Author: entelechyasia

Entelechy Asia is passionate about technology -- from the home to the enterprise, and telecommunications. We deliver news, views and reviews from Asia from the perspectives of practitioners and followers.
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Motorola Solutions delivers cloud-ready wifi services

Motorola SolutionsEnterprises have more options for deployment cost effective wireless local area networks (WLAN). Motorola Solutions’ new VX 9000 is a scalable WLAN cloud solution backed by the functionality of Motorola’s robust NX hardware controller.

The VX 9000 software-based virtualised controller supports up to 25,000 access points in a single instance and can scale to support multiple instances.

Motorola’s new NX 7500 multi-service platform is designed for mid-size enterprises and campus environments and offers comprehensive management of more than 2,000 access points. Powered by WiNG 5, the NX 7500 ensures optimal RF performance, speed and throughput by enabling every transmission to follow the fastest and most efficient route to its destination.

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Mobile by entelechyasia

Technology keeps New Zealanders indoor

IDCBeautiful scenery, spectacular views and natural landscape make New Zealand a wonderful place to delight in outdoor activities. It’s no wonder then that New Zealanders are known to spend lots of time enjoying  outdoor activities.

However, technology seems to be changing the way New Zealanders live. According to IDC, New Zealand consumers are choosing to go out less often for shopping and leisure activities, as they prefer to do these activities in the comfort of their own home, thanks to advances in technology.

The new data reveals that 47 percent of respondents would prefer to do personal shopping online, rather than in a physical store.

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Mobile by entelechyasia

PC shipment up 5% but tablet growth slows in Q1

Worldwide client PC shipment rose five percent year on year to hit 123.7 million units in Q1 , according to Canalys. Growth in tablet shipments slowed to 21 percent, yet at 50.8 million units they continue to outship notebooks. Tablets accounted for 41 percent of the market while notebooks had 38 percent.

Notebooks and desktops in China declined 13 percent and six percent respectively compared with the previous year.

In the tablet market, there was strong growth in the Middle East (100 percent) and Greater China (74 percent). The US market was adversely affected by a drop in Apple iPad shipment, which fell 40 percent. This was offset somewhat by 20 percent growth in China, Apple’s second largest market. Worldwide, iPad shipments in Q1 fell 16 percent year on year to 16.4 million and accounted for 80 percent of Apple’s total PC shipments. Despite this, Apple continued to lead the global PC market. Its share fell both sequentially and year on year from 20 to 17 percent, due chiefly to the increasingly competitive tablet market.

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Global tablet shipment misses target

IDCWorldwide tablet plus 2-in-1 shipments slipped to 50.4 million units in Q1, according to preliminary data from IDC. The total represents a sequential decline of 35.7 percent from the high-volume holiday quarter and just 3.9 percent growth over the same period a year ago. The slowdown was felt across operating systems and screen sizes and likely points to an even more challenging year ahead for the category.

“The rise of large-screen phones and consumers who are holding on to their existing tablets for ever longer periods of time were both contributing factors to a weaker-than-anticipated quarter for tablets and 2-in-1s,” said Tom Mainelli, IDC Program Vice President, Devices and Displays. “In addition, commercial growth has not been robust enough to offset the slowing of consumer shipments.”

Apple maintained its lead in the worldwide tablet plus 2-in-1 market, shipping 16.4 million units. That’s down from 26.0 million units in the previous quarter and well below its total of 19.5 million units in Q1 of 2013. Despite the contraction, the company saw its share of the market slip only modestly to 32.5 percent, down from the previous quarter’s share of 33.2 percent.

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Huawei maintains dominance in mobile broadband modem market

abi researchEven as mobile broadband modems and hotspot router shipments fell 21 percent year-on-year to nearly 73 million units, Huawei continued to lead the market with nearly 61 percent share. Together with fellow China company ZTE, the pair shipped more than 85 percent of all mobile broadband modems, according to ABI Research.

The overall drop in the market could be attributed to the declining PC market. USB modem sticks and embedded modem modules led the two-year slide while mobile hotspot routers increased 32 percent.

As the computing marketing continues to evolve with more performance and choices than ever before, mobile broadband modems were not impervious to the transition.

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Smartphone chipsets used in wearables compromise user experience

abi researchSmartphone components are being used in smartwatches in lieu of optimised smartwatch components, even when claimed otherwise, according to ABI Research.

Teardowns of a number of devices found that nobody has an optimal wearable peripheral solution yet. The Samsung Galaxy Gear and Z-watch use application processors originally targeted for smartphone/tablets and the uWatch goes a step further by using a full blown GPRS SOC, MediaTek MT6260, but only uses the integrated BT. Other watches such as the Sony series and Pebble use discrete solutions. The end result is less than optimal battery life and unnecessary cost/size that get passed on to the consumer.

