Watch TV anywhere with new Nokia mobile TV phones

Nokia has announced the launch of Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition, which will allow users to watch television anywhere. The phone is an entertainment hub that combines mobile broadcast TV (DVB-H), social networking, music and gaming in one compact 3G device. Nokia says that broadcast TV consumption is on the rise and by 2012 there will be over 300 million people worldwide watching TV on their mobile phones.

"The introduction of the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition responds to the arrival of DVB-H broadcast mobile TV networks in new markets and offers an affordable device for new and existing customers alike. Customers are increasingly watching a variety of programmes on their mobiles, such as drama programs, news and sport, for a longer period of time. The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition has the sound and image quality to hold audiences captive," said Mark Selby, Vice President, Nokia.

Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition's DVB-H technology allows programs to burst through the QVGA 2.4" screen in full-colour, crystal clear, sharp images. A user can set reminders for favorite shows and create personal channel lists with Nokia's Electronic Program Guide (EPG) for a good mobile broadcast TV experience.

The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition provides broadcast picture quality while the headset acts as an antenna for outstanding reception. Long battery life gives up to six hours of DVB-H usage. "It is essential for DVB-H service providers to have a variety of devices capable of serving the mass market. Having a complete portfolio of handsets is pivotal for the commercial success of mobile TV. The new Nokia DVB-H enabled mobile phone, the Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition, is a great addition to the current portfolio of broadcast TV-capable handsets," said Franklin Selgert, Chairman, Broadcast Mobile Convergence Forum.

The Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition comes with all the latest social networking software, making it simple to stay in touch with friends via Ovi Contacts, Facebook, MySpace and YouTube. Post status updates for friends and family to follow or instant message (IM) them via Windows Live(TM) Messenger, Google Talk, Yahoo! Messenger, ICQ, AOL and many others.

Users can capture photos and video clips, day or night, using the 3.2 megapixel camera with 4x digital zoom and LED flash before uploading and sharing favourite shots via sites such as OviShare and Flickr.

Nokia and Nokia Siemens Networks work with more than 30 operators worldwide on Mobile TV implementations. Commercial launches with Mobile TV services based on DVB-H and OMA BCAST standards include Austria, Finland, Ghana, Kenya, India, Italy, Namibia, Nigeria, Netherland, Philippines and Switzerland. Nokia 5330 Mobile TV Edition costs around Rs. 11,000 excluding taxes.

Agencies

Will Nokia close its gaming service N-Gage?

Nokia will close its battered gaming service N-Gage next year, acknowledging failure in its first major services offering.

The handset maker's mobile gaming push has encountered major challenges over the years, with consumers first shunning its dedicated gaming phones.

The online gaming service, opened last year, never moved beyond a niche audience.

Nokia has started to look for new revenues from online services as its traditional handset market is maturing, with games and music being the first focus areas of the cellphone maker.

"We will no longer publish new games for the N-Gage platform," Nokia said on its N-Gage blog.

It said the games from its first major services offering can be purchased until the end of September 2010, and the community site will remain in operation throughout 2010.

After closing the N-Gage service it will continue to sell mobile games at its Ovi Store, a smaller rival to Apple's popular App Store.

Agencies

Motorola's Android system banks on Google's Web power

Struggling phone maker Motorola unveiled its first device using Google's Android system Thursday, expecting it will power features that promise easier access to hot Internet sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The phone, called Cliq, will go on sale at T-Mobile before the end of the year. Pricing info has not yet been released.

Motorola has reorganized its handset biz around Google's Android system, hoping the partnership with the Web search leader can help it win back customers.

The centerpiece of Motorola's Android development is its MOTOBLUR software, which integrates contacts, e-mails and text messages along with postings and photos from social networks by feeding content from these sources into "easy-to-manage streams."

For example, Motorola's live "Happenings" application delivers updates posted by friends automatically on multiple social sites to one place, and gives the user a choice of ways to reply to those updates instantly.

Agencies

Japanese cos NEC, Hitachi, Casio to merge for mobile operations

Japan's NEC Corp, Hitachi Ltd and Casio Computer Co are in talks to merge their struggling mobile phone manufacturing operations to create Japan's No 2 handset maker, the Yomiuri daily reported on Friday.

