Barry West, was extolling the utility of their WiMAX network at the WiMAX Forum in Amsterdam, as reported by telecoms.com. He admitted that the original schedule has slipped. Despite having 575 operational cell sites the back office system has proved more complex than anticipated.

"I'm probably two months behind where I thought I would be," said West, adding that the system now allows the company to "activate a device over the air under five minutes and set up a billing relationship with the customer".

Amdocs is providing that back-end system, and Sprint will be hoping the company has improved since handling Vodafone's upgrades.

Hardware to access the network won't be subsidised, so punters will have to pay the true cost for the PC Card modems, USB dongles or Nokia N810 devices which will (probably) be the only things available at launch. But with Intel pushing WiMAX so very hard it will no-doubt be built into laptops by the end of the year.

What's most impressive is the way that both West and his boss keep referring to WiMAX as a "4G" technology, despite it offering speeds comparable to 3G HSPA networks (2 to 4 Mb/sec). The idea that WiMAX counts as "4G" is by no means a consensus: last week Nortel announced they were dropping all their WiMAX development to focus on proper 4G technologies such as LTE (Long Term Evolution).

But Sprint and the rest of the WiMAX crowd much prefer to compare themselves to LTE, enabling them to claim they're ahead of the curve rather than deploying a network which is no better than the competition already has, and far worse than that competition is planning.

Big Picture - "US, China high-stakes conference"
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US, China commence high-stakes business conference
- US and Chinese officials begin conference on bilateral economic issues
~ By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer | http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080617/us_china.html | ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) --Tuesday June 17, 10:33 am ET --

The United States and China must increase their cooperation on energy issues in the face of increased demand and record high oil prices, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Tuesday as he opened a meeting of high-level economic officials from the two countries.

The session, the fourth in a series, was held on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy. The Chinese team was being led by a newcomer, Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who took over after the retirement earlier this year of former Vice Premier Wu Yi.

"As the two largest net importers of oil, China and the United States face similar challenges as demand for energy increases," Paulson told the conference.

It was Paulson's fourth time to head a U.S. delegation of Cabinet officials in such a conference. The Chinese team was being led by a newcomer, Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who took over after the retirement earlier this year of former Vice Premier Wu Yi.

In his opening remarks, Wang said that substantial progress had been made in dealing with contentious issues such as currency and the trade deficit and he urged patience going forward. He also said the two countries needed to avoid "complicating and politicizing economic issues."

"Our cooperation is an irreversible and unstoppable current," Wang said. "China needs the United States and the United States needs China."

Paulson led a large U.S. delegation that included a number of Cabinet secretaries including Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Labor Secretary Elaine Chao and Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.

Paulson came up with the idea for the high-level talks, dubbed the Strategic Economic Dialogue, when he joined the Bush administration in 2006 after leading investment giant Goldman Sachs.

However, hopes that the discussions could produce significant results on a number of contentious trade disputes have not been fulfilled. Paulson, who is hoping that the discussions will be continued by the next administration, said Tuesday that they had produced more results than could have been accomplished absent the twice-a-year meetings. He said it was important for the global economy that the two nations continue talking.

"The United States and China don't always agree on economic issues," he said. "Sometimes we may disagree quite strongly, but we keep talking."

Business groups, which believe the meetings have been beneficial, said it would be wise for the Chinese to produce results as a way of convincing the next occupant of the White House to keep the talks going. But other China experts say the Chinese delegation may believe that it is not worthwhile to offer too many economic concessions to a lame-duck administration when they can wait to negotiate with a new team.

This week's talks are being held at a time when the U.S. trade deficit with China has jumped to an all-time high of $256.2 billion, the largest deficit ever recorded with a single country and an amount equal to nearly one-third of America's total trade deficit of $700.3 billion last year.

The two days of talks are expected to focus on the challenges both countries face with rising energy and food costs. China is the world's biggest consumer and producer of coal. Pollution from its coal-fired industries is believed to be a major factor in global warming.

But a U.S. effort to get China to promote greater energy efficiency as a way of reducing strains on global supplies is unlikely to achieve much success. That's because the Chinese have been moving in the opposite direction, providing ever greater subsidies to keep energy prices low as global prices have surged.

The soaring trade deficit with China is blamed by critics as a major contributing factor in the loss of more than 3 million U.S. manufacturing jobs since 2001. U.S. executives say the undervalued yuan makes Chinese goods cheaper in this country and U.S. products more expensive in China.

The Bush administration acknowledges that the Chinese have allowed their currency to rise in value by about 20 percent against the dollar since July 2005, but U.S. officials contend that more needs to be done.

The administration also wants the Chinese to open their financial system to foreign banks and investment houses, including major U.S. institutions, as a way of gaining needed expertise. However, that effort is meeting strong resistance from the Chinese, given the billions of dollars in losses suffered by U.S. financial giants in the credit crisis that erupted last August.

Major business groups like the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Financial Services Forum believe the high-level talks have been worthwhile. But other groups have been more critical, saying the discussions have been a waste of time and Congress should move ahead with legislation to penalize China for its currency policies.

Successful Model - Free Mobile TV 3 Italia

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Mobile Broadcast TV, a Successful Business Model with the Right Approach

~ | www.cellular-news.com/story/31725.php?source=rss | Posted to the site on 11th June 20 --

A first for European consumers, free mobile TV is landing on their fingertips as 3 Italia starts offering free mobile broadcast TV, based on DVB-H. The user will be able to watch TV channels between 8 am and midnight at no extra cost. This will be possible through the support of dynamic advertising, i.e. adverts that will dynamically interact with the users. This new service will be branded "La3" and it is unique in Europe. Presently, similar offerings exist only in Japan and South Korea.

"3 Italia is demonstrating once more how it can be innovative and farsighted when it comes to the mobile content market", comments Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Saverio Romeo.

Romeo goes on to describe how the past two years have been pivotal to the recent launch: "In May 2006, 3 Italia launched the first commercially viable DVB-H mobile TV solution, this really caught a sceptical market by surprise. Within 3 months, 3 Italia had more than 100,000 mobile TV subscribers. And whilst the other operators were busy catching up with such a success, in August 2007, 3 Italia had more than 700,000 subscribers to its service becoming the largest mobile TV provider in Europe. In addition to the distribution of content, the Italian mobile provider developed also an in house TV production facility and started to sell its own content."

"3 Italia made history by demonstrating that mobile TV could be a successful business model if developed with the right approach – states Frost & Sullivan's Romeo –. Mobile TV requires in fact a substantial capital investment, a clear plan on the availability of radio spectrum, a clear and convenient pricing strategy for the end customer. European mobile operators have undertaken numerous trials in the past few years. The recent successes and positive support from within the European Commission towards mobile TV have been responsible for a renewed interest in the provision of this service. At the end of May, three new commercial services have been launched in the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland and French authorities have just awarded network licenses for this service."

It seems that mobile TV is going through a revitalisation across Europe. But what will the recent free mobile TV launch by 3 Italia mean for the market? "The launch will surely spur the other Italian operators into action – concludes Romeo - and maybe push them to compete head to head with 3 on a free mobile TV platform. The same could happen to other countries across Europe too."

PTT renaissance: VZw -v- Sprint's upcoming summer battle
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Sprint Nextel, Verizon Wireless gear up for summer PTT battle
-- Push to talk set for a renaissance

~ By Allie Winter | www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080610/SUB/684719799/1002 |June 10, 2008 - 12:09 pm EDT --

The once hotly contested push-to-talk market appears set for a competitive resurgence as the nation’s two largest CDMA carriers are rolling out new PTT initiatives that should prove more compelling to consumers addicted to “the button” than previous efforts.

Sprint Nextel Corp., which is king of the PTT hill thanks to its legacy Nextel Communications Inc. subscriber base, has slowly begun to roll out CDMA-based PTT phones that are interoperable with the iDEN-based handsets and, according to the carrier, provide similar performance. The move is expected to be countered later this year as Verizon Wireless is also set to roll out a second generation of its PTT service.

Both carriers previously launched CDMA-based PTT services that failed to perform up to the standard set by Nextel’s Direct Connect service and were limited in their ability to sway those high-value customers away from iDEN. Analysts have noted that an increased emphasis on free in-network calling by virtually all carriers has somewhat mitigated the need for operators to pour additional resources into the PTT market.