“Our findings show the chipset suppliers are playing the ‘wait and see’ game before making investments into wearable peripherals. Of the solutions available the oversized application processors draw too much current and cost far too much. Discrete solutions tend to be physically large and also a little higher cost than necessary. The closest match is the SOCs with embedded BT whichcan be both power and size efficient withthe only drawback being slight cost impact. Once the market takes off expect to see a number of truly optimal solutions available,” said Jim Mielke, Vice President of Engineering at ABI Research.

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Enterprise by entelechyasia

Apacer introduces SATA 3 SSD

Apacer SFD 25H-2_loApacer has launched the SATA 3 SFD 25H-M SSD, which features up to 1TB capacity with really fast sequential read/write speed of 510/420MB/second.

To cater to industrial applications, its 512GB version is also designed to operate in the harsh environment of industry-level extended temperature (-40°C ~ 85°C). The product also features anti-shock, anti-vibration, low-power consumption and high-speed transmission.

It can improve access efficiency of servers as an alternative to traditional hard disks, and provide outstanding efficiency and highly reliable operating environment. In addition, it can be applied to embedded devices for industries such as medical, military, gaming, and transportation, especially in airborne surveillance system. The SFD 25H-M is able to keep on recording data repeatedly when working at heights and in low temperatures.

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Violin Memory and Microsoft develop and avail all-flash array solution

WFAViolin Memory has teamed up with Microsoft to develop and avail Windows Flash Array (WFA), the first all-flash high-performance storage array powered by Windows Storage Server 2012 R2. WFA is a tightly integrated combination of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 and Violin’s award-winning hardware and software into a single solution that delivers high performance all-flash array storage for enterprise and cloud customers.

The solution is claimed to transform the datacentre by dramatically reducing server overhead and application response times through improved storage performance, fundamentally altering the cost structure of enterprise applications. It enables enterprise and cloud workloads, such as SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint and Windows Server with Hyper-V virtualised applications, to meet the needs of global enterprises, while satisfying IT operational demands for maximised agility, automation, and orchestration between network, storage and compute resources.

“Microsoft technologies, such as Windows Server, SQL Server, and Microsoft SharePoint, are already adopted by enterprises worldwide and growing dramatically,” said Bill Laing, Corporate Vice- President of Microsoft. “By jointly developing this highly integrated solution with Violin Memory, we are working together to provide enterprise and cloud customers with dramatically improved performance, scalability, and economics for their Windows applications – virtualised, physical, and cloud.”

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APAC PC market dips for 8th consecutive quarter

IDCThe Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) PC market declined eight percent sequentially and 11 percent year-on-year in 2014 Q1 to reach 23.8 million units, according to preliminary results from IDC.

Elections in some of the bigger markets contributed to the region’s overall decline. In India, an ongoing large education project was postponed due to the upcoming elections, shaving off about half a million units from the commercial PC segment. In Thailand, political unrest continued to have an adverse impact on the economy, while in Indonesia, government funds were diverted in the run-up to the elections, resulting in lower commercial spending in PCs there this quarter.

“However, as these markets stabilise after the elections, IDC expects commercial activity to resume in the second half as a result of pent-up demand,” said Handoko Andi, Research Manager for Client Devices of IDC Asia/Pacific. “On the consumer side, ongoing distractions from smartphones and tablets as well as cautious channel intake impacted most markets in the region, especially in Southeast Asia.”

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Smart mobile devices boost audio accessories sales in HK

gfk_logoHigh ownership of smartphones, tablets and phablets in Hong Kong have been positively impacting sales of complementary products such as headphones and headsets, as well as mini-speakers, according to GfK.

The surge in audio accessories sales come at the back of consumers’ fixation with smart mobile devices, having spent more than US$4.2 billion on nearly 8.4 million units of such devices in the past 12 months.

The combined market of headphones, headsets and mini-speakers generated nearly US$77 million in the last one year, reflecting a 10 percent surge over a year ago. While sales revenue for headphones and headsets expanded by nine percent, mini-speakers sold 83 percent more in volume and raked in additional 32 percent in sales dollar.

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Samsung Experience Store opens at Westgate in Singapore

samsungSamsung has opened its largest Samsung Experience Store at Westgate in Singapore. The 6,027-square foot standalone triplex store will provide give those staying in the western part of Singapore access to Samsung’s latest range of products with infotainment and educational content as well as in-store dining options.

At the store, consumers can get hands-on experience with Samsung products and see how Samsung’s range of content and services work seamlessly together.

“The Samsung Experience Store at Westgate represents our continued commitment to providing a conducive environment for consumers to try our innovative products,” said Eugene Goh, Vice President of IT & Mobile, Samsung Electronics Singapore.

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Worldwide PC shipment dips 1.7% in Q1

GartnerGlobal PC shipment dipped 1.7 percent to 76.6 million units Q1, compared to the same period last year, according to  apreliminary results by Gartner.