Loss-making NEC could hive off its mobile operations and merge it with an existing joint venture between Hitachi and Casio to together develop handsets, or the three could merge their mobile phone production operations, the newspaper said without citing sources.

NEC would be likely to hold a majority of the new firm, it said. The three are struggling in Japan's saturated cellphone market and mounting development costs, said to be about 10 billion yen ($107 million) per handset. In the year ended in March, Sharp Corp controlled over one-fifth of Japan's handset market, followed by Panasonic Corp.

Agencies

New Booklet 3G from Nokia to take on Apple, Dell

Nokia started as a computer company in 1980's but sold the business in 1991 to focus on mobile phones. Now after two decades Nokia is all set to launch its booklet called "Booklet 3G" to broaden its product range to survive the tough competition in the declining mobile market.

Nokia is facing tough competition in the mobile market as many new players are now entering in the scene. Dell, Acer and Hewlett Packard (HP) are all interested to launch products in the mobile category. There are many speculations that Apple will soon be launching a tablet-type touch screen by next year. Nokia plans to take on these competitors in their own backyard with the launch of its Booklet 3G.

This booklet will mostly be mistaken for a netbook but it focuses on on-the-go networking. It is powered by a Windows operating system (not clear yet if it is Windows 7) and has a 10-inch color screen. It has both 3G and GPS functionality, as well as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when there's a network available. It will also have access to Nokia Music store and Ovi maps. Nokia claims that the Booklet will run for 12 hours on a battery charge.

"A growing number of people want the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility, and with the outstanding battery life, premium design and all-day, always-on connectivity, we will create something quite compelling," said Kai Oistamo, Nokia's Executive Vice-President for devices to Telegraph.

Nokia will mostly give further details about pricing early next month at Nokia World '09 in Stuttgart. It is expected that the booklet will be expensive and will be in the range of $700 to $1000.

Agencies

Nokia likley to enter Netbook market

Nokia, the world's largest maker of cell phones, could be preparing to enter the crowded Netbook market.

According to the Economic Times, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told reporters at a press event Wednesday in India, that "the PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge." He said Nokia sees a lot of opportunity in this convergence and he added that the company is "looking at the Netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there."

It shouldn't come as a big surprise that Nokia might push further into the computing space. The company has been marketing its new smartphone, the N97, as a "mobile computer." And the company has also been selling its mobile Internet devices, or N-series Tablets.

These devices, which are geared toward early adopters and gadget lovers, typically start at around $300 to $400. They don't incorporate a traditional cell phone, but they come with a full QWERTY keypad and access to the Internet via Wi-Fi or through a Bluetooth-connected phone.

Netbooks appeal to a wider audience than mobile Internet devices, which could help Nokia diversify its business. Netbooks, which once were seen as "companion devices" for accessing cloud-based services like Gmail or social-networking sites like Facebook, are now being used as full-blown computers.

Their low cost (around $299) has driven big sales of these devices. About 16 million Netbooks were sold in North America in 2008. And because these devices often use Windows XP, a familiar operating system, most PC users already feel comfortable using them.

Nokia is likely hoping to cash in on Netbooks' popularity.

It's clear that consumers are looking to be more mobile and as carriers around the world build faster 4G wireless networks, demand for mobility will likely increase. What's more, Nokia and other handset makers will soon be facing competition from computer makers in the mobile phone market. Laptop maker Acer has already announced it is developing a smartphone. And there are reports that PC maker Dell is also working on a mobile phone.

Economic Times/Agencies

RIM now gets double attack from Microsoft, Nokia

Microsoft Corp and Nokia announced an alliance on Wednesday to bring business software to smartphones and counter the dominance
Apple of Research in Motion Ltd's BlackBerry.

The alliance between the world's largest software company and cellphone maker means the latest versions of Microsoft's Office applications, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and messaging, will be available on a range of Nokia cellphones, which make up 45 per cent of the global smartphone market.

The two companies, at one time fierce rivals in the mobile telecommunications business, expect to offer Nokia phones running Office sometime next year.

"This is giving some of our competitors -- let's spell it out, RIM -- a run for their money," said Nokia Executive Vice President Robert Andersson, in a telephone interview. "I don't think BlackBerry has seen the kind of competition we can provide them now."

Research in Motion's BlackBerry created the market for mobile e-mail, and its dominant position in the corporate sector, especially in North America, has protected it from Nokia's attempts to crack the market in recent years.

