Sony’s Xperia U has performed well in Spain

Microsoft’s Windows OS now has 8.4 per cent of the UK smartphone market, while demand for lower cost devices in Southern Italy is being exploited by Sony and LG. Macro economic conditions and increasing diversity in operators’ subsidy strategies are creating contrasts in device vendors’ performances market by market.

Data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Sony’s share of the Spanish smartphone market has reached 19 per cent, while LG is close behind at 17 per cent, up from three per cent a year ago. The firm said that these improved performances  have been driven by entry level handsets including Sony’s Xperia U and LG’s Optimus L3 and L5 models.

Flagship, high-end devices have faced challenges in Southern Europe. Samsung’s Galaxy SIII accounted for just 4.7 per cent of smartphone sales in Spain over the first quarter of 2013, compared to 23.5 pet cent in Germany.

Outside of Europe Android leads the US market with 51.7 per cent, ahead of Apple on 41.4 per cent. Windows now accounts for 5.6 per cent of the US smartphone market, which Kantar described as “good news” for Microsoft.

In urban China, Kantar said, Apple enjoys 25.1 market share, despite a price premium of 82 per cent above the market average. Samsung remains the top brand in this market, with 30.2 per cent, while domestic vendor Lenovo has 10.3 per cent of the urban Chinese market.

Google, Microsoft see strong growth in 1Q13

Web giant Google racked up a 31 per cent increase in consolidated revenues on a year on year basis for the first quarter of 2013, hitting almost $14bn. Net for the period climbed to $3.35bn, compared to $2.89bn in the first quarter of 2012. Traffic acquisition costs (TAC) for the first quarter totalled $2.96bn, or 25 per cent of advertising revenues.

Motorola Mobile Revenues, including hardware and other came in at $1.02bn for the quarter, or seven per cent of consolidated revenues. Motorola Mobile’s operating loss for the period was $271m, or negative 27 per cent of Motorola Mobile revenues in the first quarter.

During the period, restructuring charges related to the Motorola Mobile business were $66m and related tax benefits were $23m.

Arch nemesis Microsoft also reported its first quarter results, chalking up an 18 per cent year on year increase in revenue from $17.4bn in 2012 to $20.5bn in 2013. Operating income was up from $6.3bn to $7.6bn over the same period.

“The bold bets we made on cloud services are paying off as people increasingly choose Microsoft services including Office 365, Windows Azure, Xbox LIVE, and Skype,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer at Microsoft. “While there is still work to do, we are optimistic that the bets we’ve made on Windows devices position us well for the long-term.”

The company also announced CFO Peter Klein will leave the company at the end of the current fiscal year, after nearly four years in the role. Microsoft will be naming a new CFO from its finance leadership team in the next several weeks.

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Google’s “predatory distribution of Android” at below-cost makes it difficult for other OS providers to compete, said Fairsearch

A pressure group with members including Microsoft, Oracle and Nokia has filed a complaint with the European Commission claiming that Google has used anti-competitive practices to dominate the mobile space.

Under the Fairsearch name, the group claims that Google has unfairly cemented its control over consumers’ mobile internet experience and in online advertising for mobile.

The search giant’s Android platform runs on 70 per cent of devices shipped at the end of 2012, according to Strategy Analytics, Fairsearch noted, and Google has a 96 per cent share of the mobile search advertising the market, according to research agency eMarketer. The group also accuses Google of using “deceptive conduct to lock out competition in mobile”.

The group said that Google’s dominance in the smartphone operating system market came from its policy of giving Android to device manufacturers free of charge. Yet the group claims these same device manufacturers are forced to pay costs for Google services such as Maps, YouTube and Play that are required to be prominently placed on the phone. This, Fairsearch said, hinders rival app and service providers.

“Google is using its Android mobile operating system as a ‘Trojan Horse’ to deceive partners, monopolise the mobile marketplace, and control consumer data,” said Thomas Vinje, Brussels-based counsel to the FairSearch coalition.

“We are asking the Commission to move quickly and decisively to protect competition and innovation in this critical market. Failure to act will only embolden Google to repeat its desktop abuses of dominance as consumers increasingly turn to a mobile platform dominated by Google’s Android operating system.”