QChat to the rescue

Sprint Nextel’s newest push began earlier this year when the carrier launched the Sanyo Corp. Pro 200 and Pro 700 handsets. Both devices include Qualcomm Inc.’s QChat technology, a feature that allows the CDMA handsets to “talk” with their iDEN brethren. The new phones are only available in Kansas, Colorado and Cincinnati, but Ajit Bhatia, director of wireless product development for Sprint Nextel, said the carrier plans to make phones available across the nation in coming months.

The new phones take advantage of Sprint Nextel’s CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A network, which is expected to provide a level of service comparable to the iDEN devices. (The carrier’s previous CDMA-based ReadyLink service operated on the carrier’s 1x network and was tagged as not providing service levels comparable to iDEN.) This tactic is part of Sprint Nextel’s plan to merge its iDEN customers onto its CDMA network, though Sprint Nextel has said it will support the iDEN network for several more years.

Data benefits

In addition to being interoperable with iDEN handsets, the new CDMA-based PTT phones will offer access to the carriers slew of data-rich applications. This could help the carrier staunch some of its customer loss as the iDEN handsets were vacant nearly all the applications that the carrier has been pushing.

“We believe the availability of both Nextel Direct Connect and Sprint Mobile Broadband on new devices/form factors will appeal to new customers,” Bhatia said. Tole Hart, analyst at Gartner, agreed that some phone upgrades and merging the two networks would benefit the carrier.

“Having data services available will give customers more flexibility and better handsets, it will be a more streamlined type of objects and not as bulky of an item,” Hart said.

Competition brewing

Another factor behind Sprint Nextel’s new phones could be the prospect of competition. Verizon Wireless is gearing up to unveil an updated version of its own PTT service that suffered similar performance deficiencies to Sprint Nextel’s ReadyLink service.

Mike Willsey, director of Go-To market programs for Verizon Wireless, said the carrier will come out with its next generation of PTT this summer.

“There will be some new phones,” Willsey said. “We’re just not going public yet about what they will be.”

AT&T Mobility offers a PTT service powered by Kodiak Networks, and although it’s a feature included on most of AT&T Mobility’s smartphones, the carrier does not carry any rugged phones that are desired by the core “button” using groups.

John Kampfe, director of media and industry relations for AT&T Mobility, said although the carrier is looking into providing rugged phones, they are proud of the push-to-talk features its smartphones carry.

As carriers continue to compete for PTT users’ attention, the stakes will continue to rise, but Hart said in spite of Sprint Nextel’s hardships, it will be difficult for other carriers to reach the same PTT success.

“Sprint is the biggest push-to-talk player and Verizon will have a hard time,” Hart said. “Push-to-talks users are part of a group and to move them you’d have to move the whole group. Less than one second connection is what people expect and I think they [Verizon] have to improve their products to be in the ballpark.”

Q sh/agree to fold-in TD-SCDMA + UMB for 4G

Just fold-in one or two TD-SCDMA patents, and get China to do a big roll-out. That way Qualcomm's UMB has a chance against WiMax and LTE, and China gets a reduced rate from patent sharing for the new UMB.

If they're building from scratch, may as well be 4G.

WiMAX licensing collaboration - six firms to limit royalty rates

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Intel, Cisco to push WiMAX patent pool
~ Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal | http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/06/09/daily7.html?ana=yfcpc | 2008-Jun-09-10:21 AM PDT--

Six major tech companies are planning today to announce a collaboration that would jointly license WiMAX patents in an effort to limit royalty rates and make the technology more affordable, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that spearheading the Open Patent Alliance effort are San Jose-based Cisco Systems Inc., Santa Clara-based Intel Corp. and other companies.

WiMAX is a wireless broadband technology similar to WiFi but capable of carrying data over longer distances.

Intel wants to make WiMAX a built-in feature on portable persona computers. Other participants are Samsung Electronics Co., Sprint Nextel Corp., Alcatel-Lucent and Clearwire Corp.

The Journal said the group wants to gather rights to WiMAX-related patents so they can be licensed to makers of computers, networking devices and other products.

Intel employs about 6,000 at its Folsom campus.

"What Does Sprint Do Now?" (WSJ) -
Would like to see something with South Korea’s SK Telecom, as mentioned below.
=== === === === === === === === === === === === === === ===
What Does Sprint Do Now?
~ Posted by Heidi N. Moore | http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2008/06/05/what-does-sprint-do-now/?mod=yahoo_hs | June 5, 2008, 5:00 pm --

It was inevitable: Sprint, bumbling for years with its failed integration of Nextel and ensuing restructurings, was destined to be left in the dust by any big rivals who got smart enough to merge.

Well, it has happened. Verizon Wireless and Alltel’s $28 billion deal today changes the game for telecommunications operators, and the pressure is global, as seen in France Telecom’s unsolicited (and now, rejected) $46.4 billion offer for Sweden’s TeliaSonera today.

Some people are plumping for a Sprint combination with T-Mobile. The math is appealing: Sprint has 21% of U.S. subscribers, and T-Mobile has 11%. Together, their 32% market share (assuming few subscribers leave) would make Sprint-T-Mobile the biggest wireless company in the U.S., ahead of AT&T, the current No. 1, and Verizon-Alltel, which would vault ahead of AT&T when the combination is completed.

In fact, having seen the Verizon-Alltel deal, many already are buying tickets to the merger race to see who’s next. MetroPCS and LEAP Wireless, who have spoken about a merger in the past, are another favored pair.

But merger-by-numbers isn’t going to help Sprint. (The only number Sprint should be worrying about now is this: $32 billion–the amount Sprint had to write down related to its acquisition of Nextel and roughly the entire market cap of Nextel just before Sprint acquired it in 2005.)

For once, Sprint should consider doing nothing. Or rather, taking care of its current business. Several months ago, Sprint-Nextel was a disaster and we floated the question of whether Sprint should get acquired. Since then, Sprint’s profile has changed a lot: it may be considering selling off Nextel, and it is part of a big, ambitious joint venture with Clearwire. Sprint–never a talented multitasker–has too much on its plate right now to take on a merger. For one thing, industry insiders expect and want Sprint to sell off Nextel. One name that has been floated around as a suggestion is South Korea’s SK Telecom, one banker said to Deal Journal.

Another issue is what strategic direction Sprint wants to commit to. Does it want to take over T-Mobile and spend its time integrating that, or does Sprint want instead to put its faith in its recently signed Wi-Max joint venture with Clearwire? Last month, Sprint signed the deal with Clearwire to start thinking about future, faster wireless networks while rivals battled it out for the scraps of the current business. Sprint has committed to not competing with the joint venture, which means its eye is firmly on the future. If all that is in place, why would Sprint take a sharp left and merge with T-Mobile?

Sprint’s rivals are ready to merge. But Sprint, having already been burned by its disastrous deal with Nextel, should maybe sit this round out.

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Verizon may buy Alltel for $27B (per CNBC)

A deal of this magnitude will require Vodafone's approval. Wonder if VOD will use this transaction to push for a buy-out of its stake?
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Verizon in Talks to Buy Alltel for $27 Billion

~ www.cnbc.com/id/24971121/site/14081545?__source=yahoo%7Cheadline%7Cquote%7Ctext%7C&par=yahoo | CNBC Anchor and Reporter | 04 Jun 2008 | 02:51 PM ET

Verizon is deep in talks to acquire Alltel, the nation's fifth largest wireless carrier, for roughly $27 billion, people close to the talks have told CNBC.

Alltel was only recently taken private by TPG and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners in a $27.5 billion deal. That deal, announced in May of last year, closed in November.

Verizon seems likely to pay no more than did TPG and Goldman, and will be doing so for a company that has increased its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) by 10 percent since the leveraged buyout was announced last may.

Verizon is expected to pay roughly 8 times Alltel's current Ebitda, in contrast to the 9.2 times Ebitda that TPG and Goldman paid last year when they put in roughly $4.6 billion of equity and lined up $23.8 billion of debt financing to get the deal done.

Officials at Verizon and Alltel declined all comment.

Verizon has long been looked at as the ultimate purchaser of Alltel, but failed to bid when the company was auctioned in the spring of 2007. According to people involved in that auction, Verizon believed Alltel's valuation was too high.

Of course, that was a far different time in the credit markets, when financial buyers were routinely outbidding strategic buyers despite the cost savings and revenue synergies available to the strategic buyers.

