Google says it will have an Android-powered phone on the market in 2008, rebutting a source’s claims to the contrary.
According to a source familiar with the situation, although a large number of people are hard at work on the Gphone and the open-source operating system/platform for mobile devices (Android) the actual Gphone will not be ready for release this year.
That would mean that Apple’s second-generation iPhone, and the ever-growing list of about-to-be-released handsets (like the Garmin nuviphone, Research In Motion Blackberry Bold and Thunder, Sprint/Samsung Instinct and SonyEricsson Xperia) will now have a huge head-start over the Gphone.
However, a Google spokesperson says “We’re still on track to announce Android-powered phones this year. Some of our partners are publicly stating that they plan to ship Android phones in the fourth quarter.”
The source on the initial story would not speculate on the possibility that other devices that might run on variants of Android would be ready in time for the Christmas shopping season, nor would the source elaborate on exact reasons for the delay or a possible release date for the Gphone or various Android variants.
Android, based on the Linux operating system, is being jointly developed by Google and the Open Handset Alliance. The 34-member group includes mobile operators China Mobile, NTT DoMoCo, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, software companies , Google, Living Image, NMS, Nuance Communications, PacketVideo, SkyPop, semiconductor companies, Intel, Marvel, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and handset manufacturers HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung.
Missing from this impressive list of Android companies are some very well-known cell-phone leaders AT&T, Nokia and Verizon’s Verizon Wireless.
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Apple’s iPhone took 19.2% of the US market for smart phones in the first quarter of 2008, according to research firm IDC.
That was down from 26.7% of smart phones sold in the fourth quarter of last year, which included the holiday shopping season, IDC, quoted by an Associated Press report, also said.
Much of the slack was picked up by Research In Motion’s BlackBerry, which took 35.1% of the market in the fourth quarter and then 44.5% in the first.
The report further quoted IDC analyst Ramon Llamas as saying the BlackBerry is now strong in the “prosumer” segment, as RIM has successfully widened the appeal of the device beyond the professionals who have been its core customer group.
IDC did not reveal the total number of smart phones sold in the quarter.
Apple said it sold 1.7 million iPhones in the first quarter, including overseas sales.
Palm, a pioneer in the category along with RIM, also picked up market share in the first quarter, when it grabbed 13.4% of smart phone sales, up from 7.9% in the fourth quarter, IDC said.
No. 4 in market share in the most recent quarter was Samsung Electronics, with 8.6%, up from 5.1% in the fourth quarter, a rise Llamas credited to the availability of the BlackJack on Verizon Wireless.
Motorola, which is struggling in the overall mobile phone market, did poorly in smart phones as well, dropping from a 7.5% share in the fourth quarter to 2.6% in the first, the Associated Press report said.
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Verizon Wireless has chosen NAVTEQ Traffic Mobile to power its new traffic application available on its newest VZ Navigator (Version 4) service, becoming the first wireless provider to feature NAVTEQ Traffic Mobile.
NAVTEQ’s officials said that with Verizon Wireless’ updated version VZ Navigator application, users can access NAVTEQ’s live traffic data on their mobile devices and receive updated traffic information in more than 75 cities across the U.S.
Moreover, users also receive visual notification of incidents and congestion that allow drivers to see potential traffic delays and avoid traffic problems.
Designed to enable delivery of real-time traffic data over wireless networks, NAVTEQ Traffic Mobile provides its business customers with the ability to integrate dynamic traffic content into wireless applications.
“Research shows that traffic is the number one enhancement consumers want added to their navigation experience,” noted Jeff Mize, executive vice president of sales at NAVTEQ.
He also said that Verizon Wireless continues to anticipate the needs of its customers by advancing its applications such as VZ Navigator through next-generation services such as NAVTEQ Traffic Mobile.
This week, Verizon Wireless announced that VZ Navigator (Version 4) is available on select consumer phones. First announced during CTIA (News - Alert) WIRELESS 2008, the newest version of VZ Navigator allows customers in 75 cities from coast to coast to access information about traffic incidents on major roadways, obtain traffic updates and find detours around traffic congestion and accidents.