The complaint added that Google’s “predatory distribution of Android” at below-cost makes it difficult for other OS providers to compete with the mobile platform.

Microsoft itself was once the target of similar anti-competitive allegations. In 2004, the European Union found Microsoft guilty of abuse of its dominant position in the PC market.

Ericsson has acquired Microsoft’s TV solution Mediaroom for an undisclosed sum

Swedish network infrastructure vendor Ericsson has acquired Microsoft’s TV solution Mediaroom for an undisclosed sum.

Mediaroom is the technology used by operators such as AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica and Swisscom for their TV offerings. The technology is used on more than 22 million set top boxes worldwide.

According to Ericsson, which already has its own portfolio of IPTV and multi-screen solutions, the acquisition will provide it with more than 40 additional customers, serving over 11 million subscriber households, taking the Swedish firm’s global market share to over 25 per cent. The vendor will also acquire the expertise of more than 400 Mediaroom employees worldwide.

“Today there are one billion video enabled devices in the world, in 10 years there will be around 10 billion video enabled devices,” Per Borgklint, SVP and head of Business Unit Support Solutions at Ericsson told Telecoms.com.

“The amount of total video distributed over the network will probably account for around 99 per cent of traffic on the network. Video distribution technology will be core for our end users and for us.

He explained that as subscribers step up their consumption of mobile video content, they and operators in turn, will place more and more importance on how the video is delivered and quality of service. As an analogy, Borgklint compared the delivery of video to that of postal services.

“If you’re expecting something valuable in the post, such as Superbowl tickets, you obviously expect recorded delivery; for the package to be sent on time, in the right way, without disappearing on its route. The same goes for if you wanted to watch the Superbowl online using you mobile in your summer house. You will not be willing to pay for this unless you can be sure of the quality,” he said.

“Video will be as important to the mobile network as voice was 15 years ago.”

The global IPTV market is estimated to reach 76 million subscribers in 2013, according to Ericsson. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2013, and builds on Ericsson’s work in the TV sector, for which it has won three Emmys.

Worldwide devices are on pace to total 2.4 billion units in 2013

The number of tablets sold globally will surpass the number of PCs sold by 2017, according to analyst firm Gartner. Sales of Android smartphones are also expected to triple between 2012 and 2017, the firm forecast.

More than 2.9 billion mobile or desk-based devices will be shipped in 2017, up from 2.4 billion today, according to Gartner. However, the mix of these devices will significantly change over the forecast period, the firm warned, as tablet devices become cheaper and more powerful. In fact, PC and laptop shipments are set to fall around 20 per cent, from 341 million shipped in 2012 to 271 million in 2017.

“While there will be some individuals who retain both a personal PC and a tablet, especially those who use either or both for work and play, most will be satisfied with the experience they get from a tablet as their main computing device,” said Carolina Milanesi, research vice president at Gartner.

“As consumers shift their time away from their PC to tablets and smartphones, they will no longer see their PC as a device that they need to replace on a regular basis.”

Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, added that growth in the tablet segment will not be limited to mature markets alone.

“Users in emerging markets who are looking for a companion to their mobile phone will increasingly choose a tablet as their first computing device and not a PC.”

Tablets are not the only device type that is seeing aggressive price erosion; smartphones are also becoming more affordable,

Of the 1.875 billion mobile phones to be sold in 2013, Gartner predicts that one billion units will be smartphones, compared with 675 million units in 2012.

As a result of the changing buyer behaviour, Google and Apple will profit at the expense of smaller players. Google, which shipped 497 million Android devices in 2012, is expected to almost triple that figure over the following five years, to sell 1,47 billion devices in 2017. Apple will also thrive; the firm sold 213 million iOS and Mac OS devices in 2012, and is expected to more than double that to 504 million in 2017. Even Microsoft is set to prosper over the coming four years; the firm will see shipments rise from 346 million in 2012 to 570 million in 2017, according to Gartner’s forecasts.