“The end of XP support by Microsoft on April 8 has played a role in the easing decline of PC shipments,” said Mikako Kitagawa, Principal Analyst of Gartner. “All regions indicated a positive effect since the end of XP support stimulated the PC refresh of XP systems. Professional desktops, in particular, showed strength in the quarter. Among key countries, Japan was greatly affected by the end of XP support, registering a 35 percent year-over-year increase in PC shipments. The growth was also boosted by sales tax change. We expect the impact of XP migration worldwide to continue throughout 2014.”

“While the PC market remains weak, it is showing signs of improvement compared to last year. The PC professional market generally improved in regions such as EMEA. The US saw the gradual recovery of PC spending as the impact of tablets faded.” said Kitagawa.

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NVIDIA releases new drivers, GeForce Experience and SHIELD software upgrade

NVIDIANVIDIA has released new drivers built on DirectX11 to offer enhanced performance, a version of GeForce Experience packed with new features, and an over-the-air (OTA) software upgrade for SHIELD.

The new 337.50 Beta driver delivers up to 71 percent faster gaming performance, including Call of Duty: Black Ops II (up 20 percent), Sleeping Dogs (31 percent), and Alien vs. Predator, Total War: Rome 2, and Sniper Elite v2 (more than 40 percent).

Along with the new 337.50 Beta driver, GeForce Experience 2.0 now includes the ability to optimise more than 150 games. It brings two signature features to notebooks for the first time. Shadowplay, which allows gamers to capture their gaming exploits with little hit to frame rates, and share them on platforms such as live-streaming video service Twitch, and GameStream, which allows gamers to stream games and enjoy them on the go.

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Gartner: Gamification driving digital business

GartnerGamification has become an essential part of any digital business strategy as a way of digitally motivating people and overcoming barriers of scale, time, distance, connectedness, and cost, according to Gartner. Digital business leaders are using gamification to add value to the product offer, to increase employee engagement and to drive crowdsourced innovation.

Gamification has tremendous potential, but right now most organizations aren’t getting it right. The road to gamification success is full of pitfalls, and many companies don’t understand how critical player motivation is to success.

In the newly-launched book Gamify — How Gamification Motivates People to Do Extraordinary Things, Brian Burke, Research Vice President of Gartner, explains how to design an experience that touches people on an emotional, rather than transactional, level and motivates them to achieve their goals.

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NVIDIA unveils first mobile supercomputer for embedded systems

Jetson TK1 DevKitDubbed the world’s first mobile supercomputer for embedded systems, the NVIDIA® Jetson TK1 platform will enable the development of a new generation of applications that employ computer vision, image processing and real-time data processing.

It provides developers with the tools to create systems and applications that can enable robots to seamlessly navigate, physicians to perform mobile ultrasound scans, drones to avoid moving objects and cars to detect pedestrians.

With unmatched performance of 326 gigaflops – nearly three times more than any similar embedded platform – the Jetson TK1 Developer Kit includes a full C/C++ toolkit based on NVIDIA CUDA architecture, the most pervasive parallel computing platform and programming model. This makes it much easier to program than the FPGA, custom ASIC and DSP processors that are commonly used in current embedded systems.

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Iray VCA to transform product design

Honda Iray VCANVIDIA has introduced Iray Visual Computing Appliance (VCA), a GPU rendering appliance that dramatically accelerates ray tracing, enabling professional designers to interact with computer models of such high visual fidelity that it can largely replace the lengthy, costly process of building physical prototypes.

Honda Research and Development is an initial user of NVIDIA Iray VCA, with a prototype cluster made up of 25 nodes to refine styling designs on future cars.
Iray VCA combines hardware and software to greatly accelerate the work of NVIDIA Iray — a photorealistic renderer integrated into leading design tools like Dassault Systèmes’ CATIA and Autodesk’s 3ds Max. Because the appliance is scalable, multiple units can be linked, speeding up by hundreds of times or more the simulation of light bouncing off surfaces in the real world.

As a result, automobiles and other complex designs can be viewed seamlessly at high visual fidelity from all angles. This enables the viewer to move around a model while it’s still in the digital domain, as if it were a 3D physical prototype.

“Iray VCA lets designers do what they’ve always wanted to — interact with their ideas as if they were already real,” said Jeff Brown, Vice President and General Manager of Professional Visualisation and Design at NVIDIA. “It removes the time-consuming step of building prototypes or rendering out movies, enabling designs to be explored, tweaked and confirmed in real time. Months, even years — and enormous cost — can be saved in bringing products to market.”

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NVIDIA launches NVLink, world’s first high-speed GPU interconnect

NVLink graphicIn the opening keynote for GTC 2014 in San Jose, NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang made a host of announcements, the first of which is  NVIDIA NVLink, a high-speed interconnect that enables GPUs and CPUs to share data five to 12 times faster than they can today. This will eliminate a longstanding bottleneck and help pave the way for a new generation of exascale supercomputers that are 50-100 times faster than today’s most powerful systems.

