Posts Tagged ‘mobile devices’
Motorola: Following three quarters of losses turned a profit for the most recent quarter
August 10th, 2009 | 
Author: The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company reported a net profit of 26 million dollars in the second quarter of the year compared with a net profit of four million dollars a year ago.
Motorola posted a net loss of 231 million dollars in the first quarter.
Earnings per share of one cent in the second quarter were better than expected by analysts who had forecast a loss of four cents per share.
Revenue during the quarter which ended on July 4 fell 32 percent to 5.49 billion dollars.
Motorola’s mobile phone division cut its operating loss in half compared with the first quarter. It rang up a second-quarter operating loss of 253 million dollars on revenue which fell 45 percent to 1.8 billion dollars.
“In Mobile Devices, we improved the operating loss, reflecting a lower cost structure, and substantially reduced cash consumption as compared to the first quarter,” Motorola co-chief executive Sanjay Jha said in a statement.
“We have agreements in place with carriers and remain on track to bring our new smartphone devices to market for the holiday selling season,” said Jha, who is also CEO of the Mobile Devices division.
Motorola said it shipped 14.8 million handsets in the quarter, a slight increase from 14.7 million the first quarter, giving it an estimated global handset market share of 5.5 percent
Motorola said it expects to again post earnings per share of one cent in the current quarter.
Motorola enjoyed success with its popular Razr phone launched in 2005 but has been losing ground since to Apple and Research in Motion as well as other major cell phone makers such as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.
Motorola enjoyed a 17.5 percent share of the handset market two years ago.
Motorola has said it hopes to have devices based on Google’s open-source Android operating systems in stores by the fourth quarter of the year.
Motorola shares gained 9.68 percent to 7.48 dollars in early trading on Wall Street.
Posted in Communications | 
Tags: apple, ash, blog, blogs, car, cell phone, google, handsets, market share, Mobile, mobile device, mobile devices, mobile phone, motorola, nokia, operating system, Operating Systems, research, samsung, smartphone, sony, sony ericsson, system | 
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CDNs: Limelight now offers turnkey customizing and monetizing media delivery in a mobile world
According to Nielsen(1), US consumers are watching more content per month than ever before, and viewing is wide spread across three screens: traditional television, Web browsers, and media-enabled mobile devices. As audiences continue to fragment across devices, publishers need a simple way to deliver content wherever those audiences go. LimelightREACH and LimelightADS solve this problem by using contextual awareness and an intelligent delivery platform to customize media assets on the fly. The technology delivers a high-quality playback experience for consumers and new targeted revenue opportunities for content publishers. This means publishers can create content once, yet distribute and monetize it across many networks and connected devices.
“Consumer viewing habits are evolving rapidly with the expectation that media should be available not just at home, but on the go. As a result, many of our customers are looking at aggressively expanding the reach of their online media in the mobile arena,” said Bill Loewenthal, vice president and general manager, mobility and monetization solutions, Limelight Networks. “Our solution is a combination of mobility products and robust, media-grade infrastructure that provides the scale necessary to support ever-growing audiences, and the field-proven success of mobile infrastructure technologies that target and personalize media delivery.”
LimelightREACH uses the company’s intelligent global computing platform to auto-detect end-user devices and deliver device-optimized media files, with no change in the publishing process, for the best consumer media experience. The solution enables publishers to distribute properly-formatted content to almost any media-enabled mobile handset — from early video-capable phones to smartphones such as the Apple iPhone™ 3GS or Palm Pre™ — using a single, Universal URL. Based on an ever-growing library of device profiles, LimelightREACH delivers the right file over the right protocol and network to the specific device that requested the content. Through an open architecture, LimelightREACH can be paired with Limelight Networks’ own media-grade content delivery service, or service from other major CDN providers.
LimelightADS helps publishers move beyond the Web browser to reach audiences in widgets, mobile applications, video games, and more. The service allows publishers to present dynamic pre-, mid-, or post-roll video and audio advertising into media that is delivered to mobile or connected users. LimelightADS works seamlessly with a publisher’s existing ad insertion process, integrating directly into leading ad decision engines like DoubleClick DART and Microsoft Atlas, and allowing publishers to maintain any existing management interface for measuring ad success. Publishers can change ads dynamically and even rotate multiple campaigns and advertisers within the same content segment. With LimelightADS, publishers remain in control, managing their ad sales and operations as they always have — whether they are using their own internal ad sales teams or are working through a trusted partner. Limelight Networks supports Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) mobile video standards.