Microsoft’s 4Afrika includes two major components. One is the launch, in partnership with Huawei, of a low-cost smartphone, the Huawei 4Afrika, which has been tailored to the African market and, of course, uses the Windows Phone operating system. (The Huawei 4Afrika will reportedly cost about $150, which as an aside is still quite pricey for its intended market.)

The second major component of the 4Afrika program sees Microsoft, somewhat unusually, getting involved in an infrastructure project, in this case a wireless broadband network in Kenya’s Rift Valley that will use white spaces (unused broadcast spectrum) and solar power to bring Internet connectivity to people living in remote, rural areas. Microsoft is working alongside the Kenyan government and local ISP Indigo on the Rift Valley broadband project.

Other elements of the 4Afrika project include a portal for SMEs; a training center that will offer technical and business courses; an AppFactory to encourage the development of African apps for the Windows Store; and a female empowerment portal, aimed at North African women.

A lot of this is reminiscent of the activities that Microsoft’s arch-rival Google already has underway in Africa. Low-cost smartphones based on Google’s Android OS – such as the Huawei Ideos – have proved very popular in African markets, notably Kenya. Google is involved in network projects in Africa, such as the Wazi wifi service, again in Kenya. Google has a project to help small businesses in Africa to get online. Google has also worked hard to make its core search service available in African languages, and to encourage the creation of local content for YouTube.

So why are Microsoft and Google going to all this effort and expense? Most likely, it is due to the recognition that Africa offers one of the last big growth opportunities for access to the internet and all the products and services that are associated with that: devices; software; applications; content and advertising.

New submarine cables have improved Africa’s previously poor connectivity to the rest of the world in the past few years (although terrestrial connectivity often remains a bottle-neck). 3G and even 4G access networks are being rolled out on the continent. Economic growth and changing consumer behavior mean that there is rising demand for data services including Internet access. And that growth is taking place from a low base, which suggests that there is substantial further growth yet to come.

Some of the projects that Microsoft and Google have underway in Africa might not have an obvious commercial rationale. But helping small businesses to get online and providing broadband in remote areas helps to fulfill these technology giants’ broader aim of encouraging Internet use in Africa. Microsoft and Google are unlikely to complain if such efforts burnish their reputations locally. And along the way Microsoft and Google will be hoping that their websites, software and services are the ones that Africa’s new internet users come to regard as their default choice.

Microsoft sees great potential in Africa

US software giant Microsoft this week pledged to invest around $74m in Africa over the next three years, introducing tens of millions of smart devices into the hands of the local youth and bringing over a million small and medium sized enterprises online.

Under the banner of the Microsoft 4Afrika Initiative, the company will actively engage in Africa’s economic development to improve its global competitiveness, giving skills to 100,000 members of Africa’s existing workforce and helping an additional 100,000 recent graduates develop employability skills, 75 per cent of whom Microsoft will help place in jobs.

A key element of the project is to increase the adoption of smart devices, which Microsoft aims to do by tapping Chinese vendor Huawei to introduce the 4Afrika full-functionality Windows Phone 8 device at a sub-$150 price tag.

The device will be preloaded with select applications designed for local users initially in Angola, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa from this month.

Students and small businesses will be a target for the company’s smartphone portfolio, and through an SME Online Hub, African SMEs will have access to free, relevant products and services from Microsoft and other partners. The hub will aggregate the available services, which can help SMEs expand their businesses locally, find new business opportunities outside their immediate geographies and help increase their overall competitiveness. The hub is expected to initially open in April in South Africa and Morocco and will expand to other African markets over time.

A pilot project with the Kenyan Ministry of Information and Communications and Kenyan internet service provider Indigo Telecom will deliver low-cost, high-speed, wireless broadband focused on the creation of opportunities for commerce, education, healthcare and delivery of government services across Kenya. It claims to be the first deployment of solar-powered base stations working together with TV white space spectrum, which Microsoft Research is heavily interested in, to deliver internet access to areas currently lacking even electricity. Microsoft hopes to implement similar pilots in East and Southern Africa in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the Afrika Academy, an education platform with online and offline learning tools, aims to help Africans develop both technical and business skills for entrepreneurship and improved employability. Training through the Afrika Academy will be available starting in March at no cost to recent higher education graduates, government leaders and the Microsoft partner community.

