Microsoft introduces Surface 2 powered by NVIDIA Tegra 4

Surface 2Microsoft has introduced Surface 2, the successor to the ill-fated Surface RT, for which the company booked a US$900 million loss. So, what’s the difference between the first iteration and this new version?

“Surface 2 is not subtle, but is a revamp. It is not the simple changes that everybody wants, but it’s the changes people need,” said Panos Panay, Surface Chief of Microsoft.

It’s powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 4, which should provide a major performance boost over the first-generation Surface RT tablet. The chip’s ARM Cortex-A15 quad-core CPU and 72 GeForce GPU cores should help the device fly across web browsing, zip through Office applications and deliver immersive DirectX gaming experiences.

Promotions help drive ANZ inkjet market

IDCThe ANZ inkjet printer market expanded in Q2, thanks largely to heavy price and bundling promotions particularly within the entry level segment, according to IDC. This augmentation was further supported by the growth of high-end machines that served as a replacement for colour laser printers. 

Unit shipments increased 2 percent to about 443,000 although they dropped by 3 percent on a year-on-year basis 

“The second quarter of 2013 saw aggressive promotions on various levels including price, bundling, cash back, catalogue promotions as well as TV commercials. Continued traction within the photographic printer segment and augmentation of A4 inkjet printers that could print A3 added to the positive development. However, with the close of financial year in March for certain vendors, this expansion was offset due to the limited in-take of new stock on the back of already existing stock in their channel,” said Arunachalam Muthiah , Market Analyst of Peripherals Research of IDC New Zealand.

Samsung rolls out Galaxy Tab 3 (10.1-inch) with LTE in Singapore

Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 with LTEJust when you thought that the Galaxy line-up was packed, Samsung has unleashed yet another model — the Galaxy Tab 3 (10.1-inch) with LTE in Singapore.

Offering an expanded range of options along with previously announced 7-inch and 8-inch versions, the Galaxy Tab 3 (10.1-inch) with LTE is packed with enhanced content and intuitive design for viewing or sharing content.

Stacked with a 1.6 GHz Dual Core processor, it features a comprehensive suite of video, music, and photo software, making it ideal for mobile entertainment.

ViewSonic launches new projectors with dual pen interactivity and advanced connectivity

Auditorium hall with projection screenViewSonic has introduced a new PJD8 series of projectors — PJD8653ws, PJD8333s and PJD8633ws — that features dual pen interactivity and advanced connectivity functionality.

“When it comes to ultra short throw projector solutions, it’s common that manufacturers will offer either reflective mirror technology or direct projection technology, but we feel it is important to offer our customers both. Paired with advanced interactive and connectivity features, our brand new PJD8 series delivers the opportunity of choice, not chance.,” said Roger Chien, Product Manager of ViewSonic

This new ultra short throw, networkable series allows the projector to be mounted right above a whiteboard or screen without creating hot spots, shadows or casting bright light in front of the presenter, making it perfect for smaller or difficult projection spaces like classrooms and meeting rooms.

kalahari.com accelerates market expansion with hybris

khybris SAPalahari.com has selected hybris Commerce Suite to power its retail vision forward, strengthen its position as an innovative market leader, and fast-track market growth selling both digital and physical goods via its online stores and marketplaces.

As Africa’s leading online retailer of electronics, toys, appliances, games and books, kalahari.com will leverage hybris Commerce Suite to respond to growth opportunities and further extend its market share in the fast growing Southern African commerce market.

Providing a true omni-channel experience, the scalability of the hybris Commerce platform will enable kalahari.com to support its rapidly expanding online operations, which include consumer-to-consumer (C2C) and business-to-consumer (B2C) retail, and deliver a feature-rich experience to a growing number of mobile shoppers. This will include selling digital goods such as eBooks, via kalahari.com’s own e-reader device the Gobii, and a large expansion of its online catalogue of digital and physical goods.