NVIDIA will add NVLink technology into its Pascal GPU architecture – expected to be introduced in 2016 – following this year’s new NVIDIA Maxwell compute architecture. The new interconnect was co-developed with IBM, which is incorporating it in future versions of its POWER CPUs.

“NVLink technology unlocks the GPU’s full potential by dramatically improving data movement between the CPU and GPU, minimising the time that the GPU has to wait for data to be processed,” said Brian Kelleher, Senior Vice President of GPU Engineering at NVIDIA.

“NVLink enables fast data exchange between CPU and GPU, thereby improving data throughput through the computing system and overcoming a key bottleneck for accelerated computing today,” said Bradley McCredie, vice president and IBM Fellow at IBM. “NVLink makes it easier for developers to modify high-performance and data analytics applications to take advantage of accelerated CPU-GPU systems. We think this technology represents another significant contribution to our OpenPOWER ecosystem.”

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GSMA completes mobile energy efficiency optimisation project in Pakistan

GSMAGSMA has completed its second Mobile Energy Efficiency (MEE) Optimisation project in Pakistan, working in conjunction with mobile operator Warid Telecom and systems integrator Cascadiant.

The project trialled innovative energy-saving technology in Warid’s network and demonstrated significant energy savings of between 30 and 60 percent. When the solutions are rolled out across Warid’s network in Pakistan, the annual savings are expected to be more than US$6 million and 19,700 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

GSMA also announced that Eltek, Enertika, PowerOasis and Purcell Systems have joined the GSMA’s MEE programme as technology partners. The companies are working with the GSMA to deliver MEE Optimisation projects for mobile network operators (MNOs) who wish to reduce their networks’ energy consumption and cost, as well as carbon emissions.

“It is fantastic that this MEE Optimisation project in Pakistan has already successfully demonstrated significant cost savings and emissions reductions, and is clearly showing the benefits of the service to our members,” said Tom Phillips, Chief Regulatory Officer of GSMA. “The GSMA is also delighted to welcome these four companies as MEE Optimisation technology partners to deliver real cost savings and environmental benefits for operators.”

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ZTE9 releases NVIDIA Tegra 4-powered Funbox home entertainment console

FunboxZTE9 has released FunBox, which is claimed to be the world’s fastest home entertainment console. The console is expected to give consumers and families a unique high-performance all-in-one gaming, video-chatting and online video experience.

FunBox is the fruit of the engineering capabilities of ZTE and the video game development expertise of The9. ZTE9 is a joint venture between ZTE, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of mobile devices, and The9, one of China’s foremost video game companies. Online sales for FunBox will start on JD.com next month, and consumers can choose between 12 different colors.

The console is powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 4 processor, based on the new A15 architecture, and the superior graphics performance is delivered by a 72-core GeForce graphics processor with 2GB DDR3L memory and 8GB of Flash memory. 

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Attached rate of factory installed car navigation units to rise to 38% in 2019

abi researchOnce a luxury item, embedded in-car navigation systems are now increasingly becoming less expensive and are offered in mass-market cars. At the same time, more and more car navigation units are becoming connected and multi-functional as they converge with other technologies in the car.

The attachment of embedded in-dash factory installed navigation units is expected to increase from 22 percent at the end of 2013 to 38 percent by 2019, according to ABI Reseach. This represents a compounded annual growth rate of 13.6 percent.

“However, this growth will be eclipsed by the number of smartphone-based navigation devices used in the car, particularly off-board devices, where navigation is performed in the cloud as opposed to on the device,” said Gareth Owen, Principal Analyst of ABI Research, which forecasts that shipment of handset-based navigation services will reach 1.68 billion globally by 2019.

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More power and better performance with new NVIDIA GeForce 800M

The Razor Blade packs the GeForce GTX 870M.
The Razor Blade packs the GeForce GTX 870M.

NVIDIA has launched its GeForce 800M line-up of notebook GPUs that deliver up to 60 percent performance improvement over the previous generation.

The new mobile GPUs sport a multitude of new features designed just for gamers, first of which is NVIDIA Battery Boost, which delivers up to double the gaming battery life.

Instead of pushing every notebook component to its max, Battery Boost targets a user defined frame rate, such as 30 FPS. The driver level governor takes over and operates all system components, including CPU, GPU, and memory at peak efficiency, while maintaining a smooth, playable experience.

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China vendors to account for half of global handset sales next year

abi researchThe Red Wave is spreading from China to the rest of the mobile world. Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo may not be the leading names that come to mind when it comes to handset vendors today but their influence is spreading. As it Xiaomi, which is taking East Asia by storm with sellouts every time it puts its phones for sale online.