LimelightREACH and LimelightADS Bring Device-Optimized Targeting to Mobile Media Delivery, Allowing Publishers to Customize Content and Advertisements for Individual Devices
see also LimelightREACH and LimelightADS
Posted in Communications |
Tags: 3g, advertisement, Advertising, amp, apple, application, Audi, blog, blogs, Computing, consumers, game, Games, iphone, Management, Marketing, microsoft, Mobile, mobile application, mobile applications, mobile device, mobile devices, mobile market, mobile marketing, mobile world, Network, online, palm, smartphone, Technology, video game, web browser, world |
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Americas: Operators have issued a policy document calling for better assignment of spectrum for mobile broadband
“Policymakers have an important and challenging role in obtaining additional spectrum and bringing it to the market to serve society and meet the growing demands of consumers,” stated Chris Pearson, President of 3G Americas. “Smartphones and mobile Internet devices are moving from the headlines, out of the shops and into the hands of customers who are quickly exploring a wide variety of productive services and applications for education, healthcare and safety.”
Various analyses have demonstrated the singular importance of spectrum harmonization in meeting emerging mobile broadband. Among the most serious impacts of spectrum fragmentation are the cost and performance of mobile devices. Handset size constraints and component costs place limits on the number of bands and technologies that wireless devices can efficiently incorporate. As a result, support for fragmented spectrum allocations is frequently minimized in favor of more common regional and global brands that leverage economies of scale as well as the capabilities for international roaming.
3G Americas emphasizes the criticality of spectrum harmonization. At the same time, it supports the efforts of standards bodies and industry players in developing techniques to put fragmented spectrum bands to use, while promoting service provider coexistence. In particular, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) continues to develop technical approaches, including various carrier aggregation techniques (permitting the asymmetric pairing of radio channels), to address existing and potential spectrum fragmentation challenges. These approaches are showcased in the paper.
The white paper also reviews steps taken internationally by policymakers to maximize the use of spectrum by diverse parties while concurrently minimizing the potential for harmful inter-system interference. The report summarizes the important considerations for policymakers, which need to be factored hand-in-hand with the technical approaches. Conclusions of the white paper include:
– Spectrum should be harmonized and coordinated to the maximum extent feasible
– New spectrum should facilitate access by new technologies of all stripes
– Appropriate protections should be established for incumbent and/or adjacent service providers to protect against interference
– Spectrum policy should foster, as far as possible, the efficient use of spectrum
– Rules covering the allocation, auction and deployment of spectrum should be predicable and transparent, prior to auctions
“Spectrum is a limited resource and yet it is a key ingredient to the success of mobile broadband in the Americas,” Pearson added. “The challenge and opportunity for countries throughout the Americas is to properly inventory and identify new spectrum for the wireless industry.”
3G Americas Recommends Plan to Maximize Broadband Spectrum
see also 3GPP Technology Approaches for Maximizing Fragmented Spectrum Allocations (registration required)
Posted in Communications |
Tags: 3g, amp, application, AWS, blog, blogs, car, consumers, game, headlines, Health, Internet, Mobile, mobile broadband, mobile device, mobile devices, mobile internet, service providers, smartphone, system, Technology, technology approach, third generation, Wireless |
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Mobile: Half Americans would be lost without their cellphones, more than leading European countries
This suggests that Americans are more reliant on their mobile devices than users in France, Germany, and the U.K., where cell phones were described as essential by less than a third of respondents.
Despite the high reliance on mobile devices, however, a significant percentage of users in all four countries say that they rarely make outgoing calls on their cell phones. In the U.S., 13% of wireless subscribers “never” make outgoing calls, while another 18% make less than three calls a week.
This suggests that there is a notable divide (particularly in the U.S.) between high-volume wireless users who have become reliant on mobile devices, and moderate users who still use landlines for the majority of their telecommunications needs.
49% of Americans would be “Lost” Without Cell Phones, Survey Suggests
Posted in Communications |
Tags: blog, blogs, cell phone, Communications, Mobile, mobile device, mobile devices, mobile phone, mobile phones, research, Wireless |
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Mobile banking: Despite 59% of global consumers stating that online banking on their mobile phone is important to them they are not willing to pay for
In order to understand the future for the mobile banking market KPMG surveyed over 4,000 consumers in 19 countries world wide.