One year later, Verizon stands ready to take advantage of those cost advantages with this expected purchase.

Alltel's network is contiguous with Verizon's own and will allow the carrier to save the roaming charges it pays Alltel.

The addition of the network to Verizon is also expected to bring significant cost advantages in other areas.

Sources told CNBC that the sponsors are willing to sell only six months after they closed the deal because they'll get a slight premium to their equity investment, and there is a broad desire within private equity these days to generate a return when one is available.

While the premium for the equity may be slight, given the enormous leverage in the deal, the returns would seem to be good ones for TPG and Goldman.

Verizon's wireless unit is a dominant carrier in the United States and contributes the vast bulk of the company's cash flow.

Wireless Data Blasts Off, Verizon Says
~ http://www.redherring.com/Home/24300 | 29 May 2008, 12:55
by Ken Schachter --

Verizon Wireless may not have the iPhone, but its wireless data revenue is exploding nonetheless, Verizon Chief Financial Officer Doreen Toben said Thursday.

Speaking at the Lehman Brothers Wireless and Wireline Conference in New York City, Ms. Toben said that wireless data revenues grew 65 percent in 2007, representing almost one-quarter of service revenues for Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon and Vodafone.

Data service represents a high-margin business for wireless carriers compared to core voice service, whose margins have shrunk with the entrance of low-cost competitors.

On an annualized basis, first quarter data revenue would reach almost $10 billion, she said, putting Verizon “only at the beginning of explosive growth.”

That growth has come without iconic hardware like the iPhone, which remains anchored to the network of rival AT&T Wireless through an exclusive deal with Apple.

With a next-generation iPhone expected to be released within weeks, Ms. Toben was asked how Verizon Wireless might respond if AT&T decided to subsidize the model. Current models range from $399 to $499 and a subsidy could extend the market for the hit web-enabled phone whose users tend to be heavy data users.

Verizon Wireless executives have “spent a lot of time on the devices that we would offer” and will release a string of devices through year’s end, she said without offering specifics.

Furthering the company’s push in wireless data will be a next-generation 4G network and the acquisition of 700 megahertz spectrum licenses through government auctions, she said.

“When you think about people and their devices and the need to connect and manage those devices like digital media players, digital cameras, gaming consoles, medical monitoring devices, appliances in your home, energy systems, automotive and navigation systems, you begin to see the tremendous opportunity for growth,” Ms. Toben added.

Verizon also is rolling out a fiber-optic network to carry voice, TV and Internet services in a challenge to cable companies. In the first quarter, Ms. Toben said, Verizon’s FiOS TV attracted 263,000 new customers, bringing the total to 1.2 million, a 19 percent penetration rate of its coverage area.

Last week, the company filed an application for a video franchise with New York City covering 3.1 million homes, including multiple dwelling units.

The company’s FiOS Internet service has 1.8 million subscribers for a 23 percent penetration rate.

The company forecasts 25 percent penetration of FiOS TV and 35 percent penetration of FiOS Internet by the end of 2010.

China Tel partners w/ Sprint following CDMA buy

Not what the below article is about, but believe that China Tel and Sprint could both benefit greatly from a more involved partnership.
Especially promising, it seems to me, is PTT over China Tel's newly acquired CDMA network. Imagine Chinese users would prefer communications, instead of via e-mail typing of complex Chinese characters, much quicker voice communications via push-to-talk (PTT).
Would think PTT would be absolutely huge in China.
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China Telecom Americas and Sprint Partner to Expand MPLS Capabilities
~ http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080603/dc23962.html?.v=1 | HERNDON, Va. and OVERLAND PARK, Kan., June 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- | Tuesday June 3, 9:00 am ET --

China Telecom Americas, the largest international subsidiary of China Telecom Limited (NYSE: CHA - News), is collaborating with Sprint (NYSE: S - News) to strengthen its global MPLS VPN capabilities by interconnecting the data networks of the two companies. This will allow China Telecom Americas' customers to experience the same congestion-free connectivity with security, redundancy and quality of service they have come to expect on the China Telecom Americas' existing MPLS network.

This relationship allows China Telecom Americas to extend its existing capabilities and footprint around the world by giving China Telecom Americas' customers access to the full range of capabilities inherent in Sprint's global Tier 1 IP network with multiple access solutions, enabling Class of Service for data, voice and video. China Telecom Americas' MPLS VPN network is connected directly to Sprint's network via network-to-network interfaces (NNI).

"This collaboration enables businesses to simplify network operations worldwide by providing data, voice and video service on a single, secure network platform, and experience ubiquitous connectivity across China Telecom America, its parent, China Telecom and its various partner networks," said Donald Tan, President, China Telecom Americas. "Collaborating with Sprint allows China Telecom Americas to extend the reach of robust MPLS VPN capabilities as more and more companies expand their operations from the Americas into and beyond China."

China Telecom deployed 200+ PEs in Asia and has hundreds of access PoPs worldwide. Connecting with its parent's network, China Telecom Americas continues to grow IP business within the Americas, helping customers with mission critical applications develop plans for the future by enhancing the capabilities available to their businesses and enabling connectivity to wherever customers are doing business.

"Building on our NNI relationship with China Telecom Corporation Limited to extend Sprint's Global MPLS capabilities for our customers in China, we're pleased to deepen that relationship by supporting China Telecom Americas," said Dan Dooley, president of wireline services at Sprint. "China Telecom Americas now can better meet customer needs in North and South America with a seamless data network experience and serve as a one-stop shop for their customers."

Sprint provides significant wholesale IP/MPLS services to United States and global ISPs interested in expanding their footprint into the U.S. and around the world. Sprint's Global MPLS capabilities reach 137 countries worldwide. Sprint continues to grow IP business domestically and internationally, helping customers plan for the future by enhancing the capabilities available and enabling connectivity to wherever customers conduct business.

About China Telecom Americas

China Telecom Americas, a wholly-owned US-based subsidiary of China Telecom Corp. Ltd. (NYSE: CHA - News), is an international telecom provider for Data, IP and Voice Wholesale services to multinational companies, organizations and international carriers requiring China domestic services and International access to China & Asia Pacific. With headquarters in Herndon, Virginia, and offices in Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Jose, and Toronto, Canada, China Telecom Americas continues to expand its reach, including Latin America. China Telecom Americas provides a locally based, one-stop-shop, turn-key solution for everything from China domestic and international data circuits to IDC services, network management, equipment management, system integration, and much more.

About China Telecom Corporation Limited

China Telecom Corporation Limited (CHA) is the world's largest fixed-line telecommunications and broadband services provider, providing telecommunications and information services covering voice, data, image and multimedia mainly in 20 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China, with more than 220 million fixed line subscribers and 35 million broadband subscribers. Its H shares and American Depositary Shares ("ADSs") are listed on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited and the New York Stock Exchange respectively.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving nearly 53 million customers at the end of the first quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

For additional information on China Telecom Americas or China Telecom Corporation Limited, please visit www.ctamericas.com.

China Telecom's $16B CDMA buy (per Bloomberg) --

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China Telecom to Pay $15.9 Billion for CDMA Business (Update1)

~ www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPbFUL9aRVls&refer=home | By Janet Ong and Mark Lee | June 2 (Bloomberg) --

China Telecommunications Corp., the country's biggest fixed-line phone company, will pay 110 billion yuan ($15.9 billion) for part of China United Telecommunications Corp.'s mobile-phone assets in a government industry revamp.

China Telecommunications will buy China United's code division multiple access network for 66.2 billion yuan, and will pay 43.8 billion yuan for its subscribers, the fixed-line carrier said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange today. Trading of the company's shares, suspended in Hong Kong since May 23, will resume tomorrow, the China Telecom said.

The price that China Telecommunications will pay for the CDMA business is in line with the $16 billion that Hutchison Essar Ltd., India's third-biggest mobile carrier, was valued at when it was acquired by Vodafone Group Plc last year. The fixed- line company, which is losing users to China Mobile Ltd., will enter the faster-growing wireless market as the government attempts to foster greater competition.

"The CDMA business is barely profitable, and should be priced at a discount to other emerging-market wireless operations," Francis Cheung, head of Asian telecommunications research at CLSA Ltd., said before the announcement. He expected China United's assets would sell for between 110 billion yuan and 120 billion yuan.