"RIM should be reasonably safe in the near-term because Nokia's presence in the US is relatively small," said Neil Mawston from research firm Strategy Analytics. "Partnering more closely with Microsoft will help to raise Nokia's profile in the US"

The alliance also aims to counter Google Inc's recent move into free online software, targeted at Microsoft's business customers, and the growing popularity of Apple Inc's iPhone device.

"It's clear that Nokia and Microsoft are both facing competitive challenges, most notably from Google," said John Jackson, an analyst at wireless research firm CCS Insight. "It makes sense for these two companies to work together to see if they can pool their competitive strengths to try and counter some of this pressure."

The alliance means Microsoft's new Office suite of applications could be available to a much wider audience than the users of Windows Mobile phones, which make up 9 per cent of the smartphone market.

"We see this as a great opportunity to deliver Office Mobile to 200 million Nokia smartphone customers," said Takeshi Numoto, an executive at Microsoft's Office business.

Analysts said Microsoft is clearly looking at the largest possible audience with the Nokia deal.

"The deal is a good win for Microsoft and it will surely now be hoping to upsell the Microsoft suite of operating systems
into Nokia's possible portfolios of smartphones, mobile Internet devices and netbooks over the next couple of years," said Strategy Analytics' Mawston.

The two companies stressed that the new venture will not affect the future of Microsoft's Windows Mobile and Nokia's Symbian operating systems for smartphones. Executives said Nokia has no plans to make a Windows Mobile device.

"We are extremely committed to Symbian," said Andersson. "This is very clear. This is a multi-year collaboration building on Symbian. We are as committed as before, if not more," he said.

Microsoft shares rose 2.1 per cent to $23.62 on Nasdaq while Nokia rose less than 1 per cent to 9.30 euros in Helsinki. Shares in RIM were 0.5 per cent lower in Toronto.

Agencies

Intel & Nokia to jointly work on mobile devices

Intel Corp announced a technology partnership with Nokia that could potentially give the chip maker the breakthrough it as been looking for into the mobile market.

The companies said on Tuesday they would work together on a new class of mobile computing devices, but would not say when they would come to market or give details on the kind of wireless products they hoped to develop together.

Analysts saw the pact as strategically important for Intel in the long term because it gains the world's top cellphone maker as a potential client. But given the lack of details, analysts said it could take one or two years for products to come to market, and it remained to be seen if they would find favor with consumers,

"Intel at least has its foot in the door. It's an important and strategic customer," said Gartner analyst Jon Erensen, who sees the partnership as a way for Intel to get into the market for advanced phones known as smartphones.

However, he added, "You're probably talking about something like 2011 before you get down to the power consumption and integration (levels) you'd need for that kind of device."

Analysts said the deal gives Intel a chance to take on leading cellphone chip makers Qualcomm Inc and Texas Instruments Inc, a big Nokia supplier.

It could also mean stiffer competition for ARM Holdings Plc, which supplies core cellphone processors to both Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, and whose customers rely in part on software from Wind River Systems Inc.

Intel said earlier this month that it would buy Wind River, whose software speeds up and connects devices made by Samsung Electronics, Apple Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and Motorola Inc.

Intel, whose microprocessors are found in eight out of 10 personal computers, already works with LG Electronics on mobile devices. The agreement with Finland's Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker, is a bigger step.

Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini has said that the handheld, embedded and netbook markets would be as important for the company as the PC market in the near future.

NEW MOBILE PLATFORM

Under the agreement, Intel will buy intellectual property from Nokia related to high-speed wireless technology. They also plan to collaborate on open-source mobile Linux software projects, which some analysts say will compete with Google's Android software in the netbook and mobile Internet device (MID) market.

Intel and Nokia said they aimed to define "a new mobile platform beyond today's smartphones, notebooks and netbooks" for hardware, software and mobile Internet services. They stressed the pact was about their technology collaboration and not about specific products.

Until the companies give more detail about their plans, the news is unlikely to provide much of a boost to share prices, analysts said.

Intel's shares rose 0.83 per cent to $15.81 while Nokia shares fell 0.78 per cent to 10.21 euros.

Intel already sells Atom chips for netbooks - small, no-frills computers
good for Web surfing - and Nokia has said it would look into the possibly of expanding beyond phones to develop netbooks.

