about-electronics.eu

Mobile Guerilla: Following last week’s rumors regarding a possible partnership with Samsung to create the Google Phone, the search engine giant has quickly issued a statement denying everything.The company said that they are busy working on software and creating a phone would be a “dramatic shift in the company’s business model”. They want to port their technologies to mobile devices and they are not interested in developing a handset.

Softbank too denied iPhone rumors a little while ago, and look what happened. So don’t give up on this just yet.

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BBC: Hanover is bracing itself for an influx of hi-tech firms and fans who will be in town for the giant Cebit show.

Billed as the world’s biggest hi-tech fair it will host more than 400,000 visitors during the six day event. Any and every type of technology will be on show at the trade fair but the main focus this year is likely to be on portable devices – be they phones or handheld computers. Despite the interest in the event, some big-name firms will be staying away.

–Handy helpers–

Cebit runs from 15-21 March and this year celebrates 21 years as a showcase for every kind of technology. Likely to catch the headlines in 2007 will be TV on mobiles, handsets that are as much fashion accessories as lifestyle aids and the continuing battles over high-definition DVD formats.

In 2006 interest in the show got a boost from the launch of Microsoft’s Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPC). (…) This year many more UMPCs are likely to be on show and some suggest they are starting to make good on the initial promise of the idea. Also expected at the show will be a slew of handsets that are keen to outdo Apple’s iPhone project. This touch-screen phone was announced in early 2006 and is expected to launch in the US in summer of 2007.

(more…)

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Ubergizmo: Speculation is surfacing that Google is currently working on a new cellphone, also known as the Google Phone.

The speculation comes from Simeon Simeonov, the former president and CEO of Danger; he is well established in the world of cellphones.

Some claim that the Google Phone is targeting the iPhone as its main rival, but that remanis to be seen until something more concrete comes is released.

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Mobility Site: Here is a cute little ad pitting the iPhone against a Windows Mobile Smartphone. They couldn’t have picked a smarter Smartphone either, the Cingular BlackJack. This appears to be in the Mac vs. PC fashion.

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Gizmodo: If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck it must be a duck, right? Not necessarily. Samsung has announced one diddy of a new smartphone, the F700. This phone is part of Samsung’s Ultrasmart series of phones and carries the fullscreen touch-screen interface that is becoming very popular as of late.Samsung is also trying to one up its competitor with one specific feature… a slide out full-QWERTY keyboard. From the pictures here it seems that the addition of a slide-out keyboard didn’t make the phone necessarily bulky like other QWERTY-sliders have.

Other features include 7.2 Mbps HSDPA, 5-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, 2.78-inch touchscreen display, pretty Samsung interface (designed by Adobe) and the usual slew of media features like a video and music player. I’m not going to lie, this little diddy catches my eye more than that other thing out there.

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My iPhone: Everything may be all right between Cisco and Apple – after all. Business Wire (…) released a joint statement: Apple and Cisco have agreed to extend the time for Apple to respond to the lawsuit to allow for discussions between the companies with the aim of reaching agreement on trademark rights and interoperability.

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Electronista: Cellphone makers have misjudged the market, says a new report by New York-based ABI Research. While many designers are focusing on HSDPA and other 3G wireless Internet connections, most of the buyers looking beyond basic phones are more interested in media playback and style, the analysts say.

Though sales of cellphones reached one billion units in 2006, Internet-focused phones such as the Nokia E61 actually suffered from lower sales in the year, baffling many expectations. Phone owners are also “fickle” when it came to fashion, ABI’s Stuart Carlaw notes: while Motorola’s RAZR may have saved the company years ago, it no longer has its early appeal.

Predicting the future, the researchers specifically singled out the iPhone as one of the phones standing the best chance of success.  The Apple handset not only emphasizes its iPod-like media functions but should also do well because it breaks from the conventional lineups that no longer interest them, ABI writes.

In contrast, the report bodes ill for the recently unveiled RAZR V3xx and other devices that rely almost exclusively on their 3G support as a selling point.