The deals are part of the government's planned reorganization of the $105 billion telecommunications industry announced on May 24, allowing fixed-line carriers to expand into wireless services and creating three operators offering phone and Internet connections to the nation's 1.3 billion people.

Newbury, England-based Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile- phone company, paid $10.7 billion to buy 67 percent of Hutchison Essar, now re-named Vodafone Essar, in May 2007. The Indian carrier had 45.8 million users at the end of April, according to government data. China Unicom had 43.1 million CDMA users at the end of April.

China Unicom's CDMA business had a pretax profit of 1.2 billion yuan last year, compared with 1.06 billion yuan in 2006.

To contact the reporters on this story: Janet Ong in Beijing at jong3@bloomberg.net; Mark Lee in Hong Kong at wlee37@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 2, 2008 05:20 EDT

Ch Mobile TD-SCDMA license; mkt cap drops by $25B
"... China Mobile is likely to be issued a 3G license on TD-SCDMA, while rival China Telecom will get a license based on CDMA2000 technology"
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The Devil's in The Details for China Mobile and Telecom Revamp

~ www.cellular-news.com/story/31400.php | HONG KONG (Dow Jones) | 27th May 2008 --

The real story of how China Mobile lost $25 billion in market capitalization doesn't lie with the regulatory revamp the Chinese government announced last weekend, analysts say.

Mainland regulators spelled out the broad strokes of a plan to merge China's four large telecom operators into three entities offering both fixed-line and wireless service on Saturday, but analysts pointed out that news of the restructuring had long been anticipated by the market.

What put the knife into China Mobile shares was part of the policy statement referring to "asymmetrical regulation" that was interpreted to mean Beijing would embrace policies designed to help smaller rivals at China Mobile's expense, they said.

Hong-Kong-listed shares of China Mobile sank 8.3% on Monday, with shares ending 0.2% lower at HK$114.70 ($14.70) on Tuesday.

The statement, issued jointly by three government agencies, also contained references to new rule that would allow inter-operator roaming at government-set rates. Another policy point referred to the issuance of third-generation licenses upon completion of the reforms.

"The fact such measures are being contemplated and the possibility there are more onerous measures we have not considered mean that the risk associated with China Mobile is higher than we had previously factored," wrote Macquarie analysts headed by Tim Smart.

Macquarie Securities Tuesday kept its "neutral" rating on the company's shares but downgraded its 12-month target price to HK$118 ($15.12) from HK$136, citing uncertainty over the asymmetric measures designed to level tilt the regulatory field in favor of its smaller rivals.

China Mobile is the nation's dominant wireless operator with a 69% share of the China's 583.5 million subscribers.

Macquarie said the operator's shares would likely remain under pressure amid regulatory uncertainty but advised investors to accumulate below HK$105.

Share of the three other listed telecom players affected by the restructuring China Unicom, China Netcom Group, and China Telecom have been suspended from trading since Friday.

Macquarie said regulations designed to curb China Mobile's dominance could include one-sided rules on number portability, caps on its share of cellular subscribers, forced differentials in service charges and handicaps in the form of higher interconnection charges with other networks. Additional regulation could see China Mobile offer low-cost roaming to its competitor and rules that require it to open its relay towers to support the radio electronics of other carriers.

Citigroup kept its "buy" recommendation on the company's shares, saying the impact of any regulatory changes won't be felt before late in 2009. Citigroup has a 12-month price target on China Mobile shares of $150.

Citi noted China Mobile is likely to be issued a 3G license on TD-SCDMA, while rival China Telecom will get a license based on CDMA2000 technology.

Goldman Sachs downgraded China Mobile to "sell" from "neutral" and slashed its target price to HK$105 from HK$135.

"It looks likely to be headed into a uniquely unfavorable regulatory regime," wrote Goldman analysts headed by Helen Zhu.

"Apple looks to fill 4G job" (Fortune)

Apple looks to fill 4G job
~ By Scott Moritz | http://techland.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2008/05/23/apple-looks-to-fill-4g-job/?source=yahoo_quote | May 23, 2008, 1:31 pm--

Help wanted: Apple seeks wireless engineer to help steer its course in so-called fourth-generation technology.

The Cupertino, Calif. Mac maker has posted an opening for a senior engineer to “work in a technology group on next generation wireless communications products.” The job posting - which was first reported by the Appleinsider blog - ask for applicants with knowledge in “Bluetooth, 3G, ultrawideband, WiMAX, GPS, Mobile TV and similar wireless technologies.”

Clearly, Apple has plans to create new 4G mobile devices and build 4G wireless capabilities into existing products like notebooks, tablets and phones.

“I think they recognize that these are important and potentially viable technology standards,” says Michael Cote an independent wireless consultant. “Should these technologies gain traction, they would like to be on the forefront” in terms of products. Fourth-generation technology is expected as early as 2010.

Apple’s wishlist of 4G skills for its future engineer stands out for another reason: the presence of WiMax and the absence of long term evolution, or LTE. Is this an endorsement of the Sprint/Clearwire/Intel WiMax camp and a rejection of the fourth-generation LTE path wireless embraced by telco giants AT&T and Verizon?

No, says Cote, don’t jump to any WiMax conclusions. The reason you don’t see LTE on the list is because it doesn’t yet exist as a standard. It might be appear a little suspicious if someone said they had LTE experience, says Cote.

The job listing goes on to say that candidates must be open to global travel, flexible in changing work environments and “be fluent in wireless communications standards and wireless technology.”

Picture a Maxwell Smart-type character that speaks in 4G.

UK spectrum | telecoms commiss to bar Q's MediaFLO over DVB-H (Register)
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Qualcomm splurges on UK spectrum
Just bag up the whole lot for me, please
~ By Bill Ray | www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/16/qualcomm_buys_l_band/ | 2008'05'16 14:31 GMT --

US technology company Qualcomm has scooped all 17 chunks of UK-L-Band spectrum, auctioned over the last week, for a total of £8,334,000 -- so you can expect MediaFLO announcements from UK operators any day now.

The auction and started out with nine bidders competing for various combinations of the single 12.5MHz chunk and 16 lots of 1.7MHz each. The bidding closed on Wednesday, but the results finally released this morning reveal that Qualcomm has snaffled the lot.

Other bidders included private radio networks and MVNOs, most of whom dropped out after a few rounds of bidding. O2 pulled out before the auction started (just in time to get their deposit back), and only Vectone and Worldspace stayed the duration against Qualcomm.

We still don't know what Vectone had in mind to do with the L-Band, but WorldSpace will be very disappointed to have lost the larger chunk -- it holds licences for its use in Switzerland, Germany and Italy, and was convinced no one else would be interested. That frequency is reserved in parts of Europe for satellite radio, but not in the UK, so anyone who uses it will have to avoid interference from WorldSpace's Europe-wide transmissions.

Officially Qualcomm isn't saying what it's planning to use the spectrum for, apparently it is still examining options and will respond to market demand. But everything we hear points towards MediaFLO, the mobile TV broadcast system in which Qualcomm has considerable interest. While the EU officially endorses DVB-H (the mobile TV broadcast system in which Nokia has considerable interest), and MBMS (as part of the GSM standard), Qualcomm has made it clear it sees space for MediaFLO in Europe -- and now it has the spectrum to make that happen.

In the USA Qualcomm has successfully sold MediaFLO to network operators, bundled with the spectrum they need to use it and the infrastructure to run it. The same approach in the UK will be warmly received by operators wary of rolling out their own infrastructure or fiddling around with 3G implementations. Faced with paying to build a DVB-H network, or signing a contract with Qualcomm, few operators will choose the former.

EU telecoms commissioner Viviane Reding has made clear that if mobile TV deployments don't conform to the recommended standard, DVB-H, she'll legislate to make it happen. Ofcom, the UK's regulator, will fight Qualcomm's corner -- they want all spectrum licensing to be technology neutral, so if the EU decides to enforce the standard they'll have a fight on their hands, and something to keep Qualcomm's lawyers busy for a decade or two.

Alltel: We will deploy LTE (RCR)
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Alltel: We will deploy LTE
Technology still three to five years out
~ By Matt Kapko | www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080515/FREE/237472331/1014 | Story posted: May 15, 2008 - 12:46 pm EDT --

Alltel Corp. has committed to LTE as its technological choice for a 4G network, but any significant network upgrades are still three to five years out, the company said on a conference call with investors after releasing financial results from the previous quarter.