The pact may help Nokia compete with rivals such as iPhone from Apple Inc and BlackBerry from Research In Motion, as well as Pre from Palm Inc.

J. Gold Associates analyst Jack Gold wrote in a research note that he expects the first Nokia-Intel devices to be Atom-based and to hit the market in early to mid 2010. Within two to three years, Intel could ship tens of millions of units annually, he said.

Gold wrote on Tuesday that he expects to see Intel enter into more deals and alliances in new markets.


Agencies

Self rechargeable battery from Nokia soon

Nokia is in the process of developing a battery which can recharge itself when the phone has been kept on the standby mode. This technology will end the worries of the people, as the standby mode is always referred as a curse to the planet, reports the Guardian.

"A new prototype charging system from the company is able to power itself on nothing more than ambient radio waves- the weak TV, radio and mobile phone signals that permanently surround us. The power harvested is small but it is almost enough to power a mobile in standby mode indefinitely without ever needing to plug it into the mains," said Markku Rouvala, one of the researchers who have developed the device at the Nokia Research Centre in Cambridge, U.K.

The Oyster cards used by the commuters in London are of the same phenomenon, powering themselves from radio waves emitted by the reader devices as they are swiped. And similarly old crystal radio sets and more recently modern radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, which are increasingly used in shipping and as antitheft devices, are powered wholly by radio waves.

"The Nokia's prototype instead of harvesting tiny amounts of power (a few microwatts) from dedicated transmitters, it is able to collect relatively large amounts of discarded power around a thousand times more, even from miles away. Individually the energy available in each of these signals is miniscule. But by harvesting radio waves across a wide range of frequencies it all adds up," said Rouvala.

Similar kind of wireless transfer of energy was first demonstrated by Nikola Tesla in 1893, who was so taken up with the idea that he had attempted to build an intercontinental transmission tower to send power through wireless across the Atlantic. The antenna and the receiver circuit of Nokia are designed to pick up a wide range of frequencies - from 500 megahertz to 10 gigahertz - and convert the electromagnetic waves into an electrical current, as the second circuit is designed to feed this current to the battery to recharge it.

This will ensure that these circuits use less power than the amount that is being received,. Till now, the researchers have been able to harvest up to five milliwatts. Nokia's short-term goal is to get in excess of 20 milliwatts, which is enough power to keep a phone in standby mode indefinitely without having to recharge it. But this would not be enough to actually use the phone to make or receive a call. The hope is to be able to get as much as 50 milliwatts, which would be sufficient to slowly recharge the battery.

"Radio frequency power falls off exponentially with distance," said Steve Beeby, an expert in harvesting ambient energy at the University of Southampton. "It would be a remarkable achievement," Beeby added.

Agencies

Is Nokia set to cut 1,700 jobs globally?

Nokia Oyj, the world’s biggest maker of mobile phones, plans to cut 1,700 jobs globally by scaling back sales, marketing and some technology functions to adapt to falling consumer demand.

The company, based in Espoo, Finland, will start consultations with unions regarding the cutbacks, which are part of previously announced plans to adjust to a shrinking market, Nokia said in a statement today. Of the cuts, about 700 will be in Finland, spokeswoman Eija-Riitta Huovinen said by telephone.

“Nokia continues to seek savings in operational expenses, looking at all areas and activities across the company,” Nokia said in the release.

In January, Nokia said that it would slash its dividend for the first time in seven years and forecast a 10 percent slide in industry sales as the global crisis saps consumer demand. Nokia sold 15 percent fewer phones in the fourth quarter than a year earlier and cut its industry sales forecast for a third time since November.

Agencies

Now Send SMS In Any Local Languages

By Manu Sharma

Since local language is always preferred to communicate with close ones, Tachyon Technologies, the Bangalore-based company initially rolled out Quillpad for the online players. It has recently introduced the solution for mobile players for their SMS service.

Talking to CXOtoday, Ram Prakash H., founder and CEO of Tachyon Technologies said, "We innovated a core less compression technology for the mobile version that has been compressed from eight mbps to less than 400 kbps. It has enabled easier usage for the end-user."

LG has rolled out four models that has inbuilt Quillpad in them and these included: KM 380T, KG 195, KP 199 and KP 220 models. Following the success with LG, Tachyon is talking to other manufacturers like Nokia, Samsung among others. "We want to initially target the mobile manufacturers who will bundle the features in the handsets and later approach the mobile service providers like Airtel, Reliance and Vodafone who can provide more value added services to the end users," said Prakash.