“The world has recognised the promise of Africa, and Microsoft wants to invest in that promise. We want to empower African youth, entrepreneurs, developers, and business and civic leaders to turn great ideas into a reality that can help their community, their country, the continent and beyond,” said Fernando de Sousa, general manager, 4Afrika Initiative. “The 4Afrika Initiative is built on the dual beliefs that technology can accelerate growth for Africa, and Africa can also accelerate technology for the world.”

AfricaCom 2013 takes place  November 12-14 in Cape Town, South Africa.

According to the GSMA’s exhibitor list, neither company will have a stand at the show this year, although neither could tell me exactly why this is the case. I had a strange conversation with a Microsoft spokeswoman the other day about this, who said that they are not allowed to say anything about Microsoft’s plans for MWC. “So you can neither confirm nor deny that Microsoft will be there?” I asked. “We can’t say anything,” was the response.

Interestingly, Microsoft didn’t even have a booth or an official press event at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this year despite CEO Steve Ballmer appearing on stage for Qualcomm’s (rather surreal) keynote. Perhaps the Redmond firm is now trying to emulate Apple, which does not appear at trade shows at all.

BlackBerry, despite the opportunity to showcase its brand new BlackBerry 10 platform, has also decided against exhibiting at the show, although executives will be present and the company has booked meeting rooms off-site in Barcelona. When I spoke to the firm, all hands were on deck ahead of the company’s biggest launch for years, so providing a reason for the firm’s lack of participation was something I was told I’d hear back about. But in BlackBerry’s case, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to guess why the firm won’t be there.

A stand at MWC doesn’t come cheap and budgets are tight for everyone these days, particularly in Western Europe and North America, due to the macro-economic climate. One suspects that if your company has seen its market share shrink to a fraction of what it was, as BlackBerry has, and recorded consecutive quarterly losses in your financial reports, all while investing millions of dollars in a new product, the CFO will look to cut any additional spend that he deems as extravagant.

Furthermore, BlackBerry can’t exactly exhibit as part of the Canadian pavilion – not when competing handset vendors often have entire halls to themselves. It’s pretty much a case of all or nothing for the firm, and it looks like it has chosen the latter.

Microsoft and RIM deciding against exhibiting at the show could be two isolated coincidences, however, despite having stands at MWC this year, HTC and Samsung have both confirmed that they will not be holding any press conferences at the show either.

In the late nineties and early 2000s, handset vendors made their big product announcements at the CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany. However, as the mobile industry gathered momentum, and in a bid to get a jump on the white noise of CeBIT, they began to gravitate more towards the operators’ show, unveiling their new products at what was then the GSM World Congress.

Now though, it seems that CES in Las Vegas provides a more suitable arena for firms that are looking to leverage cross-platform strengths—firms for whom mobile is just one part of the play. Crucially, of course, CES is a consumer event and it is the direct relationship with the consumer, free of operator mediation, that handset vendors are after.

The most high-profile launch at MWC 2012 was the GSMA’s rich communications suite offering, Joyn. So maybe vendors scaling down their activities at the show may not be a bad thing. After all, handset launches have a habit of stealing headlines and overshadowing less glamorous—but equally important—news about networks and operators.

So now it is incumbent on the network side of the business to ensure that there is plenty to talk about—and worthy of the mainstream media coverage that GSMA has long sought for its event—at what remains the most important event in the mobile communications industry. No pressure.

According to Microsoft, the first opportunity to utilise dynamic spectrum technologies will also be in the TV white spaces band

Tech giant Microsoft has opened a European research centre aimed at providing greater insight into spectrum efficiency as a driver for wireless broadband access. The European Spectrum Observatory has been set up in Brussels, at Microsoft’s Cloud and Interoperability Centre. The firm said that it intends to examine barriers standing in the way of efficient spectrum allocation.

The Microsoft Spectrum Observatory will provide a common repository for data on spectrum usage to be collected, analysed, and presented to those interested in understanding wireless spectrum utilisation, such as national telecoms regulators, the firm said.