“We do currently plan to move towards LTE in the three-to-five year timeframe versus WiMAX, but we’re still early in that,” President and CEO Scott Ford said.

“We are working through our planning phase and will be talking to our board about all that over the next two quarters,” Chief Operating Officer Jeff Fox added. “Certainly there’s no money for 4G evolution anytime in our near-term plans, and so I think from a cash-flow perspective you should not expect to see us talking about 4G anytime at least in 2008.”

AT&T Mobility and Verizon Wireless earlier this year committed to the technology for their 4G plans, and will deploy the spectrum across their recently acquired 700 MHz spectrum. Those carriers’ deployment timelines somewhat mirror Alltel’s.

Further, Alltel is the second major CDMA carrier (after Verizon Wireless) to switch tracks and select LTE — which stands on the GSM evolution path — as its 4G choice. Thus, the future of UMB, the 4G upgrade for CDMA, remains that much cloudier.

Clearwire Corp., which recently benefited from a seven-party deal to form a much larger Clearwire that would include Sprint Nextel Corp.’s WiMAX business, stands alone as the only major carrier to select WiMAX as its network technology of choice.

Despite being taken private in a $27.5 billion acquisition by equity firms last November, Alltel Corp. recorded nearly $125 million in losses during the past quarter, its first full period off the New York Stock Exchange. The company, which blamed the losses on costs associated with the deal, profited $230 million in the same period a year prior.

The No. 5 carrier’s net subscriber adds surged, however, with nearly 380,000 new customers coming into the fold in the quarter, up 63% year-over-year. Alltel’s total subscriber base climbed 9% to just over 13 million customers at the quarter’s close. Subscriber growth was in some cases double what analysts predicted for the quarter.

Average revenue per user (ARPU) jumped 2% from $52.49 to $53.64 while customer churn was also up from 1.77% to 1.83% year-over-year. Data ARPU climbed 60% from the year prior to $7.50. Revenues were up 11% overall to $2.3 billion.

US OMVC recommends LG/Samsung mobile TV (Register)
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Koreans tout standard for US mobile TVLG and Samsung have just what you need
~ By Bill Ray | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/15/omvc_mobile_tv_standard/ | 2008'05'15 15:52 GMT --

LG and Samsung have teamed up to have their respective technologies accepted as the American standard for mobile TV, just as Dish starts casting around for someone to help them build such a network.

America already has a couple of broadcast mobile TV networks based around Qualcomm's MediaFLO technology. But last year the Open Mobile Video Coalition was set up to define a standard for mobile broadcasting, on the basis that there aren't nearly enough standards already.

The coalition is made up of broadcasters - no-one else is allowed to join - and includes Fox, ION and NBC amongst others representing more than 850 TV stations around the USA. They've been looking at various technologies to make up their new standard, and today announced the conclusion of trials using technologies from LG and Samsung with the recommendation that they be adopted.

The technologies involved are LG's "Mobile-Pedestrian-Handheld" and Samsung's "Advanced VSB". This combination was shown to provide decent reception on the move, and up to 40 miles from the transmitter, though that will depend on the frequency.

"Agreement on a standard takes our industry to the next level in the development and rollout of products and services, and the OMVC remains fully committed to the ATSC's current planned schedule of adopting a final standard by July of 2009," said Anne Schelle, executive director of the OMVC, in a statement.

That might not be soon enough for companies such as Dish, which has just spent $712m on a chunk of 700MHz spectrum that will be available from February next year. It wants to get mobile TV up and running quickly, though it revealed in its quarterly results call that it's looking for a partner to share the cost of building the network. Dish has been testing various standards, including DVB-SH, but has yet to settle on a technology.

Not that the OMVC is planning to wait long: "Next we'll be focused on consumer trials with the goal of realizing mobile DTV for consumers as soon as possible," continues Anne Schelle. This is good to hear, as right now the industry seems to be prepared to invest massively in a service with still very unproven demand.

QCOM & BCOMroadcom Leap Up Top-20 Semiconductor Rankings (Cellular News)
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Qualcomm, Broadcom Leap Up Top-20 Semiconductor Rankings
~ www.cellular-news.com/story/31180_2.php

IC Insights’ May update to The McClean Report describes the big shakeup in the 1Q08 top 20 semiconductor supplier ranking. There are eight U.S. companies in the top 20 (including three fabless semiconductor suppliers), six Japanese, three European, two South Korean, and one Taiwanese company (IC foundry supplier TSMC) in the ranking.

As shown, it required at least $1 billion in first quarter sales to make the top 20 ranking. Although the top four ranked companies remained the same, there were a number of “movers and shakers” up and down the remainder of the 1Q08 ranking as compared to their full-year 2007 positions.

Climbers

Cell phone IC supplier Qualcomm used a 29% year-over year 1Q08 growth rate to jump four spots and rank as the 10th largest semiconductor supplier in 1Q08.

The third largest fabless supplier, Broadcom, also jumped four positions in the ranking and is now positioned as the 20th largest semiconductor supplier in the world.

Japanese consumer electronics powerhouse Panasonic (formerly Matsushita) jumped three places and moved into the 19th position in the top 20 ranking.

NEC moved up two positions in the ranking from 15th to 13th.
Nvidia, the second-largest fabless supplier, registered a blistering 37% year-over-year increase in sales to move into the 18th position in the ranking, up two places from its full-year 2007 rank.

Moving up one place in 1Q08 were TSMC, Renesas, Sony, and Infineon.

DESCENDERS

DRAM-supplier Qimonda’s nightmare continued in 1Q08 as the company dropped 10 positions from being ranked 19th overall in 2007 to 29th in 1Q08. The company endured a 1Q08/1Q07 sales decline of 52%.

IBM also fell from the top 20 ranking even though its 1Q08/1Q07 sales increased 12%. IC Insights estimates the company is now ranked as the 22nd largest semiconductor supplier in the world, down from 18th in 2007.

Despite a moderate 4% 1Q08/1Q07 sales increase, NXP fell three positions in the 1Q08 ranking to 14th from 11th.

AMD posted a solid 22% increase in 1Q08/1Q07 sales, yet slid two positions from 10th to 12th. Memory suppliers Hynix (#9) and Micron (#15) each fell two spots in the ranking although Micron showed a 2% increase in 1Q08/1Q07 sales while sales at Hynix dropped 35%.

ST fell one position in the ranking and now occupies the 6th spot. It should be noted that the company’s 1Q08 and 1Q07 figures do not include FMG (flash memory group) sales, which are now part of Numonyx’s sales. As shown, the company registered a nice 12% year-over-year growth rate in 1Q08 and has a relatively positive outlook for its second quarter as well.

With many of the major DRAM and flash suppliers (e.g., Qimonda, Elpida, Spansion, Powerchip, Nanya, etc.) no longer part of the top 20 ranking, the total 1Q08/1Q07 sales of the top 20 semiconductor suppliers displayed a very strong 11% increase as compared to the total worldwide semiconductor market increase of 4%. Among the top 20 semiconductor suppliers, there was a 79-point swing from the fastest growing company (TSMC at +44%) to the company showing the steepest decline (Hynix at -35%)!

Moreover, 14 of the top 20 companies had double-digit 1Q08/1Q07 growth rates, including the top two companies Intel and Samsung, while only two (Toshiba and Hynix) had declines.

As was mentioned in IC Insights’ March Update to The McClean Report, currency fluctuations are going to play a big part in the 2008 semiconductor market figures as the strong yen and euro are converted into U.S. dollars. With the yen increasing in value 13% and the euro 14% in 1Q08 as compared to 1Q07, many Japanese and European companies’ results are getting a “boost” when converted to U.S. dollars. Moreover, it should be kept in mind that this currency effect will also impact the worldwide semiconductor market figures when reported in U.S. dollars this year.

DTV Std '09 | MediaFLO challenged (two articles)
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Samsung joins forces with LG, Harris on mobile TV
Samsung joins LG and Harris on developing new standard for mobile TV broadcasts
~ http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080514/digital_tv_mobile.html?.v=2 | NEW YORK (AP) | Wednesday May 14, 6:09 pm ET --

Samsung Electronics is combining efforts with fellow Korean electronics maker LG Electronics to develop a new standard for mobile TV broadcasts, the companies announced Wednesday.