As per the agreement signed with LG (global), the license covers all languages. However, the company has initially rolled out models that can support only Hindi. "Quillpad in mobile makes it easy to type in local languages. It is as easy as we type test messages in English in dictionary mode," said Prakash.

On compatibility with other formats, he said Quillpad is Unicode-compliant and would support any application that supports Unicode. Quillpad was developed as an AI technology, which learns the rules and language patterns and can transliterate any language without help of any linguistic expert," said Prakash.

There is a two-fold advantage - since there is no dependence on a linguistic expert, it can be used for any language and one does not have to depend on the dictionary. Prakash said that this learning was just one-time, after which the trained set of patterns could be deployed by all users of Quillpad technology. The newly developed technology then enables predictive transliteration.

"When you are typing a word, the technology will put together the rules and come up with the right word. It is very similar to the way the T9 dictionary on mobile phones supports typing English words," he said. Another feature that is unique is that the technology is not dependent on one Indian language or its structure. It supports any language that can be written phonetically.

"This gives Quillpad an edge over other technologies. As the artificial intelligence technology can learn the pattern of new languages in just three to four hours, one can add new languages overnight," he said.

CXOtoday.com

Is Nokia likely to enter laptop industry?

The world's top cellphone maker Nokia is eyeing entering the laptop business, its Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said in an interview to Finnish national broadcaster YLE on Wednesday.

"We are looking very actively also at this opportunity," Kallasvuo said, when asked whether Nokia plans to make laptops.

Industry has rumoured about Nokia's possible plan to enter the PC industry since late last year, but Kallasvuo's comment was the first official admittance of such plans.

"We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a cellphone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging," Kallasvuo said.

"Today we have hundreds of millions of people who are having their first Internet experience on the phone. This is a good indication," he said.

Nokia's comments come a week after No 3 PC brand Acer launched a foray into the phone business with eight cellphone models, joining leader Hewlett-Packard and No. 4 Lenovo in the high-growth space.

While strong profit margins in the smartphone industry attract PC brands, the attraction of the low-margin computer industry is less obvious.

"Nokia maybe nervous about entering a market segment that is already heavily commoditised, but it would be in a position to exploit its enormous scale in manufacturing, supply chain and distribution," said Ben Wood, research director at CCS Insight.

"All leading mobile network operators and retailers are adding connected notebooks and netbooks to their portfolios alongside mobile phones. On this basis it comes as no surprise that Nokia is evaluating this segment," he said.

The global PC industry was resilient for most of last year when other technology sectors were ailing, but it too has now been caught up in the deepening economic downturn that has hit demand from consumers and corporate buyers.

Agencies

Nokia, Qualcomm tie up after years in court battles

Top cellphone maker Nokia will use Qualcomm's chips in its advanced cellphones, the firms said on Tuesday, marking a further warming of ties between the former courtroom rivals.

The cooperation gives Qualcomm access to a major share of the smartphone market, while it enables Nokia to further lower production costs.

"In the end of the day Qualcomm needs Nokia as much as Nokia needs Qualcomm," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi.

The deal marks the first time Nokia will use Qualcomm chipsets in its 3G phones, and brings the firms closer together after years of bitter disputes over intellectual property rights and royalty payments.

"We are very very excited about this opportunity," Andrew Gilbert, the head of Qualcomm's European business told the media in an interview. "We are going to compete for as much of their business as we can."

Nokia's key suppliers of 3G chipsets have been Texas Instruments and STMicro, which has spun off wireless chips into a joint venture with Ericsson.

Nokia and the new ST-Ericsson venture said on Tuesday they would cooperate on providing ST-Ericsson's U8500 chips for 3G smartphones using Symbian foundation software.

Nokia said on Tuesday it had tapped also Broadcom , its current supplier of second-generation technology chips, to supply 3G chipsets.

Nokia eyes U.S. Market

Nokia and Qualcomm agreed last July to a 15-year settlement that included a hefty 1.7 billion euro one-time payment from Nokia, ending a three-year legal battle where the firms raised dozens of cases against each other on three continents.

The agreement also comes against the backdrop of an ailing cellphone market, with 2009 sales set to drop as consumers rein in spending on new gadgets due to the economic recession.