“Wide swathes of spectrum continue to be statically dedicated to a particular use, even if they are not fully utilised,” the company said. “If a more dynamic approach to spectrum management were adopted, spectrum utilisation could be vastly increased, thereby alleviating a key bottleneck to wireless broadband access.”

In recent years, the firm has been keen to promote innovation in spectrum usage, particularly for so called ‘white space’ spectrum. In June 2011, Microsoft led a consortium of companies to discover if unused TV spectrum could be re-allocted to create so called “super wifi hotspots”. It was joined by the BBC, Nokia, BSkyB and Samsung, which sought to discover if it is possible to re-use spectrum in the 470MHz to 790MHz range without affecting TV broadcasts, in order to feed the ever increasing demand for bandwidth from connected devices.

“TV White Spaces a represent a creative, tested and low-cost way of extending fast broadband access to people in underserved communities, addressing the rapid proliferation of machine applications and facilitating the increasing demand for bandwidth,” said William Webb, CTO at the firm’s partner Neul. “The superior range and obstacle penetration characteristics of TV white spaces spectrum coupled with the possibility of global harmonisation makes it the ideal solution for innovative new applications and technologies.”

Last week, a research centre focused on developing white space technology was also opened at Strathclyde University in Glasgow, Scotland. The centre aims to work with industry players, including Microsoft, to develop technology that will tap into the unused white space spectrum.

That’s not a health warning, but a fact, based on a 38-country study* of 51 communication service providers’ business SaaS portfolios that I’ve just completed.

Microsoft powers an astonishing 51% of these CSPs’ productivity and collaboration offers. Want a SaaS equivalent to The Economist magazine’s Big Mac Index? Et voilà!

A tall order

CSPs hope Office 365 – viewed as well featured and from a trusted brand – will acclimatize enterprises to SaaS, trigger volume migration and, ultimately, enable top-line revenue growth.

Maybe it could all come true – if only CSPs had more to sell and less competition.

The term ‘SaaS marketplace’ sounds big and sexy, but it’s aspirational for now. The typical CSP works with no more than six business-SaaS partners.

Utilitarianism rules: Portfolios are designed to benefit the widest horizontal base of employees.

Worryingly, most CSPs (based on their current portfolios) believe this to be a white-collar employee working on a PC in a traditional office. Really?

Empty calories

It will take more than a one-size-fits-all commodity SaaS strategy for CSPs to profit.

Selling, say, the P1 plan (see graph) is a beginning, not a conclusion.

According to Informa’s 2013 Industry Outlook survey – which polled more than 200 CSPs worldwide – LTE and cloud services lead top-line growth expectations.

Yet barely a third of CSPs bundle broadband (their core revenue stream) with SaaS as a standard offer in their official SaaS marketplaces.

Islands of SaaS also exist in siloed fiefdoms – like mobile appstores and M2M marketplaces – often marooned by incompatible service delivery platforms.

Meanwhile, CSPs’ competitors are multiplying.

There’s Microsoft’s own Office 365 Marketplace, Amazon Web Services’ Marketplace, Rackspace’s Cloud Tools Marketplace, and the marketplaces of IT distributors Ingram Micro and Tech Data, to name a few.

A balanced diet

The latest gastronomic trend is foraging. It’s about finding goodness in the wild, on local land.

I think this can work for CSPs too.

Start at Kilometer Zero. Replace the chanterelles with local SaaS. Get attuned to what small businesses – the primary target for business SaaS – really need. Develop menus that cater to large affinity groups.

The Big Mac may be a ‘communion wafer for consumption,’ but a healthy diet is all about balance.

(*Note: The Informa CSP@SaaS Pricing Benchmark and accompanying report are now available on the Informa Telecoms & Media Intelligence Center.)

No reason was given for Sinofsky's departure

US software giant Microsoft has announced the immediate departure of Steven Sinofsky, head of its flagship Windows and Windows Live operations. The move came just a few weeks after the launch of the company’s next generation software platform, Windows 8, which spans both desktop and mobile devices.

Microsoft did not give any reason for Sinofsky’s departure but it raises questions over the future direction of its platform strategy. Windows 8 was billed as more than a simple product upgrade when it was launched, with Microsoft  positioning it as a multi-device strategy that would embrace modern diversity in devices used to access services and content.