NVIDIA Tegra Note coming soon

Tegra NoteAt this year’s Computex, NVIDIA gave a preview of a tablet, tentatively called Tegra Tab, that leverages the NVIDIA DirectStylus technology, which significantly improves passive stylus performance.

That device is now called NVIDIA Tegra Note and will be available in the next few months. Designed by NVIDIA, it will be marketed by NVIDIA partners including ColorfulShenzhen Homecare Technology, XOLO, and ZOTAC XOLO in Asia-Pacific. 

The suggested retail price for the Android-based device is US$199, making it highly competitive in the growing tablet space.

Local smartphone makers best Apple in China market

abi researchTo most people around the world, Coolpad, Lenovo and Xiaomi don’t quite ring a bell when it comes to smartphones. But, in China, these three Chinese smartphone OEMs outsold Apple in Q2, according to ABI Research.

Only Samsung managed to hold its own but snaring a 17 percent market share. Lenovo was next with 13 percent, Coolpad with 10 percent and Xiaomi edged out Apple with 6.5 percent.

“Even though these OEMs are only selling into the Chinese market, the size of the market has allowed them to achieve shipment volumes that place these OEMs in the top 12 globally. It is not hard to imagine these OEMs as global competitors within the next two years,” said Michael Morgan, Senior Analyst of ABI Research.

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 available in HK on Sep 25

Galaxy Note 3The much awaited Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be available in Hong Kong on September 25. Coming in black and white, the suggested retail price of the 3G and 4G LTE versions are HK$5,998 andHK$6,198 respectively.

The phablet packs innovative features where users can enjoy captivating viewing experience on the 5.7-inch full HD Super AMOLDED screen that offers a stunning and divine viewing experience with a clear canvas for content creation. It also comes with an enhanced S Pen and multitasking features.

“Some people may often feel that the latest gadgets out there offer a contradicting feeling to our users because while you’re very engaged with your product, you tend to neglect the things around you. With the latest Galaxy Note 3, you will be able to enjoy a delightful mobile experience that brings passion to life,” said Yiyin Zhou, Director of Telecom Business, Samsung Electronics Hong Kong Limited.

ZTE unveils world’s first flexible reconfigurable terabit router

ZTEZTE has unveiled the world’s first flexible reconfigurable terabit router to enable customers to build the highest-performance broadband networks.

The terabit router supports the deployment of multiple line cards with processing capability of 10 gigabits per second to 1T, and modules that offer scalable throughput of 200G to 18T. To enable convenient installation in a wide variety of environments, the flexible interfaces and loose-coupled component design of the router allow customers to configure networks that are customised for their needs, promoting adaptability, consistency and continuity.

The superior performance of the terabit router is built on two proprietary ZTE technology solutions, cloud routing and intelligent system resource scheduling. Cloud routing builds system control plane based on distributed modular technology to ensure efficient network resource utilisation, offering network scalability and support for simultaneous deployment of multiple transmission protocols. Intelligent system resource scheduling enables physical and logic system resource sharing and flexible scheduling to ensure automatic matching of system load and resource allocation, driving superior power-consumption performance of 0.8W/Gbps.

1 in 4 homes watching TV with Cisco

ciscoCisco has an innovative approach to pay TV that has enabled it to gain and maintain its industry leading position. With more than 300,000,000 homes around the world watching TV with Cisco, nearly a quarter of all global TV homes are now enjoying improved viewing experiences.

While 80 percent of the world’s homes have access to TV, fewer than half of them are benefiting from digital and the additional functionality that it can enable. At the other end of the spectrum, the amount of video traversing IP networks is set to reach a record 88 exabytes a month by 2017, with 914,100 minutes of video streamed or downloaded every second – all with less than 50 percent of the world’s population connected to the Internet.

Building on over 20 years of experience driving new services and profitable growth for pay-TV operators and the media and entertainment industry, Cisco can help the industry capture the huge opportunities being generated as every network attached device becomes video capable and consumers seek ubiquitous video access.

