about-electronics.eu

Gizmodo: LG shows off some GPS know-how with its new LAN-9600R. Besides the fact that the built-in disc reader supports CDs and DVDs filled with all sorts of multimedia (MP3, WMA, Divx, etc.), the unit’s 7-inch screen is motorized, meaning that it can retract into the dash at the push of a button.

It looks as if the LAN-9600R will launch in Europe first and will come bundled with maps of various European countries and is expected to hit the streets for around $2,000.

Whereas standalone portable GPS units might be a bit dubious nowadays, there will pretty much always be a market for these in-car, big-screened models, especially since you can load ‘em up with all your favorite media.

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DVguru: Here’s a more interesting iPod accessory: the iProjector is a special video projector with a docking station to directly connect your video iPod for screening videos and photos. It features a 800×600 native resolution, 24-bit color, 1000 ANSI lumens brightness, and a projection size of 30 inches by 90 inches. The device will be introduced at CES 2007 by manufacturer ION Audio. No word on the actual performance and quality of the device just yet. Intriguing.

(note by About-Electronics: thus far, no confirmation whatsoever to be found)

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EETimes: The European Commissioner in charge of transport, Jacques Barrot, has admitted that the Galileo satellite navigation project is behind schedule because negotiations with the eight private partners who will manage the system once completed have still not been completed.

Barrot said the year-end deadline to conclude the negotiations would again be missed. Original plans called for a deal to be concluded by late 2005.

The Commissioner also revealed that the start-up budget of €1.5 billion is still about €200 million short and that talks with national governments are continuing to finalize this budget.

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Business Standard: In a bid to cut losses in the highly competitive flat panel display televisions segment, LG plans to set up an assembly unit for plasma and LCD televisions in India.

Consumer electronics companies across the board are bleeding as competition is driving constant undercutting of prices, company executives said.  “At the moment, supply is larger than demand. Hence, players in the flat panel display market are losing money. We will set up an assembly unit for plasma and LCD televisions at our plant with an investment of $100 million spread over 5 years,” said Moon B Shin, deputy managing director, LG Electronics, India.

At present, completely built television imports attract 20 per cent duty and executives admitted that LG was losing about 5-6 per cent on every set sold in this category.

Replying to queries whether LG would eventually begin complete production of flat panel display televisions in India, Shin said the market size should touch at least 1 million units to justify the investment for a production unit.  He added that in the likelihood of this happening over the next 3-4 years, the company might consider a production facility in its proposed third plant here.

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Mobility site: The cellular industry has repeatedly attempted to port popular consumer services to the mobile environment.  Internet became Mobile Internet.  Television became Mobile TV.   Despite the investment of billions of dollars in data networks, spectrum, devices, and marketing campaigns, very few services have ported successfully.

Yet digital music and podcasting prove that users will go to great lengths to mobilize entertainment, including actively connecting a media device to a PC and transferring to it content downloaded from the internet.  But can podcasting become a service enjoyed on mobile phones? Clearly, podcasting has certain attributes which make it suitable for the mobile environment.

First, it is an “on-the-go” experience.  Second, enjoying audio content is not effected by the handset’s small display screen.  In fact, given the prevalence of mobile phones, and the ability to deliver content directly to the handset without any user action required, the mobile industry might have difficulty explaining a porting failure.  Indeed, one may argue that such a failure should challenge the concept of phones as media devices, and convergence.  This article outlines a few of the critical issues that must be addressed if podcasting is to see even minimal mass-market penetration.   First, what are some of the inherent “mobile-environment” constraints and how will they impact and define the service?  Second, is there a user-willingness to pay for, and operator desire to launch, such mobile podcast services?

The manner in which mobile users discover and receive content will have a huge impact on the nature of the service. There are two alternative models: network-based solutions, and client-based solutions.  Network-based solutions offer users access to podcast menus on the Operator’s WAP Portal.  Users, locate the appropriate podcast, then initiate a download or stream of the podcast in real-time.

Network-oriented delivery models have failed to appeal to the mass-market user.  The click and wait, menu-intense experience of Mobile Internet has proven unappealing.  It is doubtful whether posting podcast files on a Portal will be an effective way of increasing awareness and usage of the service.  First, a podcast service offering a growing number of podcasts implies a catalogue-intense user-experience, forcing the user to browse through several WAP pages before finding a podcast of interest.  Furthermore, given the relatively large size of a podcast file, adding a lengthy download wait to a cumbersome Portal experience will kill the experience all together.