ABI Research has reported that Chinese handset vendors will account for more than half of mobile handsets in 2015. Chinese vendors already accounted for 38 percent of mobile handset shipments in 2013 and the ongoing shift in growth to low cost handsets, especially smartphones, will increase their market share.

Many oChinese OEMs have focused almost exclusively on the huge Chinese market, with little activity beyond its borders, but this is set to change. Huawei (6th in worldwide market share for 2013) and ZTE (5th) have already made an impact on the world stage, but other Chinese handset OEMs like Lenovo — the Motorola acquisition is a clear statement of intent — and Xiaomi are set to join them.

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HTC unveils HTC Desire 310 in Taiwan

HTC Desire 310HTC has unveiled the HTC Desire 310, which packs a powerful quad-core processor and some of the features of the HTC One series but is more affordable.

Boasting a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, the smartphone can deliver fast, responsive web browsing, silky-smooth graphics when watching videos or playing games and the ability to switch between multiple apps.

“The latest addition to our renowned HTC Desire range combines super-fast processing and premium features at a lower price, offering users the best possible experience in this category,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC.

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Global tablet growth to slow this year

IDCThe much sought after tablet — the darling of the technology industry in recent years — is expected to grow just 19.4 percent this year. That’s a massive slow down from last year’s growth of 51.6 percent. According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, the reduction is due to slowing consumer purchases as hardware iterations slow and the installed base — particularly in mature markets — continues to grow.

Over the course of the past two years, average selling prices (ASPs) have declined rapidly in the tablet market, but this too appears to be slowing. In 2012, ASPs declined 18.3 percent from the previous year, and in 2013, prices dropped another 14.6 percent.

Price erosion has started to slowly bottom out, with ASPs forecast to drop a modest 3.6 percent in 2014. IDC believes ASP declines will slow for several reasons; chief among them are the growth of higher-priced commercial shipments and a consumer movement away from ultra-low cost products.

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NetApp announces unified scale-out storage systems and virtualisation software

NetAppNetApp has introduced a new line of enterprise storage systems and enhanced software designed to accelerate the broadest range of virtualised applications.

The new NetApp FAS8000 series unifies SAN, NAS and storage virtualisation into a single hybrid array. It is NetApp’s first FAS platform designed specifically for scale-out storage environments built on clustered Data ONTAP.

The new FlexArray virtualisation software enables existing storage to be managed by Data ONTAP for a greater return on investment and makes legacy storage cloud-ready. The software enables the FAS8000 to virtualise and manage third-party arrays and delivers a nine-month payback guarantee.

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Hong Kong is top data centre location in APAC

IDCHong Kong is the top location in Asia Pacific when it comes to suitability for setting up new and outsourced data centres, according to IDC’s Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) Data Center Index study.

Singapore and Taiwan are the next favourites based on factors such as energy costs and bandwidth availability.

“Choosing a strategically correct location has become increasingly important for organisations to serve their customers across countries. Hence, the scrutinizing process has to be done very thoroughly and carefully,” said Simon Piff, Associate Vice President of Infrastructure Research at IDC Asia Pacific.

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MWC reports record visitors

MWCMore than 85,000 visitors from 201 countries attended Mobile World Congress (MWC), which ended yesterday. This is a record for the mobile industry event, which saw many new product launches and announcements.

In addition to the more than 80,000 attendees at MWC at Fira Gran Via, more than 5,000 people participated in a range of partner programmes at Fira Montjuïc.

“By any measure, the 2014 Mobile World Congress was a stunning success and we thank our attendees, exhibitors, sponsors and partners for their continued support,” said John Hoffman, CEO of GSMA. “Beyond the number of attendees and participating companies, the continued expansion of the event to address key adjacent industry sectors demonstrates just how pervasive mobile is in our everyday lives and how integrated it is becoming in everything that we do. It’s gratifying to be part of such a dynamic, exciting industry.”

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ZTE launches 4K p60 Ultra HD set top box

ZTE HD STBZTE has launched its 4K p60 Ultra HD set top box (STB), the ZXV10 B803, at Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona.

Based on the Broadcom BCM 7252 chip, the device supports 4Kx2KP60 decoding capability, which can decode Ultra HD video with the maximum resolution of 3840×2160. In comparison to traditional HD Internet STBs, the 4K UHD STB can display more vivid and precise images to significantly enhance the user experience.

4K video technology (also named as 2160p) is a new type of resolution standard. Its UHDTV specification can deliver a resolution of 3840×2160 pixels, and the maximum Full Aperture 4K specification reaches 4096×3112. In comparison to the current mainstream 1080p resolution of 1920×1080, 4K can provide over four times the image definition quality. In the future, 4K HD TV sets will be very popular, and the 4K HD and HEVC decoding technologies will help raise the HD market tide.