Philippines CRM outsourcing market still attractive

ovumThe Philippines continues to be one of the most attractive destinations for outsourcing, fuelled largely by competitive price points and significant pools of labour with English language skills, according to Ovum.

New research focused on CRM suppliers in the Philippines found potential within the industry as a non-voice and non-English-speaking delivery center. Furthermore, as the country’s economy continues to expand, outsourcers will see greater opportunities to serve the increasingly sophisticated domestic market.

“Following our visit to the country and our on-the-ground research, it is clear to us that the Philippines will remain one of the powerhouses among offshore front-office outsourcing destinations,” said Margaret Goldberg, Associate Analyst, IT Services at Ovum and co-author of the report. “The combination of a significant cultural disposition towards customer service and affinity to Western cultures, strong English language capabilities and competitive price points will ensure that the outsourcing industry in the country will continue to see strong growth for years to come.”

Tablets to outship PCs in Q4

IDCTablets and smartphone shipment will continue to drive growth in 2013, according to IDC, which expects tablet shipment to surpass total PC shipment (desktop plus portable PCs) in Q4. The worldwide smart connected device market, comprising PCs, tablets, and smartphones, is forecast to grow 27.8 percent year over year in 2013, slightly lower than the 30.3 percent growth in 2012.

PCs shipment is still expected to be greater than tablet shipment for the full year, but IDC forecasts tablet shipments will surpass total PC shipments on an annual basis by the end of 2015. Smartphones will continue to ship in high volumes, surpassing 1.4 billion units in 2015 and accounting for 69 percent of all smart connected device shipments worldwide.

In terms of shipment value, the worldwide smart connected device market will again exhibit double-digit year-over-year growth of 10.6 percent in 2013, but this growth will gradually slow to just 3.1 percent in 2017. The tapering revenue forecast reflects the increasing impact of low-cost smartphones and the white box tablet market.

Global smartphone shipment to hit 1b in 2013

IDCOne billion smartphones are expected to be shipped this year, helping the global mobile phone market to rebound from just 1.2 percent growth in 2012 to 7.3, percent in 2013, according to IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

The overall mobile phone market is growing faster than previously forecast thanks to a stronger-than-expected first half of the year driven by strong gains in emerging markets and the sub-US$200 smartphone segment. IDC previously projected 5.8 percent growth for the year. Vendors are now forecast to ship more than 1.8 billion mobile phones this year, growing to over 2.3 billion mobile phones in 2017.

Worldwide smartphone shipment is forecast to grow 40.0 percent year over year to more than one billion units this year. High smartphone growth is the result of a variety of factors, including steep device subsidies from carriers, especially in mature economic markets, as well as a growing array of sub-US$200 smartphones. Total smartphone shipment is forecast to reach 1.7 billion units in 2017.

Xiaomi introduces world’s first NVIDIA Tegra 4-powered super phone

Xiaomi Mi3China mobile device maker Xiaomi has announced  the Xiaomi Mi3, the world’s first to be based on the NVIDIA Tegra 4 mobile processor. 

Delivering superb gaming and lightning-fast web browsing, the flagship phone represents the first collaboration between NVIDIA and Xiaomi. The Mi3 will launch on China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier, in October.

Based on the Tegra 4 – the world’s fastest mobile processor — the phone combines premium specs and features with all-day battery life. In addition to Tegra 4, it includes a 5-inch 1080p full HD display with 441ppi, 2GB RAM and up to 64GB of storage. The Tegra 4 processor offers record levels of performance and battery life with its 72-core NVIDIA GeForce GPU, quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 and fifth battery-saver CPU core, also based on Cortex-A15.

Android mobile app revenue to hit US$6.8b this year

AndroidAndroid’s smartphone mobile app revenues are projected to reach almost US$6.8 billion by the end of 2013, nearly doubling its revenues from the previous year, according to ABI Research.

The Android platform has some way to go before catching iOS’s smartphone revenues but the smartphone app market will be Android’s most fruitful hunting ground compared to other devices.

