Analyst: Apple Must Fix iPhone Faulty Antenna Design

July 21, 2010

In a report published today, MobileTrax principal analyst Gerry Purdy calls Apple to fix the iPhone 4 faulty antenna design.

Apple will need to fix the faulty design of the iPhone antenna. I can assure you that the iPhone 5 won’t have that problem. It might have another problem, but it won’t continue the antenna problems in the iPhone 4. I’m confident that Apple engineering will ensure the future iPhone (and iPad) products will have antennas that work properly.

Apple’s faulty design has consumers wonder if they should buy Apple’s smartphone or not

It has been a real nightmare for Apple, certainly a cause for consternation with millions of iPhone customers, and perhaps a “Wait a minute, should I buy one of these?’ hesitation for a number of prospective iPhone buyers.

And the real winner of Apple’s “Antennagate” ? Antenna engineers!

Simply holding a device should not interfere in any significant way with the network signal reception. And Antennagate will cause other firms such as HTC, Motorola, RIM and Samsung to increase antenna design capabilities to ensure that they won’t have a repeat of the same problem as Apple experienced. It should be a ‘field day’ for antenna design consultants to help all SmartPhone manufacturers fix antenna problems.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Analyst: Nokia Leads Strong Smartphone Market To Triple In 2014

February 11, 2010

With the economy expected to continue improving, analyst firm Forward Concepts forecasts a compound annual growth rate of 24% for Smartphones to the 496 million unit level in 2014.

Follows some of the key findings of the Forward Concepts latest study.

  1. Smartphone shipments worldwide grew 18% in 2009 to 171 million units at a $67 billion level. The Smartphone semiconductor and display revenue reached $11.7 billion.
  2. Nokia continued to lead Smartphone shipments in 2009, with a market share of 36.4%, followed by RIM at 19.4%, Apple at 14.9% and HTC at 6.3%. Sharp follows with a 3.5% market share, then Samsung at 3.4%. 18 other Smartphone vendors constitute the remaining 20% share.
  3. Western Europe has overtaken Japan to be the leader in Smartphone consumption, with a 23% 2009 market share. However in 2010, North America is forecast to become the leading Smartphone market, driven by iPhone and Android phones,  with a 22% share, closely followed by Western Europe at 21.6%, and fast-growing China at 17%.
  4. Symbian continues to be the leading Smartphone operating system, with an estimated 43% unit market share in 2009, while RIM’s Blackberry OS (19%) and Apple’s OS X (15%) has supplanted Microsoft Windows Mobile (13%) for the #2 and #3 positions. Linux variants, including Android, reached 8%, followed by, Palm’s WebOS with 2%. In 2014, Forward Concepts analysts predict that Android will grow to the #2 position, followed by OS X in 2014.

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HTC VP Americas: Competitors Are Criminals! (video)

October 29, 2009

The head of HTC's business in the Americas, Jason MacKenzie, explains why competitors' App Store strategy is a crime to developers!

In a keynote style that reminds me of Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer, HTC’s head of the Americas went as far as accusing his competitors (Apple, Motorola, Nokia or Palm) of committing a crime on developers with their App Store strategy.

“A lot of OEMs, a lot of manufacturers talk a lot about apps… Apps, apps, apps, great, cool apps. But what do they do? They relegate all of your hard work and your application to a simple little icon that is in a sea of a hundred of other icons… But unless you’ve got the best icon graphic in the world, when I hold that phone here [about 2 feet away from this eyes] yours look no different than anybody else. We think that’s criminal. Literally,” said Jason MacKenzie, VP Americas at HTC, in his keynote speech the Sprint Open Developer conference yesterday.

On the other hand, the Taiwanese phone maker promotes its Sense framework that let developers put their applications and widgets in front of users, mingled with the smartphone (Android or Windows Mobile) user interface. “We believe that your application should breathe and live on the device and that’s why we developed Sense,” adds MacKenzie.

Early next year, HTC promises to release the Sense SDK (software developers’ kit) for developers to create their own widgets and personalised screens.

Follows the video excerpt where MacKenzie talks about competitors’ app strategy and HTC Sense:

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HTC To Launch U.S. 4th Android Phone Next Week (video)

October 28, 2009

Verizon upcoming Droid Eris will be just a rebrand of HTC's Hero

The Android smartphone market is heating up.