The resulting survey presents some startling regional differences and delivers a clear picture to banks of consumers’ future expectations.
There is however, a huge potential for banks to grow their market with mobile phone users, as globally 53% of consumers say they are comfortable with the idea of using a mobile phone for financial transactions and 54% state that they are ‘at least somewhat likely’ to conduct banking through a mobile device in the next 12 months.
Only 19% of global consumers are currently conducting banking through a mobile device. This means that banks are missing out on the massive majority, some 81%, that have yet to be persuaded that mobile banking is a service that is not only available and worth using, but importantly is worth paying for as well.
Among those respondents who had not conducted banking through their mobile device, 44% cited security and privacy as the primary reason.
Tareq Al Sadhan, KPMG in Saudi Arabia’s Managing Partner comments, “Partly fuelled by the arrival of smart phones, consumers worldwide are showing strong demand for bundled services and mobile banking is part of this equation.
The next challenge will be to allay consumers’ concerns over privacy and security in order for mobile banking to succeed and be financially viable and profitable for banks in the future.”
KPMG’s Consumer and Convergence III survey’s findings suggest solutions may be found in addressing consumers’ concerns over security and privacy and that if banks can win over consumer confidence in this area they stand to win the mobile banking customer of the future.
“The findings of KPMG’s survey outline the dilemma for banks,” continued Al Sadhan. “Consumers want the immediacy of secure banking on their mobile devices but they do not want to pay for the privilege. So, while early entrants to this space will likely build strong customer share, it is unlikely that the revenue from the service will cover the costs. Nevertheless, banks should plan on providing a mobile banking service to with the aim of avoiding the erosion of market share to competitors with this offering.”
Indeed, strong security or privacy protection was the most important factor for 32% of respondents globally who bank at least once weekly online, with ease of use being the second most important factor at 20%.
The survey does reveal some good news for banks, as 6% of respondents globally say they are willing to pay to access online banking services from their mobile phone and 17% of respondents state they are willing to pay a limited amount.
Obviously if banks can address the key consumer issues highlighted in the survey’s findings then they could see that percentage rise.
Regionally there are some significant differences. KPMG’s survey reveals Asia to be the region that is the most comfortable with mobile banking with 23% using the service.
Potentially then, Asia is the region where banks can look to grow their mobile banking services fastest, make quick wins and gain new customers.
North America shows the most resistance to mobile banking with 66% of respondents ‘not at all comfortable’ with using a mobile phone for financial transactions. In Asia only 36% are ‘not at all comfortable’.
In the Middle East/Africa region, 67% of Saudis said they were ‘very or somewhat comfortable’ with using a mobile phone for financial transactions but only 39% of South Africans said the same.
These differences show the need for banks to look at different cultural needs and expectations when they are positioning their services in different market places and the possibility of having to customize their service offerings to suit different national consumers cannot be ruled out.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, 75% of the over 65 age group is ‘not at all comfortable’ using a mobile phone for financial transactions.
This age group will be one of the hardest to persuade to change their traditional banking methods as this is the age group, together with the 55-64 age group, that are the most concerned with privacy and security at 51 percent each.
More surprisingly only a slight majority, 51% of respondents globally, report that their current bank offers banking through mobile devices.
This says more about consumers’ perception of the service offering than the reality. But banks will need to work hard to improve customer awareness of the availability of mobile banking, and to persuade customers of the benefits, if they are to hope to persuade them to pay for the services in the future.
With regards to payments, 86% of respondents said they never made a purchase from a vending machine using their mobile phone and 90% said they never made a purchase using a mobile phone through a retailer’s mobile site, further suggesting an unfamiliarity or lack of comfort in using a mobile phone for transactions and payments.
This is definitely a growth area for banks with huge potential. However cost, security, privacy and many other issues analyzed by KPMG should be addressed before the market can begin to mature. KPMG’s survey provides insight into the issues and highlights the opportunities for banks moving into, and developing
Consumers say mobile banking is important, but they are not prepared to pay for it
Posted in Communications |
Tags: amp, Audi, Banking, blog, blogs, business, Business Intelligence, consumers, Mac, market share, Mobile, mobile device, mobile devices, mobile phone, mobile phone users, online, rim, Space, t mobile, world |
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