Microsoft and speech recognition July 31, 2006
Posted by Chetan in : Microsoft Mobile, Speech Recognition , add a commenthttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Microsoft_Voice_Recognition.html
ah! the trials and tribulations of speech recognition.
DoCoMo Numbers July 28, 2006
Posted by Chetan in : AORTA, 3G, ARPU, Japan wireless market, Worldwide Wireless Market , add a commentDoCoMo continues its impressive march. $2.64B in data revenues contributing 28% to its bottomline. Overall ARPU $60 and data ARPU is at $16.5. Voice revenues also increased slightly while data revenues increased 12.7% from a year ago. As I mentioned previously in my presentations and papers, DoCoMo has over 50% of its customers on FOMA network. They will also have 90% of their network on HSDPA by early next year.
Tech heavyweights team up on 3G July 27, 2006
Posted by Chetan in : AORTA, Strategy, 3G, Partnership, Devices, Networks, Worldwide Wireless Market, Mobile Ecosystem , add a commenthttp://news.com.com/Tech+heavyweights+team+up+on+3G/2100-1039_3-6099393.html?tag=sas.email
A group of tech heavyweights have teamed up to develop hardware and software for third-generation cell phones.
NEC, Matsushita Electric Industrial and Texas Instruments announced Thursday that they have formed a joint venture, called Adcore-Tech, that aims to create “a competitive communications platform” for 3G handsets. The partnership also includes NEC unit NEC Electronics and Matsushita subsidiary Panasonic Mobile Communications.
It will be interesting to see if this stays afloat one year from now.
Microsoft Analyst Day/Wireless/Zune
Posted by Chetan in : US Wireless Market, Smart Phone, Worldwide Wireless Market, Microsoft Mobile , 1 comment so farThere was a lot of vision discussion at Microsoft Analyst day.
Mobile future was covered by Robbie Bach http://www.microsoft.com/msft/speech/FY06/BachFAM2006.mspx. A number of devices are coming out. Currently the total number of windows mobile devices are close to 11 Million. One thing that has changed since last year, Microsoft is clearly stating that its competitors in this are RIM, Nokia, and Linux. Linux is starting to make a big dent in the smartphone arena esp. in China (also in Japan and Europe) and that has Microsoft worried.
Also, a big focus on Zune - Microsoft’s answer to iPOD. They give it a 5 year cycle to catch-up with iPOD. But they are just trying to duplicate what Apple is doing not offering a new disruptive proposition. Without it, they will struggle.
Ozzie talked about the overall “experience hub” vision that connects all the major MS platforms. If they can pull it off, they will be in strong position and Google will have a challenger.
More coverage on Zune here http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/brierdudley/index.html#011514
More on analyst day here http://www.komotv.com/stories/44627.htm
Mobile Data Revenues Hit US$100 Billion in 2005 July 26, 2006
Posted by Chetan in : US Wireless Market, ARPU, Worldwide Wireless Market , add a commenthttp://www.cellular-news.com/story/18516.php
I will have some more data in my upcoming paper next month
New mobile features boost calls to customer service
Posted by Chetan in : AORTA, Carriers, Mobile Usability, Mobile Ecosystem , add a commentHere is an interesting study that highlights the dilemma for carriers. Most of the players in the content and application ecosystem don’t appreciate that. If the application, however good it might be is likely to increase the customer care calls, it will get lot of negative points and will not get good reception in the carrier community. So, pay attention on user experience and think like a customer care rep.
Smartphone Shipment up
Posted by Chetan in : AORTA, 3G, Devices, US Wireless Market, Smart Phone, Worldwide Wireless Market , add a commentFrom latest research from Canalys
More details here http://www.canalys.com/pr/2006/r2006071.htm
Google Maps Mobile July 25, 2006
Posted by Chetan in : Uncategorized, AORTA, Devices, Location based Services, Mobile Applications , 1 comment so farGoogle Inc. has enhanced its Google Maps mobile application by adding traffic information and the ability to save routes. Download at http://www.google.com/gmm
Mobile Life Report
Posted by Chetan in : 3G, mobile users , add a commentavailable at http://www.mobilelife2006.co.uk
India - Driving the Next Phase of Global (Wireless) Expansion July 24, 2006
Posted by Chetan in : AORTA, Strategy, Carriers, Enterprise Mobility, 3G, Devices, Mobile Content, Mobile Entertainment, International Trade, Indian Wireless market, India, WiMax, Mobile Gaming, Networks, ARPU , add a commentthe article is online now http://www.chetansharma.com/India_July06.pdf
HP’s Memory Spot
Posted by Chetan in : AORTA, Middleware, Enterprise Mobility, General, 3G, Devices, US Wireless Market, Mobile Wallet, Usability, Mobile TV, Storage , add a commentLast week, HP spoke about Memory Spot - http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2006/060717a.html
The experimental chip, developed by the “Memory Spot” research team at HP Labs, is a memory device based on CMOS (a widely used, low-power integrated circuit design) and about the size of a grain of rice or smaller (2 mm to 4 mm square), with a built-in antenna. The chips could be embedded in a sheet of paper or stuck to any surface, and could eventually be available in a booklet as self-adhesive dots.