Today Verizon announced it will ship the Motorola “Droid” phone starting Nov 6th, while Sprint will offer the Samsung Moment Nov 1st.

However, HTC still looked confident today that it could beat Samsung and Motorola in launching the nation’s 4th Android smartphone, after introducing the first three (G1, MyTouch and the Hero).

“There’s nobody more committed on Android than HTC… Almost a year ago, we launched the first Android product, then we launched the second Android product, then we launched our third Android product which is our flagship for 2009 – the HTC Hero – … And between you and I actually expect that HTC will launch the 4th Android product and have that available by the same time our competitors’ products that are getting some noise but aren’t available in the marketplace,” confides Jason MacKenzie, the head of the Taiwanese phone maker for the Americas during a keynote speech today at the Sprint Open Developer conference.

That 4th Android phone MacKenzie is referring to is Verizon’s Droid Eris which is nothing than a rebranded HTC Hero, but priced at $99 versus $180 at Sprint.

However, I’m still wondering why the mobile operator chose to have separate launches for its Android phones from Motorola and HTC. Maybe you can help me on figuring this out?

Follows the video excerpt where MacKenzie reaffirms HTC commitment to the Android platform and the launch of its 4th device:

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[Google I/O] Google Gives Away HTC Magic Android Phone!

May 27, 2009

Google gave away the HTC Magic with a 1-month voice/data service to all conference attendees

Google gave away to all conference attendees an HTC Magic with a 1-month voice/data service from T-Mobile. So far, the phone was only available in Europe from Vodaphone affiliates.

Earlier this afternoon, Google started giving away the HTC Magic Android smartphone to all conference attendees, including press, bloggers, etc.

The phone which supports Android 1.5 (cupcake) also comes with a temporary 1-month voice/data plan from T-Mobile (which does not carry the HTC Magic yet) that includes:

  1. 2,000 anytime nationwide (US) minutes (no international calling)
  2. 1,500 outgoing text messages (SMS)
  3. 1,000 incoming text messages (SMS)
  4. Unlimited data

After the 1-month trial period, T-Mobile is supposed to contact me to purchase their service. I’m already on T-Mobile, using a G1.

It’ll be interesting to compare both Android-phones, despite my decision to keep using the G1 for its poor but present physical keyboard!

Here’s the letter that came with the phone:

The letter accompanying the free for attendees HTC Magic

The letter accompanying the free HTC Magic phone

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Android Phones To Outsell IPhones In Three Years

March 18, 2009

The thought that Apple’s venerable position in the smartphone market could erode in as little as three years is hard to fathom.

But consider this. In a relatively short period of time there will scores of phones on the market running Google’s Android software. They will feature a variety of price points and features – and they will come from a broad mix of carriers.

The soon to be released G2 phone running Android software

The soon to be released G2 phone running Android software

At the same time, there will be one, or maybe two, iPhones. And in the U.S., only one wireless operator sells the device today.

“Google wins hands down,” says Daniel Odio, co-founder of the mobile applications development company PointAbout. “There’s going to be hundreds of manufacturers making phones.”

That degree of use will help improve the Android software. It could be an uphill fight.

Odio estimates it will take only two to three years for Android’s volumes to pass the iPhone’s. Already companies such as Samsung, Motorola and HTC are working on or have developed models.

Obviously, Apple isn’t resting on its success. The company has sold 17 million iPhones since the product was launched in June 2007, 13.7 million last year alone. And it announced on Tuesday that the iPhone now sells in 80 countries, expanding its worldwide presence.

The company at the same time said its App Store has 25,000 third-party applications and so far has distributed more than 800 million downloads. Android has a long way to go to catch up.

Still, Android appears ready to benefit from a market strategy more akin to that of Microsoft’s Windows than Apple’s Macintosh. Microsoft sold Windows to a variety of manufacturers, who went out and built PCs with it at their core. Volumes went through the roof.

Apple is the only Macintosh maker today and though its computers are gaining share, they badly trail Windows machines in market share.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

Smartphones Make Up 12 Percent Of Handset Sales

March 12, 2009

Smartphones now make up 12 percent of the cellular handset market, but like everything else, growth has slowed.