Nokia said it would introduce the first model using Qualcomm chipset and Nokia's software in the middle of next year.

The phones would initially be for the North American market and work on third-generation networks and run on the Symbian operating system, the most widely-used smartphone software that is currently controlled by Nokia but will eventually be made royalty-free for all users.

Nokia shares were down 2.2 percent at 9.11 euros on a weaker Dow Jones Stoxx European Technology Index.

"I don't see the markets reacting since the products are expected to be sold only around mid-2010," said Nordea analyst Martti Larjo. "(But) at least the cooperation shows that Nokia is focusing its efforts on the North American market."

Nokia has long struggled in the U.S. market. North American sales dropped 20 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, and Nokia's North American market share of some 8.7 percent was well below its global figure of 37 percent.

Agencies

Yahoo offers iPhone-like Web for masses

Yahoo announced a new mobile service on Tuesday that will deliver an iPhone-like experience for people who cannot or will not splash out for the iconic but pricey Apple device as times get hard.

Yahoo Mobile will launch at the end of March in a form downloadable to any phone with a Web browser and from May in custom versions for hundreds of smartphones.

"There is a growing number of consumers out there who are not Apple iPhone users but want a rich starting experience," Marco Boerries, the head of Yahoo's mobile division, told the media in an interview.

Yahoo will also launch a version of Yahoo Mobile, designed to be a starting point for users to access the Internet, for the iPhone itself at the end of March. A test version for a limited number of public users is going live this week.

Yahoo Mobile offers a front page with colorful, boxy icons resembling the iPhone's for launching popular applications such as a Web browser, mail, news, weather and social network sites like Facebook.

Users also have the option to easily add any software or Web sites they choose to download on their phones.

The company plans in coming months to promote Yahoo Mobile via a series of 70 major operator partnerships it has struck to reach 850 million mobile subscribers around the globe.

Fifty of those partnerships already offer Yahoo services and the company expects the rest to adopt Yahoo Mobile in coming months, Boerries said.

Yahoo has developed versions that work on hundreds of mid-range and high-end mobile phones from BlackBerry maker RIM, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Motorola, as well as phones running Microsoft Windows.

Boerries defines the universe of phones that can effectively run Yahoo Mobile as "every phone that's shipped in the last two years that has a decent HTML-capable browser." He added: "We don't want to make lowest common denominator stuff."

A more general version of the service downloadable from the Web will also work on older phones but will not be tailored to those phones' specifications. Boerries demonstrated it on an old Sony Ericsson model.

Boerries said last year's on-again off-again talks with would-be buyer Microsoft had not significantly distracted his team, and said he had kept his key staff together for years.

After some prior delays in introducing services such as Yahoo Go, Boerries professed relief that his fuller vision of putting the Web on phones had arrived on time: "It is really, for me, making it all come together."

"This is like the uber-replacement of Yahoo Go."

Agencies

Is Motorola planning more layoffs?

Motorola Inc is expected to make steep cost cuts, including more layoffs, at its mobile devices division as a broad slump in demand for cell phones exacerbates its own market share declines.

With even market leader Nokia warning about weakening phone demand, analysts say Motorola could miss Wall Street's already low expectations for phone sales in the fourth quarter and the current quarter. As a result, they expect Motorola to cut the size of its handset unit -- beyond the 3,000 layoffs the company announced in October, which were mostly in its handset unit and equivalent to 4.5 per cent of its workforce.

"Resizing is necessary beyond the 3,000," said Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton, who estimated that Motorola's phone unit could have roughly 28,000 employees after the previously announced layoffs.

Motorola declined to comment. The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company fell to fourth place in the global phone market in the third quarter of 2008, and said key new devices would be ready in the second half of 2009, which could mean deeper market share losses until then.

This was before Nokia said in December that it expected the phone market to shrink 5 per cent or more in 2009. Some analysts now expect sales to fall as much as 15 per cent from 2008. As a result of the deteriorating market, Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff estimated that Motorola needed to cut costs by roughly another $650 million, on top of the $800 million reductions already announced.

"Their cost structure is too high for where they need to be in this environment given their market share," said Modoff, who sees Motorola reporting 22 million phone sales for the fourth quarter just ended, and 17 million for this quarter. He estimated that with its current cost structure Motorola could break even if it sold about 28 million phones per quarter, but said that this figure was too high for comfort in the weak economy.