With Sinosfky gone, Julie Larson-Green will be promoted to lead all Windows software and hardware engineering while Tami Reller, who retains her roles as chief financial officer and chief marketing officer, will also assume responsibility for the business of Windows. Both executives will report directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Since 1993, Larson-Green has worked on and led some of the most well known products for Microsoft, including the user experiences for early versions of Internet Explorer, and helped drive the thinking behind the latest Microsoft Office. For Windows 7 and Windows 8 she was responsible for program management, user interface design and research, as well as development of all international releases.

Reller began her career in technology at Great Plains Software in 1984 and was the company’s chief financial officer at the time it was acquired by Microsoft in 2001.

Microsoft is not the only major player to rewrite its team sheet. Apple recently announced an executive reshuffle, which will see the departure of Scott Forstall, one of the original architects of the Mac OS X operating system and head of the team responsible for the software platform at the heart of the iconic iPhone device.

Apple announced that Forstall will be leaving next year and will serve as an advisor to CEO Tim Cook in the interim. The company did not expand on his reasons for leaving, but rumours suggest he was given the push in the wake of the Maps debacle and issues with Siri.

Additionally, John Browett is leaving after only five months as head of Retail. A search for a new head of Retail is underway and in the interim, the retail team will report directly to Cook.

In other movements, famed designer, Jony Ive, who was responsible for everything from the iMac to the iPhone and iPad design is now going “to provide leadership and direction for Human Interface (HI) across the company in addition to his role as the leader of Industrial Design.”

Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, will take on the additional responsibility of Siri and Maps, placing all online services in one group along with iTunes, the App Store, the iBookstore and iCloud.

Craig Federighi, senior vice president of Software Engineering, will lead both iOS and OS X development. While Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of Technologies, will lead a new group, which combines all of Apple’s wireless teams across the company in one organisation and will also include the semiconductor team.

Microsoft is retiring Windows Live Messenger, and encouraging users to update to Skype

In a somewhat inevitable move by the software firm, Microsoft has absorbed its Live Messenger offering into Skype, after acquiring the VoIP service in May last year.

The firm released Skype 6.0 for Mac and Windows a few weeks ago and has now told customers to update to the service to send instant messages and make video calls with their Messenger contacts.

Microsoft added that it will retire Messenger in all countries worldwide in the first quarter of 2013, with the exception of mainland China where it will continue to be available.

“Our goal remains to deliver the best communications experience for everyone, everywhere,” the firm said in a statement. “We want to focus our efforts on making things simpler for our users while continuously improving the overall experience.”

Skype recently introduced carrier billing functionality into its offering, enabling operators to process payments of the VoIP service. Meanwhile, Microsoft is continuing its acquisition push, after announcing its intention to acquire Yammer, a social network tool for enterprises, for $1.2bn in June this year.

Devicescape aims to cut data costs

US software firm Microsoft has given Windows Phone 8 users access to a sizeable global wifi network intended to improve the user experience and rein in data costs.

Microsoft has licensed software from Californian wifi offload specialist Devicescape to give Windows Phone 8 users access to the company’s Curated Virtual Network (CVN). This is a global wifi network of over 11 million wifi hotspots, mostly in the US, which have passed a strict assessment of service quality.

Devicescape’s CVN leverages crowd-sourced data from the millions of devices already deployed. Any device with the software installed will automatically sniff out more suitable hotspots and add suitable connections to the network. Devicescape can then partner with operators to offer the service to end users on a variety of pricing plans, although many carriers offer the service for free.

According to Thomas Wehmeier, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, the Devicescape tool will work nicely alongside Datasense functionality included in Windows 8.

Datasense is a toolset, unfortunately not integrated into all Windows Phone 8 devices, that helps users manage their data usage. With compression and monitoring Microsoft estimates that users can squeeze up to 45 per more out of their data plan. Verizon will be the first carrier to activate Datasense on the Windows devices it sells.

Wehmeier believes the offering will go some way to rectifying the shock experienced by many users of Windows Phone 7, which made much use of live tiles that required a data connection and did not offer much by way of control over those connections.