Podcasts can also be streamed off the Portal.  Here, however, in addition to the cumbersome Portal-Pull issues, the user-experience becomes dependent on consistent and sufficient data transmission during the stream.  For reasons beyond the scope of this article, providing bandwidth for short streams, not to mention lengthy podcasts is technically challenging.  A user listening to a podcast while commuting by train will frequently lose coverage.  Securing bandwidth in peak-hours or in congested areas is very difficult.  It is thus doubtful whether streaming can deliver the mass-market with an acceptable level of service.

Whether downloaded or streamed, obtaining content via pull assumes that a user will regularly poll for content.  Not only does the active user concept runs counter to the Podcast model of automatic content delivery, but a compelling mobile experience must be simple and automated.  One must consider that the potential mass-market mobile user is not as “early-adopted” oriented as a current podcast user.  Thus, the user-experience on mobile user must offer a “Better than iPod” experience if the mass-market is to accept it.

Client solutions reduce the amount of browsing associated with content discovery, delivery and consumption, and provide a more immediate, user-friendly experience. The first type of solution, offered by Melodeo, involves a client that displays a catalogue-list of available podcasts. The user scrolls down the list and selects one, which initiating a content delivery session (download or streaming).  Content discovery is easier than in Network-based solutions, as WAP browsing to the portal is avoided.  However, real-time delivery is required, resulting in ei the r consumption delays, streaming-related problems, or coverage loss.  With this solution, an active user is assumed, as a consumption decision must be made daily.

The second client solution, offered by Bamboo Mediacasting, employs background download.  Users subscribe to a podcast once, and then files are delivered to the user transparently, without any user involvement required.  Delivery of the latest show can be overnight, or when the phone is in your pocket.   As content delivery is not in real-time, very large files, such as full length audio and video podcasts can be delivered. Fresh content is available for immediate consumption for the morning commute with no network access required.  Background download usually require subscription.

It must be noted that the transition from pull to push involves a conceptual shift among operators.  Operators have invested heavily in WAP portals such as Vodafone Live.  One key Operator goal is to drive users to the Portal, which strengthens operator brand.  From a user-perspective, however, it is crucial to reiterate the assumption that the average Podcast user is more technically-orientated than the average mobile user.  Ease of use is absolutely essential if mobile podcasting is to gain any degree of mass-market traction in the mobile world.

Finally, the user registration and account management process is a crucial aspect of the service.  Users can be offered Web, WAP and SMS interfaces by which to subscribe to services, and modify their account.  Despite the operator tendency to create a WAP mobile-only environment, the Web interface is the easiest and most recommended in countries where PC and internet penetration is widespread.  The PC/internet interface allows for attractive and simple browsing through colorful podcast catalogues, as opposed to what could be an intolerable and bland WAP experience.

> The second section of this article asks whether users will be willing to pay for mobile podcast services, and whether the operator will actually want to launch anything but a barebones service for PR purposes.

From a user-perspective, there is a significant rise in the number of people carrying MP3 players, media-enabled phones, and other media devices.  People are clearly taking their entertainment with them.  Also, working people have clearly definable windows of dead time while commuting to and from work.  During these times, they are a captive audience.  Will the mass-market, which holds mobile phones rather than other media-devices, be willing to adopt and pay for services which deliver personalized audio content to them?

One barrier might be the availability of free podcasts on the PC and the initial perception that internet data is and should be free.  Whether users are willing to pay for personalized audio content on their mobile will depend of factors such as easy of use, content quality, and price.  However, given the growing prevalence of people enjoying entertainment on the go, one does not have to invent a scenario of commuters enjoying a 15 minute targeted audio-program on the way to work.   True, Podcasts are available free on-line, but many people would pay a small premium in order to receive targeted Tier 1 podcasts to their mobile phones, rather than buy an iPod and then bother with transferring content from their computer to a device each morning.

One thing is certain: the operator has a keen interest to see the success of such operator-provided services.  First, from a revenue perspective, operators often subsidize the handsets, yet see no revenue when a user transfers music to it from the PC.  Second, should the mass-market adopt iPod-like devices as their device of choice for media consumption, the mobile handset will be marginalized and viewed only as a tool for voice-calls. As these competing devices develop Skype-like internet telephone functionality over WIFI, operators will see their users gravitate to competing phone service as well.