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EETimes: The iPhone is clever in design and has some nifty capabilities, but the combination mobile phone and digital music player isn’t a smartphone, a market researcher said Thursday.
Much of the media has placed Apple’s device, unveiled this month at the Macworld conference in San Francisco, in the same category as gadgets like the Palm Treo, the Motorola Q, and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Pearl. But the major difference between those devices and the iPhone is the fact that Apple’s gizmo is closed to third-party applications.

“Therefore, we must conclude at this point that, based on our current definition, the iPhone is not a smart phone; it’s a very high-end feature phone,” says Philip Solis, an analyst for ABI Research. (…)

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DialZero: Cisco Systems sued Apple Wednesday for infringing on Cisco’s iPhone trademark. Cisco claims it obtained the trademark in 2000 after buying Infogear, which had owned the mark and sold iPhone products for several years. Infogear originally filed for the trademark in 1996. BigMac Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, a long-anticipated combo cellphone and iPod, on Tuesday. Cisco said that while Apple had repeatedly sought permission to use the iPhone name, they never reached an agreement. Cisco expected Apple to sign an agreement the company sent late Monday, but Apple did not sign it. Last month, Cisco’s Linksys division launched a family of “iPhone” devices, including WiFi antennas for VoIP calls.

Apple (formerly Apple Computer) has also been sued by Apple Corps, the Beatles’ music publishing company, over the use of the Apple name on music-related products. (info from The Mercury News)

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Reuters: iPhone is an interesting product, but its sales goal is not very high, Anssi Vanjoki, the head of the multimedia unit at Nokia was quoted as saying on Thursday.

Apple unveiled its much-anticipated take on the smart phone on Tuesday, presenting a sleek device with a large screen that combines a phone, an iPod and instant messaging.

“It is quite an interesting product but it is lacking a few essential features, such as 3G, which would enable fast data connections,” Vanjoki, whose multimedia unit is a direct rival to Apple, was quoted as saying by Finnish business daily Taloussanomat.

Apple’s Chief Executive Steve Jobs said it could sell 10 million iPhones in 2008. This would be roughly 1 percent of the number of mobile phones forecast to be sold that year.

“Apple’s objective is not at a very high level,” Vanjoki was quoted as saying. Vanjoki said Apple’s entry would give an additional boost to the market and that the iPhone proved Nokia’s multimedia strategy was right. “This is another piece of evidence that we have been on the right track from the beginning,” he said.

Nokia said earlier this week it had sold close to 70 million phones with integrated MP3 players last year but analysts say sales of Nokia’s music-focused devices account for only a small share of that total.

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CNet: Perched on the edges of their seats, attendees at MacWorld San Francisco watched Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveil the iPhone.

The iPhone includes iPod features, a full version of OSX and a new touch-screen gesture-based interface which drew the crowd to a standing ovation.

Maintaining its tradition of religious secrecy prior to launch, Apple has today stunned the technology world with a product that seems likely to do to the mobile phone market what the iPod did to MP3 players.

The iPhone’s gesture-based interface is staggeringly innovative; check out the videos on Apple’s site.

The phone runs a version of Apple’s desktop operating system, OSX, and includes Widgets, Google Maps, Safari and iTunes with CoverFlow.

Apple have partnered with Google and Yahoo to bring maps and email to the device, set for US release in June and European release towards the end of 2007.

The 4GB model will be priced at $499 and the 8GB model at $599 (about €385 and €460 respectively).

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Slashgear: Word from Gizmodo is that Jobs will hold special meetings with Telefonica’s top guy Cesar Alierta about computers and the Apple Phone product. Gizmodo claims that word first came into Gizmodo Spain, but the reliability of the source is not noted in the article. The article then goes on to claim that the meetings will take place in February or even by the end of the month, but that this also means that the phone would not have a launch at MacWorld.

(…) Also, whatever is launched at the MacWorld keynote, it’s gotta be good. Jobs’s keynote has been lengthened to 2 hours instead of the regular 1 hour. (…)

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