"I think they need to be profitable below 20 million units," said Modoff. Analysts on average expect Nokia to report 121.5 million phone sales for the fourth quarter, with estimates ranging from 110 million to 135 million.

They expect Sony Ericsson, which overtook Motorola in the third quarter, to sell about 26.6 million phones. Phonescoop.com, a blog about the latest phones, said Motorola could lay off as many as 50 per cent of its mobile phone workers, but analysts said this would be a "drastic" move.

Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder said such a cut would mean giving up workers in research and development, and "dramatically" reducing the number of phones launched. But he said that such a move was not implausible.

"They're hemorrhaging cash. They have to cut the division," he said. But Deutsche Bank's Modoff said Motorola needs to be careful about where it makes cuts because it needs to be able to compete with popular devices such as Apple Inc's iPhone and phones based on Android, the operating system designed by Google Inc.

These phones have made the focus of industry competition more about innovative software and user interfaces than about phone hardware."They should keep (jobs) in software and chop them in hardware. The emphasis needs to be placed on low cost designs and operating systems," said Modoff. In the third quarter, Motorola's mobile unit revenue fell 31 per cent to $3.1 billion, and the unit's operating loss widened to $840 million from $248 million.

Agencies

Motorola India issues pinkslips to employees

Seems the predictions of a tough 2009 for the cellphone market have started coming true. According to a report in a leading daily, more than 200 people Motorola India had hired just a few months ago to drive its mobile handsets business have been laid off.

The company has decided to stick to its current model of doing business through distributors, says the report.

Industry sources said that Motorola paid all the laid-off sales personnel two months salary in lieu of the notice period.

The company is also reported to have issued pink slips to at least 100 of its 4,000 employees in India in December. It is, however, not clear if the current number of employees given pinkslips includes these.

The December move was said to be a part of the Illinois-based company's earlier announced strategy of slashing 3,000 jobs, or about 5 per cent of its global workforce.

This week the company also launched MotoYuva EM325. The eighth MotoYuva mobile phone in India offers a one-touch access to MP3 library, a universal 3.5 mm jack, 2 GB of removable microSD memory and drag-and-drop USB 2.0 technology. The phone is available in India at a price of approximately Rs 5,149.

In an interview to a news agency, Sony Ericsson CEO, Hideki Komiyama said that the company expects a challenging year 2009 as the handset sales are expected to be down by 5-6 percent.

Sony Ericsson's predictions follow similar ones from Nokia and Gartner according to which the global handset market is set for a slowdown in 2009.

Indiatimes

Nokia’s recycling campaign in India

Nokia will be launching its ‘Take Back’ campaign from Thursday (January 1) encouraging mobile phone users to dispose of their used handsets and accessories, regardless of the brand, at any of the recycling bins set up across Nokia priority dealers and Nokia care centres. For each handset dropped into recycling bins, Nokia will be planting a tree, besides giving gifts to people participating in its campaign.

As part of its initiative to educate mobile phone users on the importance of recycling of e-waste, India’s top mobile phone seller will begin the initiative from Delhi and then gradually roll out the programme in phases across the country. “We have laid out a robust recycling infrastructure across the country with over 1,300 recycling bins installed at our centre across India. We work with qualified recyclers around the world to ensure proper end-of-life treatment of used devices,” said Nokia India Vice-President and Managing Director D. Shivakumar.

The ‘Take back’ campaign aims to increase awareness of the concept of recycling.

Source: Agencies

Web 2.0 a hit with handset makers

Cell phone makers are increasingly pre-loading their handsets with social networking applications to woo Internet-savvy consumers.

LG Mobile has tied up with Mobile 2.0 service provider RockeTalk which will upload a social networking application on its phones. Similarly, Samsung Mobile has a tie-up with ShoZu, provider of mobile social media services, which has pre-loaded social networking software on select Samsung phones.

Says Samsung Mobile country head Sanjay Dutt: “Early next year, we plan to launch our own proprietary software for enabling social networking through mobiles. This will be preloaded on most Samsung multimedia phones. The idea is to enable users to stay connected while on the move.”

LG GSM business head Anil Arora: “Social networking is the next thing on mobile phones. In future, we plan to preload more mobile phone models with social networking application without any extra charge.”