More cities are expected to be added in the coming year. In addition, the new version of VZ Navigator offers a 3-D perspective view of maps, a movie and events finder, weather reports and forecasts, and gas prices at nearby gas stations.
“Real-time traffic avoidance and more allows our customers to truly transform their wireless phones into powerful GPS navigation systems, at a fraction of the cost,” said Dale Beasley, director of consumer product development at Verizon Wireless, adding that additional functionality in VZ Navigator service enhances customers’ overall wireless experiences.
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Sprint Nextel may be a takeover target, according to one of the nation’s largest investment banking firms.
Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile and the world’s sixth largest phone company, may consider acquiring Overland Park-based Sprint to block a price war in the mobile phone industry, analysts for Merrill Lynch speculated in a report Thursday.
Merrill Lynch, which advises its clients to sell Sprint shares, said it is not aware of any acquisition discussions.
Sprint, as a matter of policy, doesn’t comment on market rumors and speculation.
Merrill Lynch said Sprint’s operational problems and shaky position in the U.S. wireless industry may force the company to cut prices even further to attract customers.
“In such a price war scenario, we think T-Mobile would face the most pressure, and Deutsche Telekom would see the increased urgency to drive market repair,” according to the Merrill Lynch report.
T-Mobile generally is considered to be the low-cost alternative among the top five U.S. mobile phone companies. Last week, Sprint introduced an unlimited voice and data wireless plan that undercut other U.S. companies.
A Deutsche acquisition is possible now because of Sprint’s depressed share price, according to Merrill Lynch. The plunging value of the U.S. dollar also makes a potential acquisition by a foreign buyer cheaper than it otherwise would be.
Investors on Wall Street didn’t put much stock in Merrill Lynch’s speculation. Sprint shares closed Thursday at $6.80, down 20 cents. Shares of the company have fallen more than 48 percent since the beginning of the year.
Sprint reported last week that it lost $29.5 billion, or $10.36 a share, on sales of $9.8 billion during fourth-quarter 2007. Sprint also suspended dividends for investors and said it expected the first-quarter loss of an additional 1.2 million subscribers.
Sprint, the nation’s third largest wireless company, after Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless, has about 54 million customers.
Based in Germany, Deutsche Telekom has about 120 million subscribers worldwide.
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- February 29th, 2008
- 12:42 pm
Sprint Nextel, the third largest US mobile phone company, reported a $29.5bn fourth-quarter net loss after writing down most of the remaining value of its 2005 purchase of Nextel Communications.
The loss is the fifth largest for a company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index since 1990.
Shares in Kansas-based Sprint, which also warned that subscriber losses would deepen in the current quarter and said the turnround would take longer than expected, fell by 9.6 per cent after the group said it would stop paying dividends for the “foreseeable future”. The stock has fallen more than 51 per cent in the past year.
Sprint, which warned at the end of last month that it might take a goodwill impairment charge of up to $31bn, also revealed that it had borrowed $2.5bn under a revolving credit line, in part to mitigate financing risk related to maturing debt securities but it said it believed it was still in compliance with debt covenants.
The $29.7bn fourth-quarter goodwill impairment charge means Sprint has written off nearly all of Nextel’s value following its acquisition for $36bn three years ago. Sprint has been struggling with the integration and has been losing ground to both AT&T Mobile and Verizon Wireless, its larger rivals. It also recorded a further $279m in other charges.
“The fourth-quarter financial results reflect the challenges facing our wireless business,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint’s recently appointed chief executive. “We are making significant changes across the organisation in an effort to improve execution, stabilise our customer base and deliver on the opportunity provided by our assets.”
But Mr Hesse cautioned that “given current deteriorating business conditions, which are more difficult than what I had expected to encounter, these changes will take time to produce improved operating performance, and our near-term subscriber and financial results will continue to be pressured”.
On a conference call with analysts, Mr Hesse added: “We will have a difficult 2008 as we turn this ship around. This turnaround will not happen for many quarters.”
The company, which lost 683,000 post-paid monthly contract customers during the fourth quarter, said it now expects to lose 1.2m customers. Average revenues per subscriber fell by $2 to $58 while churn rate, a key measure of customer loyalty, were high at 2.3 per cent.