Podcasting provides the operator with a great way to accomplish these goals.  First, podcasting is a service which users enjoy on the go.  Second, background deliver enables a “Better than iPod” user experience.  Third, mobile operators have a clear advantage in the area of video podcasting.  While video iPods are just beginning to emerge, most mid-range mobile handsets have supported video for years.  Operators are well aware of their edge over iPod here and are launching video podcast services.

Despite the operator interest to establish value and compete with encroaching devices, mobile podcasting poses a few challenges.  While PC-based internet users enjoy inexpensive broadband, mobile networks are comparatively inefficient.  Data transmission rates are slower and there is much less overall capacity.  Thus, the internal cost to the operator of transmitting data is high.  While the monthly charge for a high-speed residential internet connection might be 20 Euro, the average cellular user might be charged 1 Euro/MB for data usage.  With the size of an average 30-40 minute PC-based podcast approximately 15 MB, the monthly amount of data traffic per user for a week-day service is 300MB!!  The operator can not justify charging of a few Euros a month for a mobile podcast service, when a single Pull-downloaded video clip can generate a Euro or two.

Can mobile podcasting be made more efficient?

First, content files can easily be reduced in size by simple content transcoding.  A 30 minute podcast can be reduced to 1.5MB, without impacting sound quality.  Furthermore, the delivery frequency of a podcast service can be reduced.  Finally, delivering shorter, 15 minutes podcasts, rather than full 30-40 minute programs, may be appropriate.

Second, and more important, the podcast files must be delivered during off-peak hours, ideally overnight.  During peak hours and in congested areas, the cost of data delivery is at its highest.   Delivery of large data files to a moderate number of users during peak hours will chill operator enthusiasm.  Conversely, during off-peak hours, the network is empty, minimizing the cost of data transmission.  This requirement would appear to point to a subscription push service model, with scheduled off-peak content deliveries pushed to the user.

One final issue is that of billing and revenue.  The billing issue has a direct impact on who will offer mobile podcast services.  The ASP model, where third party companies offer ringtones and wallpaper virtually independent of the operator will not work with mobile podcasting.  This is due to the issue of data billing.   Ringtones purchased can be charged via simple tools such as Premium SMS, with revenue credited to the ASP.  With data billing, the situation is much more complex.  Podcasting involves the transmission of large amounts of data.  Unless Mobile operators are intricately involved in the podcast service, and resolve the billing issue, the service will fail.  Thus, while third parties may host podcast services and create end to end offerings, the mobile operators must commit to these services and create clear and reasonable monthly-fee pricing, otherwise users will not adopt them for fear of the data charges.

Will the operator play along?  As stated above, the operator must launch rich-media services to compete with iPod.  Podcasting is a natural for mobile.  Indeed, operators are launching podcast services hosted by ASPs who offer end to end solutions requiring the operator only to address billing and customer care issues.   The ASP hosts the server, supplies the Web/WAP user interface, and most content issues.

Advertising revenue is a clear upside worth highlighting.  Audio and video advertisements can easily be included at the beginning and during the podcast to create additional revenue sources.  An operator launching a video and/or audio podcast with broad handset support indeed has the leverage to secure Tier 1 advertisers.

To summarize, several key factors must be considered if podcasting to mobile users is to be even marginally successful.  Usability issues are of paramount importance.  Prior experience proves that the early adopters may occasionally pull content, but the mass-market will not.  Rather, it appears that the subscription push model may be most suitable, both in terms of user experience and network utilization.  In addition, a clear charging model is mandatory for user uptake.  Finally, Tier 1 content, easily transcoded for the mobile experience, is important, yet relatively easy to secure.  Now it remains to be seen whether attractive services are deployed and enjoyed.

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TechDigest: A new survey has found when it comes to buying gadgets, the UK is the cheapest place in Europe.

The research, undertaken by comparison site Pricerunner, checked the prices of electronic items including a silver Sony CyberShot DSC-T9 camera, Samsung DVD-R100, Acer Aspire 3004WLMi, Microsoft Xbox 360 Core System, Sony Ericsson W810i, Apple 1GB iPod nano and a 40-inch Samsung LE-40M51B.

Prices were checked in 21 European cities. Brits are able to buy all the kit for £2,529.81 (€3,742.13) , compared to £3,464.13 (€5,126.73), which is 28% more for the same items in Norway and 26% more than in Lithuania.