With Datasense and Devicescape, Windows Phone 8 promises to be a much better experience, potentially putting users more frequently in range of free to use public wifi hotspots.

The move could also propel Devicescape, which so far has only had deals with Tier 2 carriers, into the big league.

“Mobile data caps, tiers and throttling are limiting the smartphone experience”, said Dave Fraser, CEO of Devicescape. “By leveraging the Devicescape network of public hotspots, Microsoft can now pass along tremendous value to its Windows Phone 8 users enabling them to locate a nearby quality wifi network. Windows Phone 8 users will now have an alternative way to manage their monthly data plan while maintaining the quality of service they are accustomed to from their mobile provider.”

At present, the sign-on-to-wifi experience is still manual, but this is largely due to poor integration between wifi and cellular. However, the 3GPP and wifi standards bodies are actively addressing this issue and the next phase is to move on to automatic hotspot sign on.

This week the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) and the Small Cell Forum announced plans to work together to better integrate wifi hotspots and licensed small cells.

The two organizations will cooperate on a range of initiatives including simple measures such as looking at how small cells could impact the WBA and GSMA’s efforts to simplify Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) access, and sharing best practices for optimising the user experience and operator deployment strategies for joint wifi/small cell hotspots, building on the NGH program which is removing the need for usernames and passwords.

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Windows 8 supports touchscreen, as well as keyboard and mouse input methods

Informa’s early estimates predict that, by the end of 2014, more than 70 per cent of users will be on Microsoft Windows 8 and 36 per cent will use new hardware supporting touchscreen functionality.

Microsoft has unveiled the long-awaited Windows 8 platform, an operating system which promises to take the computing experience to another level. This is probably the most important announcement in Microsoft’s history since the launch of its Windows 3.0 in 1990. This is not just a product announcement; it is a new strategic direction that will redefine the way computers are used.

The goal here is to move away from the ageing PC paradigm where the user experience is designed and locked into desktops and notebooks. Microsoft is now promoting the “Personalized Computing Experience”, where the experience is no longer attached to a computer but defined as a framework tailored to the user’s needs regardless of the nature of the device being used.

It is becoming clear that the PC market, the core business of Microsoft, is shrinking. This is due to both cannibalization by the tablet market and the slow PC replacement cycles. Consumers are not prepared to upgrade their PC hardware unless major enhancements in terms of both performance and user experience are offered. It is striking that almost a third of all PC users are still using Windows XP, a version launched more than 11 years ago. In addition, major OEMs are now shifting their interests away from the relatively low-margin PC business and focusing on areas where they can differentiate their products.

The popularity of tablets and smartphones clearly indicate a major shift in the way users interact with their devices away from the keyboard and the mouse. Touchscreen and, increasingly, gesture and voice recognition have emerged as alternative interfaces currently enabling the creation of a plethora of innovative applications and services that have made smartphones and tablets very popular. Previous versions of the Windows platform were not designed for a multi-touch experience but Windows 8 is likely to change the game.

The aim of Windows 8 is to enable users to run their applications and services across various devices regardless of either the input/output method used or the screen size of the device. This also very important for developers as they will be able to target a wider audience of users using the application development framework and the same set of APIs. It will also enable Microsoft to grab new opportunities in markets that it was not able to tap into before, including tablets, smartphones, set-top boxes and other consumer electronics devices.

Windows 8 strategy will enable Microsoft to adapt its business to the demands of touchscreen as an ultimate input method for modern computing devices. However, it could take a long time for Microsoft to migrate all its customers to touchscreen due to the PC market’s slow replacement cycles.

Microsoft’s long-term strategic goal is to enable multiple UIs (e.g., keyboard, touch, gesture and voice in the future) for all computing devices – PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. The company will want to accelerate the move from the traditional “touchless” computing landscape to multi-UI computing but it is not clear how successful it will be in achieving this goal.

The unified user experience of Windows 8 across various types of device also faces a number of challenges, most notably in the mobile market where Microsoft is a new entrant. How will the software giant manage its partnership with mobile OEMs and create a single marketing message? How will it aligning its platform roadmap with reference designs and points of differentiation of the various vendors? These are not simple tasks, they will require significant investment in terms of time, money and human resources.