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GSMA and Facebook to connect the unconnected

GSMAGSMA and Facebook have announced a joint initiative to connect billions of men and women globally who currently have no access to Internet-based communications services. The initiative will focus on reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of mobile, given that mobile will be the enabling technology for the vast majority of people in developing markets.

The activities undertaken by GSMA and Facebook will entail working with governments in developing markets to address key factors that have an impact on affordability and availability. The partnership will focus on creating a sustainable environment to incentivise mobile infrastructure investment and usage, as well as eliminating or reducing existing mobile-specific taxation or refraining from imposing new such tax regimes.

Together, GSMA and Facebook will address a range of other issues that will improve affordability and help to connect the world’s population to the Internet, such as maximising the availability of harmonised spectrum to drive mobile broadband adoption; evaluating the establishment of local Internet Exchange Points; fostering the development of local Internet content; and examining the effectiveness of Universal Service Funds.

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HTC unveils mid-range Desire 816 smartphone

HTC Desire 816HTC has unveiled the first model in its 2014 mid-range portfolio — the HTC Desire 816, which packs an advanced feature set that makes it one of the better value smartphones.

The first edition of the new-look HTC Desire family comes fully loaded with HTC’s iconic dual-frontal speakers and HTC BoomSound, while HTC BlinkFeed keeps users up-to-date with the latest news and social updates on the 5.5-inch screen. A 13MP rear-facing camera complete with HTC Zoe and automatic highlight videos, as well as a 5MP front-facing camera, make it ideal for capturing both selfie and landscapes.

The new smartphone is powered by a quad-core, 1.6 GHz processor and offers 4G LTE connectivity.

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Qualcomm CEO receives 2014 GSMA Chairman’s Award

Formal headshot of Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, CEO & Chairman of the Board.Dr Paul E Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Qualcomm, has been named the recipient of the 2014 GSMA Chairman’s Award. Established in 1995, the award recognises outstanding personal contribution to the growth and development of mobile communications around the world.

“This award recognises Paul’s long-term contribution, as well as that of Qualcomm, in delivering sustained innovation, ecosystem investment and a commitment to the convergence of technology standards for next-generation interoperability. The mobile industry has been a major beneficiary of his commitment to innovation and leadership, as have the billions of men and women around the world whose lives have been changed by mobile,” said Jon Fredrik, Chairman of GSMA.

Founded in 1985, Qualcomm has become one of the telecommunications industry’s greatest start-up success stories, pioneering some of the most significant innovations and technical developments and through its unique business model, heavily investing in R&D and broadly licensing its intellectual property to more than 250 companies across the industry.

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NVIDIA unleashes first Maxwell-based GPU

geforce gtx 750 tiNVIDIA has introduced the GeForce GTX 750 Ti and GTX 750, the first GPUs based on the new Maxwell graphics architecture.

A GeForce GTX 750 Ti running at 1080p resolution doubles the performance and uses half the power of the GTX 550 Ti, which was built with the Fermi architecture, and is one of the most used NVIDIA GPUs, according to the Steam Hardware Survey.

“We know that to advance performance, we must advance performance per watt, because every system we design for has a power limit — from supercomputers to PCs to smartphones,” said Scott Herkelman, General Manager of the GeForce business unit at NVIDIA. “That’s why we architected Maxwell to be the most efficient GPU architecture ever built.”

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Samsung rolls out slimmer Tab

Galaxy Tab 3 LiteFancy a slimmer Samsung Galaxy Tab? Samsung has rolled out the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite (7.0”) WiFi, which  sports a slim, lightweight design with a more compact bezel that makes it comfortable to carry around in one hand. The device’s large 3,600mAh battery maximises portability so that users can enjoy up to eight hours of video playback without the need for an adapter.

Its enhanced features and services gives users a variety of ways to capture, view, listen, create, and share content with others without compromising value.

The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite (7.0”) WiFi’s 7-inch display comes with optimal resolution designed to bring users a better viewing experience. The menu bar is situated on the device’s bezel, rather than on the screen, in order to maximise the wide screen experience.

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Tablets account for half of PC shipment in Q4

CanalysTablet shipment grew 65.2 percent year-on-year to reach 76.3 million units in Q4, according to Canalys. This represents nearly half (48.3 percent) of the global PC market, which increased 17.9 percent during that period. Excluding tablets, shipment declined 6.9 percent year-on-year with falls in all regions. 

Apple remained the PC market leader in Q4, shipping 30.9 million units to take a 19.5 percent share of the market. It shipped 26.0 million iPads, which accounted for 84.3 percent of its total shipment in Q4. Apple’s share of the overall tablet market increased sequentially from 27.3 percent to 34.1 percent, with the launch of the iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display providing a much needed boost. The original iPad mini also fell in price, down to US$299 in the US, making it cheaper than ever to buy an iPad. But competition is mounting and Android tablets are falling in price, which will put pressure on Apple’s market share in 2014.