Harris Corp., an American broadcast technology company, will provide key elements of the technology, which will allow mobile devices such as cell phones to receive signals sent out by local TV stations.

That technology will be competing with two others to become the standard for mobile TV, a decision that rests with the TV industry's technical standards-setting body for digital broadcasts.

One of the other standards is from the French video technology company Thomson. The third is from Qualcomm Inc., which developed the MediaFLO video service currently offered for a monthly fee on mobile phones by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc.

The TV industry wants to set a single standard for mobile TV broadcasts -- and avoid a costly battle among them -- but it probably will find the technology then must compete with other video technologies offered by cell phone carriers.

The standard-setting body, the Advanced Television Systems Committee, is expected to select a standard by early next year.

Mobile TV broadcasts are one of the ways broadcasters hope to capitalize on a federally mandated switch to all-digital signals. After Feb. 17, 2009, all regular analog broadcasts will stop and older, non-digital TVs not connected to cable will need a converter to display broadcasts.
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LG, Samsung Get Up in Qualcomm’s Face on Mobile TV
~ Tara Seals | www.newtelephony.com/news/lg-samsung-get-up-in-qualcomms-face.html | 05/14/2008 --

Oh, snap: Qualcomm Inc. better take notice ‘cuz LG Electronics and Samsung are in the house – the same house – to take on Qualcomm’s MediaFLO in the mobile TV space.

Should the big Q care, considering it’s got mobile TV contracts sewn up with Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc.? In a word: perhaps. Because LG and Samsung have fish to fry other than the service providers. They’re aiming to cut deals directly with broadcasters, competing head to head with cellcos, cable companies and others for not only mobile DTV, but perhaps DTV in general.

While the two device makers already have developed their own mobile TV technologies, they said that they would now be teaming to pool their resources to support the U.S.’s Advanced Television Systems Committee in its quest to develop a mobile TV standard to "enable broadcasters to deliver television content and data to mobile and handheld devices via their DTV broadcast signal."

Those broadcasters are represented, along with most of the top U.S. content providers, by something called the Open Mobile Video Coalition, focused on mobile television. Among the stakeholders are TV station owners and brands with a vested interest in being able to directly deliver their wares to mobile consumers – or consumers in general – without being beholden to a service provider.

The OMVC will soon choose a mobile DTV standard to support, and the top existing contenders are MediaFLO and DVB-H. But by developing a DTV standard that makes use of the technology behind the Feb. 17, 2009 move to digital television, LG and Samsung have the potential to allow OMVC members to tap not only mobile consumers but to eventually “go direct” to other devices in the digital home – devices, for instance, that might be developed by Samsung, one of the world’s top television makers. The result? Millions and millions and millions of potential subscribers.

So yes, perhaps Qualcomm should pay attention.

"Why AT&T May Deep-Discount the iPhone" (BW)

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Why AT&T May Deep-Discount the iPhone
With competitive pressures mounting, the phone company may cut the iPhone's price to boost demand—and cement its relationship with Apple
~ BW Technology - by Arik Hesseldahl | www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2008/tc20080430_591776.htm?link_position=link1 | May 1, 2008, 12:01AM EST --

The big thing about the next iPhone was supposed to be high-speed Internet access and tools for business. Instead, it's looking like iPhone 2.0 is all about price and that ever-awkward relationship between Apple and AT&T.

With less than two months to go before Steve Jobs takes the stage at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, where he's expected to unveil a new iPhone, it appears that AT&T may not be convinced that new bells and whistles will be enough to get droves of new customers to switch from other wireless carriers. So after a year of charting a new wireless business model by selling the vaunted iPhone at premium prices, the nation's biggest phone company may resort to the oldest trick in the cellular book: big discounts.

Although it has sent millions of new customers AT&T's way, this unique market advantage known as the iPhone will only last so long. With every passing month, rival device makers are introducing new handhelds that attempt to replicate the wide array of innovations—starting with sheer simplicity—that Apple (AAPL) used to rock the wireless world less than a year ago. None of these new phones has duplicated Apple's formula for success yet, but it may be only a matter of time.

Stimulating Demand
Published reports that first appeared on the Web site of Fortune Magazine suggest that AT&T, which has an exclusive five-year deal to sell the iPhone in the U.S., is prepared to subsidize the device by as much as $200, slicing the purchase price as low as $199 for customers who sign a two-year service contract. Apple and AT&T declined to comment on the matter.

Such a discount could cause a surge in demand. At last count, Apple had sold some 5.4 million units, the vast majority of them for AT&T's network, even with price tags of $400 to $600 — essentially unheard of in the U.S. cellular market. Impressively, AT&T says 40% of its iPhone users are new customers. Yet with rival smartphones like Research In Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry and a new Palm (PALM) Treo selling for as little at $99 at some carriers, competitive pressures are building.

But a price cut might be about more than nabbing new customers. AT&T's goal may also be to boost monthly revenues from existing subscribers who switch to the iPhone, as the big colorful screen and robust Web browser on the Apple device tends to make iPhone owners heavier users of AT&T's wireless data services. AT&T brings in about $90 a month from each iPhone user, reckons John Hodulik, analyst with UBS Investment Research (UBS). "When Apple cut the price on the iPhone by 33% earlier this year, it stimulated demand," he says. "If this new price turns out to be true, it would do it again. It's like déjà vu all over again."

For AT&T, eager to generate returns on its multibillion-dollar investments in a next-generation data network, a $200 subsidy on a device with a proven success record may be a no-brainer, says Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group. "This is not unexpected at all," he says. "The $200 is a small fraction of the revenue that AT&T makes over a two-year contract.

Open Marriage?
There's also been speculation, considered unlikely, that AT&T might be floating the idea of an iPhone subsidy to reinforce its marriage with a partner as notoriously slippery and heavy-handed as Apple.

Some have suggested, for example, that Apple might try to argue that the new iPhone isn't covered by the exclusive rights given AT&T for the first edition, and thus walk away from AT&T. In theory, this would open the door to a version for the technology used by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel (S). The speculation has been fueled in part by comments from Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, in February, when he said that Apple "isn't married" to any particular business model.

Likewise, rumors have emerged in recent weeks that Apple is considering selling an iPhone in Australia that would work with multiple carriers. But most analysts dismiss that possibility as unlikely, at least in the U.S. "As far as anyone knows Apple is married to AT&T for another four years," Hodulik says.

Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com

"Ryder Trucks - GPS RFID drive success" (RCR)

No mention of Omnitracks
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Ryder rides into wireless
GPS, RFID contribute to fleet’s business success

~ By Kelly Hill | http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080501/FREE/310879680/1014 | Story posted: May 1, 2008 - 2:09 pm EDT --

Wireless technology helps Ryder Systems Inc. keep track of its fleet of nearly 160,000 vehicles and provide its customers with services that include trip reports to help cut down on fuel usage and track driver habits, as well as streamline a warehousing process that is more precise thanks to wireless use.

The Florida-based international company operates provides transportation, logistics and supply-chain solutions for customers that range from manufacturers shipping goods to major retailers, to companies such as Dunkin’ Donuts, Home Depot and newspaper publishers. Fleet management makes up the bulk of the company’s business, accounting for $1.11 billion in total revenue during the first quarter of 2008. Supply-chain services generated $414.2 million in revenue and dedicated contract carriage (in which transportation and logistics services are dedicated to a specific customer for a contracted time period) brought in revenue of $137.2 million in the quarter.

Ryder has an exclusive domestic arrangement with AT&T Wireless and the ability to roam through AT&T in Canada and Mexico, according to Steve Hitchings, vice president of fleet management solutions for Ryder Systems. Hitchings said that Ryder also is negotiating with other carriers abroad for network access.

RydeSmart

The company offers its RydeSmart wireless product to its customers and for internal use. RydeSmart relies on an external antenna and connection to the vehicle’s internal electronic systems as well as GPS technology, and produces detailed reports including the location of vehicles, speed, summaries of stops and mileage, idle time and identifying when a vehicle approaches or leaves a pick-up area. Ryder offers three levels of RydeSmart service, which can include two-way text-messaging with drivers, providing route information to drivers via an in-cab display, and tracking drivers’ hours of service to keep compliance with Department of Transportation laws. Ryder says that use of RydeSmart has led to fuel cost reductions of 10% to 15%, saved 15 minutes per driver per day, and simplified reporting for its customers by generated automated reports for fuel taxes and state and federal requirements.