ABI Research estimates that Android smartphone app revenues will increase from 59.1 percent to 65.9 percent when compared to iOS smartphone app revenues over the next 12 months.

Mobile privacy concern could limit widespread adoption of mobile apps in Malaysia and Indonesia

GSMAMobile users in Malaysia and Indonesia are concerned with mobile privacy, according to a new research by GSMA and local mobile operators.

The study of more than 1,500 Malaysian and Indonesian mobile users shows that increased transparency and choice in how their personal data is collected and shared could boost take-up of mobile apps in Indonesia. The mobile apps market globally is worth US$29 billion and growing at 36 per cent per annum. The research was presented at a Data Protection and Privacy Conference hosted by the GSMA, Celcom Axiata and DiGi in Kuala Lumpur.

“It is clear that mobile users are concerned about their privacy and are more likely to interact with apps and receive targeted promotions if they feel it is respected,” said Tom Phillips, Chief Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer of GSMA.

ViewSonic introduces full HD 3D projector for office and home entertainment

PJD7820HDViewSonic has announced the new Full HD 1080p 3D projector for office and home entertainment in Singapore. The ViewSonic PJD7820HD offers best in class price-performance Full HD 1080p 3D projector with 3,000 ANSI lumens and 15,000:1 contrast ratio.

It comes integrated with 3,000 lumens for a clear, bright image even in well lit rooms – perfect for watching sports or playing on games consoles during daylight. The 15,000:1 contrast ratio ensures black colours don’t appear grey while BrilliantColour technology delivers breathtaking colour reproduction.

“As more and more business applications run on high definition resolution, the demand for 1080p projectors in the business world has been on the rise,“ said Vincent Hung, Product Manager of ViewSonic. “Our new PJD7820HD offers best in class price-performance for a Full HD 1080p 3D projector on the market today, making it the ideal crossover model for SMBs, corporate and home office consumer use.”

Asian brands boost APAC smartphone shipment

IDC APEJ Q2 smartphone
Source: IDC

Homegrown brands are gaining more market share in the Asia-Pacific (excluding Japan) (APEJ) smartphone market. While Samsung continues to lead the smartphone pack, Apple fell out of the top five in the region for the first time. Chinese players — Lenovo, Coolpad, Huawei and ZTE — all outshipped Apple in the Q2, according to the IDC Asia/Pacific Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.

Aside from the top-tier international brands or Chinese brands that also ship globally such as Huawei and ZTE, there is also a rising segment of homegrown brands, which as a group have been steadily rising in shipments and prominence. This group of players comprised 38 percent of Q2 volume, up from 20 percent in the same quarter of 2012, and 7 percent in Q2 2011.
“There is clearly a market maturity story at play here, where the trends could not be more different between mature markets and emerging markets,” said Melissa Chau, Senior Research Manager with IDC AP’s Client Devices team. “Seasonally, second quarter usually shows an uptick in mature markets, but this round shipments dropped by 12 percent quarter-on-quarter, while emerging markets increased by 13 percent.

Hong Kong to stay as key Asia Pacific data centre market

frost and sullivanLimited land availability and high real estate prices are unlikely to make Hong Kong lose its status as a key data centre market in Asia Pacific, according to Frost & Sullivan.

The limitations are countered by the Hong Kong Government’s continuous support for the sector.

“Hong Kong’s strong political connection to Mainland China allows it to act as a gateway for global companies that seek to tap into opportunities in China’s market,” said Danni Xu, Research Analyst, ICT Practice, Asia Pacific at Frost & Sullivan. “Moreover, Hong Kong’s business-friendly and free-trade environment has drawn a number of multinational corporations (MNCs) to set up their regional headquarters in the country. This has brought in numerous investments and job opportunities, and created demand for data center services.”

NVIDIA and Ubisoft team up for latest games

Splinter Cell BlacklistNVIDIA has formed an alliance with Ubisoft to offer PC gamers the best gaming experiences possible for Ubisoft’s biggest fall titles, including Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, Assassins Creed IV Black Flag and Watch Dogs.