Lenovo secured an 11.8 percent share in Q4, narrowly holding onto second place. Lenovo’s PC shipments increased 25.5 percent year-on-year, driven by growth outside of its core Chinese market, where its shipment declined. Lenovo’s 11.7 percent decline in notebook shipments in China was offset by impressive growth in other regions, notably EMEA, where shipments grew 30.4 percent. Shipments in Latin America also grew strongly, following the acquisition of CCE in the first quarter of 2012.Lenovo was early to embrace Android as a tablet OS, while the likes of HP and Dell waited for Windows 8 and prioritized margin over volume. Lenovo’s strategy has paid off, not only in its home market but worldwide.

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Ultra-portables grow 100% in 2013

abi researchUltra-portables are becoming increasingly popular, growing 100 percent from 2012 to 2013, according to ABI Research. This translates to 12.3 percent (22.5 million) of notebook PC shipment in 2013 (182.7 million).

“Across 24 countries tracked in November 2013, we found average ultra-portable PC selling prices ranging from US$940 to US$1,540 with the majority of models offered above US$1,200 in each country,” said Jeff Orr, Senior Practice Director of ABI Research. “The ASPs suggest ultra-portables including the convertible and detachable 2-in-1 configurations remained at the high-end of the notebook PC category exiting 2013.”

Beyond Apple’s MacBook Air running MacOS, the bulk of ultra-portable PCs are powered by the Windows 8 operating system, which suffered fits and starts during 2013 due to usability issues and poor first impressions by early adopter audiences. A revision, Windows 8.1, was released in the second half of the year to address these concerns, though popular opinion suggests many considering a refresh to their existing systems are willing to wait for the hiccups to be worked out before making a financial commitment.

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Samsung is top global semiconductor buyer

GartnerSamsung Electronics is the world’s top semiconductor buyer, and together with second placed Apple, increased their combined semiconductor demand by 17 percent in 2013, according to Gartner.

The two companies consumed US$53.7 billion of semiconductors in 2013, an increase of $7.7 billion from 2012.

“Samsung Electronics and Apple have topped the semiconductor consumption table for three years running, with their share of the design total available market (TAM) rising from 12 per cent in 2011, to 17 per cent in 2013,” said Masatsune Yamaji, Principal Research Analyst of Gartner. “This increase clearly shows how fast the presence of these two companies has expanded over the last three years and why their decisions have technology and pricing implications for the whole semiconductor industry.”

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APAC PC market shrank 10% in 2013

IDCThe Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) PC market declined 10 percent in 2013 to reach 108 million units, according to preliminary results from IDC.

The economic sluggishness in big emerging markets in the region adversely affected buying sentiments, with education sector projects being a lone bright spot in the commercial space, without which the region could have dropped even further. On the consumer side, smartphone and tablet distractions spread throughout the region this year, further contributing to the sharp decline in the PC market.

In Q4, the market came in two percent below IDC’s initial forecasts with a nine percent year-on-year decline. While most of the region was generally in line with forecasts, Thailand stood out as an exception, as the market there was plagued by the ongoing political turmoil. Shipment volumes this quarter will likely be the lowest in Thailand in the last four years.

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Huawei teams up with the Gunners

HuaweiHuawei has taken a shot at the English Premier League by becoming the official smartphone partner of league leaders Arsenal.

Huawei and Arsenal announced the global deal, which lasts until the end of season 2015/16 at the Arsenal Training Centre in Colney, Hertfordshire, with members of the first team including, Aaron Ramsey, Lukas Podolski and Mesut Özil along with manager Arsène Wenger.

“We are delighted to be partnering with Huawei at such an exciting time in the development of its brand globally, and in particular in the UK and Europe,” said Tom Fox, Chief Commercial Officer of Arsenal.

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Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to speak at MWC

GSMAMark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook is among the line-up of new speakers in the keynote programme at the upcoming 2014 GSMA Mobile World Congress (MWC).

He will be headlining in the first of the week’s Mobile World Live keynote sessions on Monday, February 24 at 18:00-18:45. In this session, he and renowned technology journalist and writer David Kirkpatrick will explore the importance of extending the benefits of ubiquitous Internet access to the unconnected world. In addition to the live audience in the Conference Village in Fira Gran Via, the Mobile World Live keynotes will be streamed live across the venue and to hundreds of thousands of viewers globally via the Mobile World Live portal.

“Mobile World Congress 2014 is set to be our biggest, most ambitious and most diverse event yet, offering new experiences for attendees across the growing mobile ecosystem,” said Michael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer of GSMA. “Over four days, attendees will have the opportunity to see just how broadly mobile is impacting our everyday lives, how we work, live and play. We’re looking forward to seeing the mobile world gather in Barcelona.”