RydeSmart was initiated as a pilot program last year, Hitchings said; the company now is in the midst of a national rollout.

RFID uses

Wireless also comes into play on the supply chain side of Ryder’s business, including wireless handhelds and the use of RFID technology. The company has “extensive use of wireless within the warehouses, all the way through the warehouse process, from receiving to shipping … There are very few manual operations within Ryder in that regard,” Hitchings said.

“We made a decision years ago from an inventory control and inventory accuracy perspective, that in order to be able to provide world-class operations for our customers … the only way to do that was through wireless technology,” he added.

Wireless technology provides automated proof of delivery and helps keep track of inventory, and Hitchings said that such advances have helped customers cut down on bad debt, generate more profit and drastically cut receivables from a 60-day range to just a few days, since payment for orders is automatically deducted from retailers’ accounts.

Testing lab

Ryder also has set aside a section of a warehouse in Dallas/Fort Worth as an RFID lab to test out various configurations of RFID use, which includes a high-speed conveyor, shrink-wrap machine with RFID tag readers, an RFID label printer and other tag readers and writers. The lab, which must keep up with software releases and other changes in the evolving technology, is in its third phase of development to implement more devices and more material-handling equipment with RFID readers. Hitchings said that the lab’s location at a working warehouse is a plus, because it allows for RFID testing under real-world circumstances.

One of the challenges of Ryder’s use of wireless includes dealing with the relatively fragmented telematics market. Although costs of hardware have come down, Hitchings said he hoped that consolidation in the market would continue to drive down costs as well as produce more end-to-end products. So far, he said, Ryder has played the role of integrator for wireless solutions.

“We have, almost on a daily basis, people that are bringing new solutions that they would like us to look into,” Hitchings said. “A lot of what we see is really focused on one or two items, not an overarching solution for what we need from a wireless perspective.”

Early View on AT&T's MediaFLO - $15/mo too much (duh!!!)

We all know this needs to be a bifurcated offering with a solid segment of advertising supported free programming .... supplemented with pay-per-view (e.g., march madness tourney) and other premium offerings.
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An early look at AT&T Mobility’s MediaFLO mobile TV service
REVIEW: $15-a-month offering needs more content

~ By Matt Kapko | http://www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080429/FREE/214498932/1019 | Story posted: April 29, 2008 - 1:02 pm EDT--

AT&T Mobility’s MediaFLO-based mobile TV service has not yet officially launched; after a couple of false starts, the carrier appears set to launch the service, along with a pair of devices, in the coming weeks.

However, RCR Wireless News obtained an LG Electronics Co. Ltd. Vu handset that supports the service. After popping in our AT&T SIM card, we were able to purchase the AT&T Mobile TV with FLO service as an add-on for $15 a month. The service launched immediately and was working without error in our Los Angeles office.

Unsurprisingly, the service offers many of the same features and functions as Verizon Wireless’ MediaFLO-based mobile TV (which runs on the same Qualcomm Inc.-built network). But what's holding our attention right now is a channel on the AT&T programming guide with "CNCRT" as its call letters. "Coming soon. Concerts exclusively on AT&T Mobile TV with FLO," the screen reads alongside a stock photo of Avril Lavigne. No sound, no moving pictures yet, just that single image staring back at us.

AT&T declined to comment on what content will make its way to the channel once it's live, but we've seen a few ads on the channels indicating bands like U2 and Dave Matthews Band might be hitting our LG Vu's touchscreen soon. AT&T promises we'll know more once the service launches.

We also had fun comparing the service with our at-home programming. Network shows are re-broadcast multiple times throughout the day on the MediaFLO deck, for instance. CNN and ESPN frequently use larger, full-screen text blocks to make news nuggets easier to read. And, audio and video quality has been consistent when there is a solid signal for the service while some pockets we visited in the Los Angeles and Orange County area went completely dark. At times, one channel would come in clear, then another would take awhile to acquire a signal.

After waiting more than a year since Verizon Wireless launched MediaFLO services last March, we've been holding out hope that AT&T had something more compelling up its sleeve to throw into the mix. And so, we're anxious to see what AT&T has in store for the concerts channel. It was nice to see CNN recently added to the lineup (it's election season, and we're news junkies after all), but we're having a hard time watching PIX, Sony Pictures Television's channel. We've seen "Christine," "Ghostbusters," and "Flatliners" re-aired numerous times and hope the company plans to include much more of its extensive catalog before the service goes primetime.

From what we've seen, we think AT&T has a solid broadcast mobile TV offering that can compete and perhaps outpace the reach of Verizon Wireless' Vcast Mobile TV. With the concerts channel and (hopefully) more services like datacasting on the way from MediaFLO, mobile TV just might strike the chord it's failed to strum thus far.

Interestingly, AT&T’s mobile TV effort lands in a somewhat crowded space. Players range from SlingPlayer Mobile to MobiTV Inc. and GoTV Networks Inc., all of which run over carriers’ current cellular networks. And then there are TV broadcasters that might launch their own, independent service. Even Dish Network Corp., which is affiliated with Sling Media, has made a bet on wireless spectrum and announced a mobile TV trial soon .

As for MediaFLO, the service has suffered continued delays as Qualcomm waits for TV broadcasters to clear up the spectrum and move to digital-only broadcasts. Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs lamented the sluggish pace of MediaFLO at a conference last month.

Reliance launching India-wide GSM | WHY?

Belive India mandated spectrum used for GSM standard. Is this correct? If so, why is Inda gov't involved in technology decisions??
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~ http://www.cellular-news.com/story/30829.php

Reliance Plans Nationwide GSM Network by Financial Year End

India's Reliance Communication has said that it expects to launch a nationwide GSM network by the end of the current financial year - making it the only national operator in the country to offer both GSM and CDMA services.

At present, Reliance Telecom's GSM cellular services are already available in 340 towns within its eight-circle footprint. Reliance's CDMA services are available in 19 states and cover about 65% of the country, state wise. The company has been applying for licenses and radio spectrum to expand its GSM coverage to a national foorprint.

"We are aiming to set up nationwide GSM and CDMA network by fiscal end which will cover 23,000 towns and six lakh (600,000) villages serving 97 per cent of the Indian population," Reliance Communications President S P Shukla said.

Reliance Communications says that it will roll out mobile network in another 8,000 towns and 200,000 villages over the next six months.

The company is renewing its focus on growing its rural customer base and also announced a series of new low cost tariffs for the rural market.

According to figures from the Mobile World analysts, Reliance ended last year with some 45.8 million customers, of which 38.8 are connected to CDMA services and 7 million on the GSM network.

Posted to the site on 28th April 2008

Clearwire takeover ? (rumors) -- would be interesting if Qualcomm worked with a PE firm to take this spectrum and implement UMB. Doubt rumors have anything to do with Q, especially in light of Q's increasing coziness with LTE (see also -- )
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Clearwire Higher As Takeover Rumors Crop Up
~ Posted by Eric Savitz | http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2008/04/22/clearwire-higher-as-takeover-rumors-crop-up/?mod=BOLBlog?mod=yahoobarrons | April 22, 2008, 3:22 pm --

Clearwire (CLWR) shares are a bright spot in today’s downturn, apparently due to the re-emergence of takeover rumors, according to TheFlyOnTheWall.com .

The usual Clearwire rumor - you have to love a stock that is so often the subject of speculation that there is a “usual” rumor - involves a complex deal theoretically involving a combination of Clearwire with Sprint’s (S) Xohm business. And as it happens, Sprint shares are rallying today as well.
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SOMEWHAT RELATED STORY TENDING TO . . . .
Qualcomm gets cozy with LTE, makes migrating from CDMA a snap
~ by Chris Ziegler | www.engadget.com/2008/02/08/qualcomm-gets-cozy-with-lte-makes-migrating-from-cdma-a-snap/ | posted Feb 8th 2008 at 4:00AM --

What if Toshiba were to produce a Blu-ray player? If there's one surefire sign that a company is recognizing the mortality of its own standards, it's throwing some support behind the competition's -- and that's exactly what Qualcomm has done in announcing new roadmaps for its mobile and cellular base station chipsets that include LTE. LTE, one of several 4G standards competing for the hearts and minds of carriers across the world, has a huge leg up on Qualcomm's own UMB and WiMAX (which is technically a pre-4G standard, anyway) by having the blessing of the GSM Association, the global juggernaut of mobile industry organizations. Anyway, Qualcomm's new plans call for future chipsets to support various flavors of UMTS, HSPA, and EV-DO, theoretically making it easier for carriers of all creeds to migrate to LTE while still supporting legacy cells and devices. The new silicon is expected to be available next year, and without a single major carrier having signed up for UMB, we'd say that's not a moment too soon.