The chip has a 10 megabits-per-second data transfer rate – 10 times faster than Bluetooth™ wireless technology and comparable to Wi-Fi speeds – effectively giving users instant retrieval of information in audio, video, photo or document form. With a storage capacity ranging from 256 kilobits to 4 megabits in working prototypes, it could store a very short video clip, several images or dozens of pages of text. Future versions could have larger capacities.
A step forward in our AORTA world. Potential apps listed in the press release
eBay TV
Posted by Chetan in : Uncategorized, Mobile TV , add a commenthttp://gigaom.com/2006/07/24/skype-founders-take-on-tv/
Skype founders have found a good business model. Build a startup and sell it to eBay for 10 times the price. It will be interesting to see what they come up with. Unlike P2P telephony, TV actually requires content whether it is user generated (and there are hordes of players now) or licensed. In anycase, like Om pointed out, eBay loses.
Vodafone numbers
Posted by Chetan in : Uncategorized, Carriers, ARPU, European wireless market , add a commentData ARPU has been steadily climbing with the Group Total at 17.4%. Germany and UK are doing good with 21.2% and 20.9% respectively. Also, non-messaging data ARPU is climbing and now accounts for almost 5% of the total revenues. Spain seems to be leading the way with 6.8% revenues from non-messaging data. Overall, it has been a slow growth from 16.2% (data ARPU % of the overall ARPU) in Jun 05 to 17.4% in Jun 06.
AMD gobbles ATI. nVidia next?
Posted by Chetan in : Uncategorized , add a commentI was just talking with a client about M&A in semiconductor industry and this news popped in .. Intel, your turn
Skype SMS
Posted by Chetan in : Uncategorized, AORTA, Devices, Unified Messaging, Messaging , add a commentSkype and mBlox are enabling SMS from Skype. Rates are here http://www.skype.com/products/skypesms/rates/index.html?currency=USD#listing-U
Can Zune take on iPOD July 22, 2006
Posted by Chetan in : Uncategorized, Devices, Mobile Content, Mobile Entertainment, Music Player , add a commenthttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5205296.stm
Microsoft has been trying very hard to challenge iPOD’s dominance. After trying out several hardware vendors, its product plans went no where. Zune might arrive to the markets by Christmas but it needs to be a generation ahead of iPOD if it can even make a dent otherwise it will be a “mee-tooo” product few years late
ESPN MVNO July 21, 2006
Posted by Chetan in : Uncategorized, AORTA, General, 3G, US Wireless Market, MVNO , add a commenthttp://login.vnuemedia.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002876073
Analysts have started calling for the demise of ESPN MVNO. Granted the going has been tough due to some missteps and fierce competition, it is too early to expect hundreds of thousands of subscribers. With so much “instant gratification” content, ESPN should give it more time, clean up its strategy and focus on execution.
Apple’s iPhone
Posted by Chetan in : Uncategorized, AORTA, 3G, Devices , add a commenthttp://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/278342_ipodphone21.html
We will believe it when we see it. It will be interesting to see if Apple can work in the confines of the mobile ecosystem. I would imagine that they will launch with an European or Asian operator first.
Japan continues solid growth in mobile data
Posted by Chetan in : Carriers, 3G, Mobile Content, Mobile Entertainment, Networks, Japan wireless market , add a commenthttp://www.mobileindustry.biz/article.php?article_id=1775
According to Ministry of Internal Affairs of Communication state that the mobile industry has grown to 722.4 billion Yen (4.9 billion Euro) over the past 12 months - a rise of 39 per cent. The increase was boosted by mobile content sales, which rose by 21 per cent to reach 315 billion Yen (2.1 billion Euro). Sales of ringtones accounted for 161 billion Yen (1.09 billion Euro).
Cingular Numbers
Posted by Chetan in : AORTA, Strategy, Carriers, 3G, Devices, US Wireless Market, Networks, ARPU , add a commentCingular was first amongst its peers to report the Q2 numbers. ARPU is following the trendline. Voice ARPU 59c while Data ARPU increased by 55c (12% of overall ARPU) with a overall decline of 4c. Carriers should be going after the data market like their life depended on it. Though things have improved over the last 18 months (Data ARPU approx doubled), more can and should be done to educate the end-user and make the user-experience on the device much better. UMTS/HSDPA will be key to that strategy but Cingular needs to get its act together and start deploying handsets into the market. They are already behind their competitors and behind in their plans. UMTS is now in 27 key markets but number of devices in the market are woefully short of what they need to be.
Verizon and Sprint are next.
We will be doing a detailed paper on worldwide ARPU trends. Stay tuned.