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Companies need to catch up with mobile customers

ForresterCompanies worldwide are quickly realising that mobile has not only changed digital operations, but that it will fundamentally change entire businesses in decades to come, according to Forrester Research.

2014 will be an incremental year on this journey, as companies increase investments to transform their businesses and race to keep up with the growing mobile mind shift, with an installed base of more than two billion smartphones globally. In the report, Forrester Analysts Thomas Husson and Julie Ask outline key mobile trends anticipated for 2014, including::

  • Big data, big data, big data. Mobile is transformative but only if consumers are engaged in their exact moment of need with the right services, content, or information. Insights gleaned from data over time will be essential to know how to best serve customers in that moment.
  • Mobile advertising will start to mature. New mobile-centric ad formats will emerge, with more effective mobile video inventory and more mobile ad network inventory shifting to the exchanges.

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Audi adds NVIDIA Tegra-based visual computing power to its cars

Audi dashboardThree new in-vehicle systems powered by the NVIDIA Tegra Visual Computing Module (VCM) will soon begin shipping in Audi’s vehicles.

These innovative solutions, disclosed at the German automaker’s press conference at the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show, include:

  • a connected infotainment system with twice the performance of its predecessor;
  • the world’s first automotive-grade tablet that is fully integrated into the car’s infotainment system; and
  • a high-resolution digital cockpit with unprecedented, vivid 3D graphical displays.
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Worldwide PC, tablet, ultramobile, and mobile phone shipment to grow 7.6% this year

GartnerGlobal shipment of devices (PCs, tablets, ultramobiles, and mobile phones) are projected to reach 2.5 billion units in 2014, a 7.6 percent increase from 2013, according to Gartner.

Among the operating system (OS) market, Android is on pace to surpass one billion users across all devices in 2014. By 2017, more than 75 percent of Android’s volumes will come from emerging markets.

“The device market continues to evolve, with buyers deciding which combination of devices is required to meet their wants and needs. Mobile phones are a must have and will continue to grow but at a slower pace, with opportunities moving away from the top-end premium devices to mid-end basic products,” said Ranjit Atwal, Research Director at Gartner. “Meanwhile users continue to move away from the traditional PC (notebooks and desk-based) as it becomes more of a shared content creation tool, while the greater flexibility of tablets, hybrids and lighter notebooks address users’ increasingly different demands.”

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New alliance formed to bring Android to automobile

A coalition of auto and technology companies have formed a new industry alliance to bring the Android platform to a device that’s always been mobile: the car.

Audi, GM, Google, Honda, Hyundai, and NVIDIA have joined together to form the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), a global alliance of technology and auto industry leaders committed to bringing the Android platform to cars starting in 2014. OAA is dedicated to a common platform that will drive innovation, and make technology in the car safer and more intuitive for everyone.

OAA is aimed at accelerating auto innovation with an approach that offers openness, customization and scale, key tenets that have already made Android a familiar part of millions of people’s lives. This open development model and common platform will allow automakers to more easily bring cutting-edge technology to their drivers, and create new opportunities for developers to deliver powerful experiences for drivers and passengers in a safe and scalable way.

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NVIDIA unveils revolutionary Tegra K1 super chip for mobile platform

NVIDIA Tegra K1NVIDIA unveiled at CES the Tegra K1 mobile processor, a 192-core super chip featuring the same NVIDIA Kepler architecture that powers the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti. For the first time, next-generation PC gaming will now be available on mobile platforms.

The Tegra K1 processor sets new mobile standards by supporting the latest PC-class gaming technologies, enabling it to run sophisticated gaming engines like Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4. It delivers advanced computation capabilities to speed the development of applications for computer vision and speech recognition. And its extraordinary efficiency delivers higher performance than any other mobile GPU at the same power level.

 

“Over the past two decades, NVIDIA invented the GPU and has developed more graphics technologies than any other company,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, co-founder and CEO, NVIDIA. “With Tegra K1, we’re bringing that heritage to mobile. It bridges the gap for developers, who can now build next-gen games and apps that will run on any device.”

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IMS deployments to reach US$4b by 2017

abi researchIMS Core Network deployments are edging up as operators put the necessary infrastructure and capacity in place for planned 2014 VoLTE launches, according to ABI Research.

Spending for the core network products (HSS, CSC, Media Controllers and Gateways, MSF, IBCF, SBC and P-CSCF) integral to a functioning IMS network will reach US$4 billion by 2017. “We see increasing IMS Core Network revenues through 2017, after which IMS revenues will flatten and reflect capacity expansion,” said Joe Hoffman, Research Director of ABI Research.

IMS spending for mobile 4G markets follows the LTE deployments, as operators seek to get their network coverage in place, stabilised, and compatible mobiles for VoLTE become available. The leading LTE market, North America, will peak 2015 to 2016, while the largest market, Asia-Pacific shows continued growth into the foreseeable future.

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