In the fourth quarter, sales of phones like Research In Motion’s Blackberrys and Apple’s iPhone grew only 3.7 percent, according to Gartner. The pace was the product category’s slowest.

Still, 38.1 million phones were sold during the period – 139.3 million for all of 2008 – as consumers increasingly favored multi-function phones with Internet access.

According to Gartner, smartphones from RIM, Samsung, Apple and HTC took share in 2008 from Nokia’s more entry-level offerings. Nokia’s smartphone sales declined 16.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

The quarter also presented some difficulties for Apple. Sales fell from the third to the fourth quarters and the 2-million-phone inventory the company built up in the third quarter did not significantly diminish.

RIM’s Storm, T-Mobile’s G1, the first phone with Google’s Android software, and Samsung’s touch-screen products did well in the period. In North America, smartphones made up about 20 percent of fourth-quarter sales.

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Posted by Mark Boslet

HTC Magic Is Google Android Smartphone 2.0; Exclusive To Vodafone

February 17, 2009
Magic is HTC's second Google Android smartphone

Magic is HTC's second Google Android smartphone, without a hardware keyboard but much sleekier than T-Mobile's G1; however still no multi-touch a-la iPhone

HTC’s second Android smartphone is an iPhone look-alike.

The HTC Magic was unveiled today at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain and will be sold exclusively in most of Western Europe by Vodafone, starting next month.

HTC Magic has no multi-touch capabilities

Aside from the lack of a hardware keyboard and an audio jack (what’s up with that?), the HTC Magic has much of the same specifications than T-Mobile’s G1: the same Qualcomm system on a chip processor (MSM7201a), 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, a 3.2-inch touchscreen, a 3.2-megapixel camera with autofocus, Bluetooth, a microSD slot and Android apps.

However, Vodafone’s Magic has only 192MB of onboard memory versus 256MB for T-Mobile’s G1.

According to mobile carrier SFR – which will sell the HTC Magic in France – the Android smartphone will be available next month, accompanied by monthly phone plans varying from 99 to 129 euros.

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Google Android Smartphones Eclipse Competitors

February 17, 2009
Huawei's Android smartphone is still vaporware!

Huawei's Android smartphone is still vaporware!

Call it the Android World Congress.

In Barcelona, Spain, this year – in the absence of any new iPhone announcements – all eyes were on Google to show new Android smartphones… and the wait was not too long!

Huawei Android smartphone is vaporware

By the end of opening day yesterday, Chinese-maker Huawei showed a “mock-up” of its upcoming Android-powered smartphone that looks like an iPhone!

However, nothing to brag about really: the plastic prototype was non-functional and was protected behind a solid glass.

HTC Magic is latest Android smartphone

Taiwanese-maker HTC on the other hand unveiled the second generation of its Android smartphone line. Fully functional, the HTC Magic will be sold by Vodaphone in most of Western Europe and by its SFR joint-venture in France.

No words yet on the availability of the HTC Magic in the U.S. (can it be Verizon despite the lack of a GSM network?) or its pricing.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

Mobile World Congress Opens In Smartphone Fanfare

February 16, 2009

The Mobile World Congress just opened this morning (Europe time) in Barcelona, Spain, and the mood is still upbeat despite the recession.

Nokia, HTC and many other mobile vendors were inviting loads of reporters/bloggers to the event, all expenses paid of course!

The GSM Association which organizes the yearly event expects over 1,200 companies to show off their new wares in the Catalan capital and more than 60,000 attendees.

Smartphones: the bright spot in a declining mobile phone market

A slew of smartphones make up the main attraction of this year’s show. Gartner expects the smartphone category to grow 32% this year despite a 4% to 5% drop of the overall mobile phone devices market in 2009; the first in 10 years!

Here are some of the smartphones unveiled at the show: Sony Ericsson’s Symbian-based 10-megapixels prototype Idou; Acer’s first ever touchscreen smartphones; GPS smartphones from Garmin (Nuvifone) and Inventec; Toshiba TG01; HTC Touch Diamond 2 and Touch Pro 2; LG Arena; Nokia’s E75 and solar panel phones from LG and Samsung.

No words yet on Dell’s eventual entry in the smartphone business.

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Posted by TechPulse 360

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