NVIDIA’s developer technology team is working closely with Ubisoft’s development studios on incorporating graphics technology innovations to create game worlds that deliver new heights of realism and immersion. One example is NVIDIA® TXAA™ antialiasing, which provides Hollywood-levels of smooth animation, soft shadows, HBAO+ (horizon-based ambient occlusion) and advanced DX11 tessellation.

“PC gaming is stronger than ever and Ubisoft understands that PC gamers demand a truly elite experience — the best resolutions, the smoothest frame rates and the latest gaming breakthroughs,” said Tony Tamasi, Senior Vice President of Content and Technology at NVIDIA. “We’ve worked closely with Ubisoft’s incredibly talented creative team throughout the development process to incorporate our technologies and deliver the most immersive and visually spectacular game worlds imaginable.”

Tommy Bahama partners hybris to seize market opportunities

Tommy Bahama Singapore
Tommy Bahama’s outlet in Wisma Atria, Singapore.

Tommy Bahama, which has an outlet in Wisma Atria, Singapore, has selected hybris Commerce Suite to improve its omni-channel commerce capabilities and create a more agile response to expanding market opportunities.

A leading retailer of island-inspired apparel and home furnishings, the brand has achieved rapid growth in online commerce over the past few years. In addition to the web, Tommy Bahama offers in-store kiosks, a commerce channel that enables an “endless aisle” of products available through the e-commerce warehouse, allowing shoppers to access out-of-stock or online exclusive items directly in-store.

To ensure the brand’s continued global expansion and establish a foundation for market and channel growth, Tommy Bahama needed a robust commerce platform capable of integrating with its existing Adobe Experience Manager solution to deliver a world-class, end-to-end user experience across all channels. hybris not only complements the Adobe Experience Manager but enables it to further create and deliver a heavily optimised user experience.

Samsung tops ABI Research’s tablet competitive assessment

abi researchKorean giant Samsung has nudged aside all competition in ABI Research’s assessment of 19 top tablets.

The  competitive assessment ranked companies on several criteria related to both product implementation and vendor innovation.

Samsung bested all other tablet vendors in the innovation category while scoring second overall in the implementation category. Clearly king of the hill when it comes to tablet shipment volumes, Apple trailed Samsung on tablet Innovation landing in second.

WeChat soars past 100m registered users milestone

WeChat infographicWeChat has surpassed the 100 million registered user account milestone. That’s remarkable considering the strong competition it is up against.

In the last three months, it doubled its registered user account base reaching the 100 million milestone shortly after an independent survey found that the platform was the fifth most used smartphone app worldwide.  

Since its international debut, WeChat has been well received in Asia, quickly becoming the most popular mobile social app in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia across multiple smartphone OS platforms, where the user base has recently gained tremendous growth. 

Tablets fail to lift flat PC market in Q2

Tablet shipment’s growth 42.9 percent iwas not enough to lift a sluggish PC market in Q2. Desktop and notebook shipments fell 7.4 percent and 13.9 percent respectively, according to Canalys, which believes that tablets will outsell notebooks by Q4.

PC shipment in the Asia Pacific region declined 0.5 percent year-on-year to just over 40 million units. The region was badly affected by slow shipment in China, which accounted for almost 45 percent of the region’s shipment and declined by about six percent.

Demand for smartphones and tablets is increasing around the world. Faced by an industry in transition, channel partners are exercising caution when planning and placing orders.

China’s top five vendors grab 20% of the world’s smartphone market

CanalysSamsung and Apple grew smartphone shipment by 55 percent and 20 percent respectively to maintain first and second place in Q2, according to Canalys.

However, both lost market share to Chinese vendors as the top 5 China vendors (Lenovo, Yulong, Huawei, ZTE, and Xiaomi) now account for 20 percent of the  market, up from less than 15 percent a year ago.

Altogether, some 238.1 million units were shipped in Q2, an impressive 50 percent year-on-year gain.