MetroPCS PTT jumps wireline gap (RCR)

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MetroPCS launches PTT service that can jump wireline gap
~ By Tracy Ford | www.rcrnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080417/FREE/210345094/1002 | Story posted: April 17, 2008 - 1:26 pm EDT --

Regional wireless operator MetroPCS Communications Inc. introduced its ChatLink service, a push-to-talk feature that allows its subscribers to use PTT services with people outside of MetroPCS’ network.

Kodiak Networks, which powers the ChatLink service as well as other PTT offerings from a number of carriers including AT&T Mobility and Alltel Corp., claims the MetroPCS service is the industry’s first clientless PTT offering.

Because the PTT features use the voice network, landline and wireless subscribers on other networks can still take part in PTT calls. Until now, PTT calls could only be used by people who had PTT phones and PTT subscriptions.

MetroPCS subscribers can create a network of up to 10 people and connect with via PTT by inviting non-MetroPCS subscribers to take part in the chat. People outside the MetroPCS network simply push any button to have their handset behave like a walkie-talkie. The carrier is charging $5 per month for the service.

“ChatLink is a social-networking tool. It allows our subscriber to talk to groups of friends and family at the press of a button, and they can invite any friend to join with any phone,” said MetroPCS CEO Roger Linquist.

By enabling the interoperability with other wireless and wireline carriers, MetroPCS is creating stickiness with its own subscribers, said Bruce Lawler, a co-founder and executive VP of business development and product marketing at Kodiak.

Nokia music deals dooms them to losses (Register | Orlowski)

If it pays other labels at a level similar to what its paying Universal Music, the payment will reach $116/handset to the music companies.

And Nokia was complaining that Qualcomm's enabling IPR is expensive !!!! Its willing to pay this much for an accessory!?!?!?!?!
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Nokia's Comes With Music 'comes without profits'

Has world's biggest paytard left brain in sauna?
By Andrew Orlowski | Published Thursday 17th April 2008 14:06 GMT --

Nokia will be handing over its entire handset profit margin - and more - to the record industry for its "Comes With Music" progamme, according to media analysts.

The Hollywood Reporter this week reports that Nokia is paying the world's biggest label, Universal Music Group, $35 per handset to bundle access to the label's catalogue. Punters are allowed to keep music they download.

Music business insiders expressed astonishment to us at Nokia's generosity: it's seven times what some privately estimated the deal was worth. Paid Content puts the payment to UMG at $33.5 per handset for the first 2.5 million units, falling as volumes increase.

But what if Nokia succeeds in replicating the deal with other labels? Then the extent of the programme becomes apparent. One blog, basing its estimate on market share, figures the subsidy would rise to $116 per handset. But that's a lowball figure, we reckon: it excludes publishing royalties, and underestimates the size of the indie sector which is as high as 40pc of the market, particularly with the yoof demographic Nokia wants.

The back of our envelope shows a figure closer to $150 per handset.

Either way, that comfortably wipes out any hope of a profit for Nokia on the CWM. The average selling price of a mobile handset is a shade over $100; Nokia's gross margin around a third of that.

The pride of Finnish business has been undergoing a crisis of confidence in recent years - making it easy pickings for new media consultants. These are typified by WiReD magazine's Chris Anderson, who recently lectured the company on the wisdom of giving stuff away. "Zero" was a "Radical Price", he advised. And "Minus Eighty" sure is a radical profit margin, Chris!

How the music business must wish it met "paytards" like Nokia every day.

If Qchat works ... PTT could be offered by CDMA carriers everywhere.

Would think this could be a very big selling point for selling companies on group deals. Imagine PTT is much preferred over e-mail in many cultures.

Can low end handsets in India or China be made PTT ?
If so, Nokia should be excluded from PTT.

Also recall that Sprint has some IPR benefit from Qchat ... wonder if Qualcomm should offer Sprint a few sheckles to buy any remaining IPR Sprint may have ...

Hadn't thought about PTT in quite some time .... but if it can be made to work well via Qchat, I would think it could gain some strong acceptance on networks that can handle it.

Wonder if only CDMA 2000 can handle Qchat ... or is this also available for W-CDMA ?

Sprint starts switch to CDMA PTT this summer
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Sprint starts switching its PTT network to CDMA this summer
Nextel Lives! Sprint Announces Six Phones, Wi-Fi BlackBerry for PTT
~ by Sascha Segan | www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2280805,00.asp | ~ Push-To-Talk | LAS VEGAS—04.01.08 --

Nextel isn't dead; it's just changing networks. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse made a passionate defense of Sprint's "push-to-talk" capabilities in a keynote address today, backing up his words with six new phones and the first Nextel smart phone in more than a year.

"One capability that makes Sprint unique is the push-to-talk network that sets the gold standard," Hesse said. "We think the [PTT] 'button' is so powerful, that we're launching it on our CDMA network in the next quarter. The button helps collaboration and productivity," he said.

The most-awaited new Nextel device is the most mysterious: an unnamed Wi-Fi-packing BlackBerry smart phone that runs on Nextel's iDen network. Sprint spokeswoman Amy Schiska-Lombard confirmed that phone would be coming later this year, but couldn't give any other details.

In clearer view, though, are the six new Nextel phones that all use Sprint's CDMA network, as well as the new Qualcomm QChat push-to-talk technology. On the new QChat phones, Direct Connect works on Sprint's EVDO Rev A high-speed network, so it's dependent on that coverage map, not on the old Nextel iDen coverage map. The new system supports both one-to-one and group push-to-talk calling with Nextel users, and adds the ability to have a single phone number. Previously, Nextel users had to have two numbers: one for 'ordinary' phone calls and one for push to talk.

Nextel users, however, may also mourn the disappearance of the traditional Nextel interface. The new phones will have Sprint's icons, not Nextel's.

The first two new models are the Sanyo PRO-200 and PRO-700, narrow (1.7-inch) rectangular flip phones with a distinctly non-Nextel look about them. The PRO-700 is ruggedized, and will sell for $69.99 with a two-year contract and $50 mail-in rebate; the PRO-200 isn't ruggedized, and it will cost a mere $49.99. Both models have GPS, Bluetooth , and e-mail, and some workers are going to be happy that the PRO-200 has no camera.

The Motorola V950 will be the highest-end of the next bunch of Nextels. It has a futuristic rugged flip phone look, and it's slim for a push-to-talk phone, at 4.1 by 2.1 by 0.66 inches and 4.16 ounces. It features a big, 2.2-inch, 320-by-240 screen, Bluetooth stereo, support for pretty much all of Sprint's data services, and a 2-megapixel camera. Think of the V950 as a follow-up to the popular i880, Nextel's current high-end multimedia model.

Next, the Samsung Z700 appears to be a midrange clamshell phone with a relatively basic feature set. It's quite thick at 3.7 by 1.9 by 0.96 inches, with a high-res 2.1-inch, 320-by-240 screen. It features a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a MicroSD memory card slot, and support for Sprint's music and TV services.

The Samsung Z400 is a notch down in terms of features, but it is ruggedized. It's about the same size as the Z700, but has a lower-res, 176-by-220 display, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and a rubber housing that will be important for traditional blue-collar Nextel owners. It isn't ruggedized to military spec, though—just sort-of-rugged.

Finally, the LG LX400 bridges the gap between Nextel push-to-talk and Sprint's more fashionable phones. It has a 1.3-megapixel camera, GPS, and the big Nextel speakerphone, but it also comes in a soothing burgundy color. The Lx400 measures 3.46 by 1.85 by 0.82 inches and weighs 3.1 ounces.

Sprint hasn't announced prices for any of the new phones except the Sanyo models. The new phones will appear this summer.