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Verizon Wireless has spoken out against moves by the US telecoms regulator, the FCC, to promote open access in the 700MHz band. FCC chairman Kevin Martin last week said that he was in favour of giving consumers control over what device and application they used to access services in that band, with firms such as Google lobbying hard for such an open access approach. But, according to report from Internetnews.com, Verizon Wireless’ general counsel Steven Zipperstein has told the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications: ‘The one-size-fits-all mentality that characterizes open access regimes for the wireless industry would begin the process of stifling innovation and creativity in our industry.’ The cellco wants current restrictions on spectrum use to be maintained.
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An investor in Vodafone Group is stepping up its campaign to encourage Vodafone to spin off its 45% stake in Verizon Wireless in advanced of Vodafone’s annual general meeting July 24.
Efficient Capital Structures (ECS) was rebuffed in an earlier attempt to capitalize on Verizon Wireless’ successful mobile phone services by spinning off Vodafone’s equity. The Verizon service is adding subscribers at a rapid rate and is highly profitable. Vodafone’s global cell phone services, many of which are under financial pressure, generally utilize GSM technology while Verizon’s utilizes EV-DO technology.
ECS said its chairman, Glenn Cooper, intends to discuss his plan for a spin-off, including the creation of a tracking stock for the Vodafone stake. A talk by Cooper on the subject will be hosted by research and proxy firm Glass, Lewis, & Co., ECS said, noting that Glass Lewis offers a forum for institutional investors to discuss their views on proxy-related issues.
The estimated value of Vodafone’s stake in Verizon Wireless has consistently risen as the wireless operation adds customers and markets additional services.
Vodafone has rejected past ECS overtures to spin off its stake in the Verizon Communications .
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It will be available only on CDMA EVDO network of Verizon Wireless, but since this wireless carrier has good coverage and good unlimited data plans, this phone may be an interesting proposition… and already first official information from Verizon Wireless is available about it!
Some highlights about this phone:
* support CMDA EVDO for wireless broadband speeds
* has no Wi-Fi
* memory card slot: microSD (visible in photos)
* small size
* powered by Windows Mobile 6
* not to be confused with Samsung SGH-i760 that is for GSM / UMTS / HSDPA networks and has slide-out QWERTY keyboard too but it slides-out in portrait mode not in vertical mode
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Motorola has agreed to acquire privately held software developer Leapstone Systems. US-based Leapstone has developed a unified platform for creating, managing and delivering converged video, voice and data service bundles across multiple networks and devices. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Its flagship product is the Communications Convergence Engine, a delivery platform for fixed and mobile network operators. Customers include AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The deal is expected to be completed in the third quarter.
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NAVTEQ, a provider of digital map data for vehicle navigation and location-based solutions, will bring a dedicated NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge event to Asia-Pacific (APAC) to further facilitate the participation of developers across the region.
Registration for APAC participants officially begins October 2007 and an awards ceremony announcing APAC winners in Singapore.
Since its inception in 2003, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge has become the premier program for the development of cutting-edge location-based services for wireless applications.
NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge contestants typically range from start-up developers hoping to launch their first commercial application to established companies pushing the limits of their creativity.
This annual competition has helped eight previous participants receive venture capital funding and nine past winners have launched commercial applications on major wireless carriers, including Verizon Wireless and Sprint.
In 2007, NAVTEQ and its sponsors awarded a prize pool collectively worth almost $2 million.
Interest in location-based services in Asia continues to surge as map coverage expands throughout the region.
NAVTEQ already has map coverage in countries such as Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.
Also fueling the growing interest of LBS in Asia is the vast number of wireless developers in the region.
According to an Evans Data Corporation study in the fall of 2006, nearly 40 percent of the world’s wireless developers reside in the APAC region.
“The rapid expansion of map coverage of the Asia-Pacific region combined with the wealth of developers located there will be a driving force for the creation of new location-based services in Asia in the years to come,” said Winston Guillory, Senior Vice President, Consumer & Enterprise, NAVTEQ.
“The NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is the perfect vehicle to continue the expansion of LBS application development in this region and help shine a spotlight on some of APAC’s most talented developers.”
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Google: Android Phones Coming This Year