The company currently pre-loads the application only on LG KT 610 and KF 750 cell phones.

According to handset marketers, social networking on mobiles is a hightraction feature in the urban market where youths form a big consumer group for handsets. Says Motorola India and South-West Asia senior director (sales) Lloyd Mathias: “Social networking is an important feature, especially in the urban market and can define the purchase decision. Today’s Internet savvy youths seek access to social networking sites on mobile phones.”

Motorola has social networking application pre-loaded on seven of its handset models, including all phones in the Moto Rokr and Moto Ming series.

Some handset makers are eagerly seeking a tie-up in the space. Says Meridian Mobile CEO Rajiv Khanna: “We see potential in this feature and are planning to make even our low-end phones internet-ready. Early next year, we will tie up with a local web 2.0 service provider and upload this feature in our phones at the shop-floor level.”

Service providers are spoilt for choice as manufacturers queue up seeking collaborations for pre-loading phones with social networking applications.

Says RockeTalk marketing director Sameer Agarwal: “Our application makes it easier for mobile users to send voice messages, pictures and videos. Social networking on mobiles is set to grow exponentially as mobile internet penetration increases.”

The US-based service provider claims to be in advanced stages of talks with handset makers--Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung and Spice Mobile--for pre-loading web 2.0 applications.

Almost 10 million new handsets are sold in India every month, making it one of the biggest markets globally. No wonder, handset marketers like LG and Samsung are quick to adopt novel features to fuel sales.

Source: Agencies

Are mobile phones really hot?

Christmas being just round the corner, as always mobile phones are a popular gift choice. Reevoo.com gives you the low-down on mobiles; examining what's hot, what's not, what people are actually buying and which phones are the best value for money.

What's hot? The iPhone 3G of course! But it's not highly ratedDespite being one of the most talked about phones of the year, the iPhone 3G has failed to beat its 2007 predecessor.

The original iPhone is rated 8.3/10, just pipping this year's 3G offering to the post, (the iPhone 3G scores 8.2/10). According to owners, the major issues with the 3G model are its battery life and application crashes, meaning that other phones have been able to storm ahead of the iPhone. So, what really is the hottest mobile phone this season?

Revoo recommendations: Top five Christmas mobile phones

Top five most popular in last 30 days:
1. Nokia N96
2. Samsung F480 Tocco
3. Blackberry Storm
4. Sony Ericsson C902
5. Samsung Omnia

Top five highest rated phones of 2008:
1. BlackBerry Bold 9000
2. Sony Ericsson W980i
3. Apple iPhone 3G 8/16GB
4. Samsung F480 Tocco
5. Sony Ericsson K660i

Reevoo reviewers pick the BlackBerry Bold 9000 as the best phone released in 2008.

Reviews on Reevoo for the BlackBerry Bold 9000 include:

Positive+
+ Great keyboard for e-mailing and texting. Cracking screen which is nice and bright and videos look lovely on it. The sound from the internal speaker is really good. Just a great phone overall.
+ The Bold is undoubtedly the most impressive Blackberry yet. One of its greatest advantages is that in spite of many new features, it feels very familiar. Web browsing is almost broadband speed.

Negative
– Out of the box battery life is bad but gets better with regular charges
- The hyped-up phones usually get all the attention but it's interesting to see how the most popular phones differ from the most highly rated:

The Nokia N96, whilst being the most popular phone on the market, gets marked down by reviewers for poor battery life and software problems. At around £500 for Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) customers, it's no surprise that it also gets rated below average for value for money.

However, it does impress with its design and features. One reviewer writes "great picture and video quality, very easy to find your way around, fantastic features...looks good".

So who wins the race?

When it comes to value for money, the stylish Samsung F480 Tocco is a great buy. It scores highly for design and features and gets much higher scores for battery life than the Nokia N96, both iPhones and the BlackBerry Bold 9000. It's around £150 PAYG or free on some contracts.

Here are some of the reviews from owners of the Samsung F480 Tocco:
Positive:
+ Easy to use, good haptic technology feedback from the touch screen, excellent camera, fair battery life, smart, compact, stylish.
+ It's easy to use and has a very good memory and has good features that I would have expected.

Negative
- No Wi-Fi capability.
- Should come with a ball point touch screen pen, can be hard to press the right keys sometimes.