Top ten cheapest countries to buy gadgets

1. England
2. Poland
3. France
4. Germany
5. Ireland
6. Austria
7. Italy
8. Hungary
9. Greece
10. Denmark

Top ten most expensive countries to buy gadgets

1. Norway
2. Lithuania
3. Belgium
4. Spain
5. Czech Republic
6. Malta
7. Sweden
8. Portugal
9. Cyprus
10. The Netherlands

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Newlaunches: To qualify as iconic, phones need to play up on breakthrough designs, challenging prior devices with size, shape and style. Utility and mass adoption are just as important cause if people don’t buy them, it’s hard to say they’re relevant. LG Electronics and Prada reveal plans of exclusive partnership to make an iconic cell phone. This first Prada offspring by LG will combine high-end technology with avant-garde design offering the best in both style and performance. The focal point of the phone is that it will have an advanced touch interface which eliminates the conventional keypad.

These distinctive iconic cell phones will get going in early 2007; it’ll first debut in Europe, followed by countries in Asia such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore. 

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ZDNet: Research In Motion (RIM) is suing Samsung, claiming that the name of the company’s new BlackJack smart phone is too similar to that of RIM’s own BlackBerry devices.

The suit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. RIM is seeking an injunction against the sale of the new BlackJack phones.

In the complaint, RIM said Samsung’s use of the BlackJack name “constitutes false designation of origin, unfair competition and trademark dilution.”

RIM contends that its BlackBerry devices, used by more than 6 million people around the world to send and receive e-mail, have become iconic in both form and function.

The BlackJack, which runs Windows Mobile operating system and has a full QWERTY keyboard, competes directly with many of RIM’s devices, including the BlackBerry Pearl, a phone designed to attract consumers rather than RIM’s typical business customers. The company says it believes the name BlackJack might confuse some customers.

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AVING: Seok Hong Jeong, a Korean individual inventor, revealed ‘dual LCD mobile phone’ at Seoul International Invention Fair 2006 (…).

He already applied for a patent in overseas market and has been waiting for the result. He said that his goal was to develop a next generation device and commercialize it with cooperation with mobile manufacturing companies and service providers in the future.

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EngadgetHD: 1080p has arguably been the buzzword of the year; at least in the HDTV world that is.

Advertisers makes it seem that everyone simply needs to have a 1080p display but we have finally found a chart to support our stance on the higher resolution.

Some people can take advantage of the extra lines of resolution but sometimes, it’s an unnecessary cost.

Simply locate your viewing distance on the right hand side and screen size on the bottom, connect the two lines and bam, your optimal screen resolution.

Everyone’s HDTV viewing situation is different and while 1080p might be slammed into your face while shopping for a new HDTV, it might not be necessary for you.

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Smarthouse: Sony is set to start developing a new TV technology called Field Emission Display (FED) that will take on plasma, LCD and the Canon Toshiba owned SED.

Field emission display (FED) technology was invented in the 1970s as a possible alternative to the traditional cathode-ray tube.

Sony said it and Tokyo-based Technology Carve-out Investment Fund (TCI) would invest a total of $21.7 million in the venture, which will start operations this week with about 30 employees.

Sony will take a 36.5 percent stake in the venture with TCI investing the remaining 63.5 percent.

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USA Today: American consumers seem to like everything about HDTV; except TV shows in HD.

Only 47% of people buying a high-definition TV set in the past year say they did so looking forward to watching TV shows in HD, according to a study by Frank N. Magid Associates. That’s down from 63% two years ago.

About 15% of all homes in the States now have an HDTV set, Magid reports.

Most cable systems offer only about two dozen HD channels, including local stations. Pricing can be confusing. The technology can be intimidating.

That may not affect holiday sales of HDTV sets. Overall, they should cost about 25% less than they did last year. 

Yet, with so many owners feeling “not tremendously satisfied” with program choices, potential buyers “are not hearing any word of mouth or buzz” about HD programming.

A majority of HD owners in the September survey of nearly 1,200 adults rated satisfaction with programming at seven or less on a scale of one to 10.

About 30% of HDTV owners haven’t even signed up with their cable or satellite companies to get HD channels. Many of them were turned off by an extra fee they’d pay for HD — or thought they’d have to pay.

There’s a lot of confusion, because some operators charge for HDTV. Others throw it in for anyone paying the extra monthly fee for the digital tier. And some don’t charge extra for the channels but charge more per month for an HD-capable cable box.

The study found widespread HD confusion. Many consumers think all digital TV signals give them an HD picture. They don’t.

It also found that many consumers believe that only cable or satellite delivers HD signals. In fact, local stations offer network, and sometimes local, HD shows over the air.

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