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Windows 8 supports touchscreen, as well as keyboard and mouse input methods

The launch of Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system for PCs, laptops and tablets could ignite demand for its Windows Phone 8 products, according to research firm Informa Telecoms and Media. Malik Saadi, principal analyst at the firm was impressed by the OS and believes it could have a “halo effect” on Microsoft’s efforts in the mobile space.

Windows 8 OS was launched shortly after the firm’s Windows Phone 8 OS and the two platforms share source code and interoperability. Microsoft’s goal is to move away from the ageing PC experience which is specific to desktops and notebooks, and is instead common across all platforms, including tablets and handsets.

The system is designed to bring a touchscreen experience to PCs and laptops, which will also continue to support keyboard and mouse input methods.

“With the addition of touchscreen to the Windows 8 OS, users will become familiarised with how to interact with the platform, and it could have a halo effect as users find it easier and more intuitive to interact with Windows Phone devices.”

He added that touchscreen and, increasingly, gesture and voice recognition, have helped make smartphones and tablets very popular. By introducing those interaction methods to the desktop environment, developers will be able to target a wider audience of users using the application development framework and the same set of APIs.

“This will enable Microsoft to grab new opportunities in markets that it was not able to tap into before, including tablets, smartphones, set-top boxes and other consumer electronics devices,” said Saadi.

“Previous versions of the Windows platform were not designed for a multi-touch experience but Windows 8 is likely to change the game.”

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Microsoft is 72.2% positive

Total votes: 93

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Nokia could soon be forced to sell parts of its business, according to Saadi

Struggling handset maker Nokia has posted its fifth consecutive quarterly loss. The firm recorded an operating loss of €576m ($752) for the quarter ending September 30, 2012, dwarfing the €71m loss the firm posted in the same period in 2011. Net sales also dropped 19 per cent year-on-year from €8.98bn to €7.24bn

Malik Saadi, principal analyst for handset and devices at Informa Telecoms and Media, said that investors must be losing patience and suggested that they would soon be considering options to dissolve the business.

“The situation is getting critical. Nokia cannot afford another bad quarter, it’s now playing for its survival over the next two quarters,” he said.

“I don’t think investors will afford Nokia another bad quarter and Q4 is going to be very tough, the competition is very intense.”

He suggested that Nokia could be the subject of a takeover if the situation does not improve, as potential buyers would be attracted by its 10,000 patents and strength in industrial design. He indicated that Microsoft could be a potential suitor, given that around 70 per cent of Windows Phones sold globally are Nokia devices.

The firm saw its net sales fall in every region it operates in during the quarter, aside from Latin America, where there was a 14 per cent year-on-year increase. In Greater China, sales fell a huge 78 per cent, from €1.24bn to €278m. CEO Stephen Elop admitted that the period had been “a tough transitional quarter”.

“While we continue to focus on transitioning Nokia, we are determined to carefully manage our financial resources, improve our competitiveness, return our devices and services business to positive operating cash flow as quickly as possible, and ultimately provide more value to our shareholders.”

But in Saadi’s view, the Finnish firm’s marketing strategy is the key reason for its demise. He explained that Nokia’s approach to launching new handsets has been unsuccessful.

“When Apple launches a new product, it will announce to the media that there will be an event months in advance. That creates excitement about what is next. Then it unveils the device. A few days after that, the device is in the market.

“Nokia does exactly the opposite. It will showcase the phone before it is ready to go out, meaning that analysts and journalist do not have a chance to see it properly, use it and review it. They can only rely only on Nokia’s marketing materials. And then it launches the phone into the market two months later, when everyone has forgotten about it.”

Skype is offering a wifi service to UK businesses

VoIP provider Skype has set up a public wifi network in the UK and Ireland in a bid to diversify its offering. The firm, acquired by Microsoft in 2011, has teamed up with wifi solutions provider Wicoms to roll out a service called Free Skype WiFi in UK high streets. The service enables shopping malls, retailers and other businesses to deliver public internet access to customers free of charge.

Free Skype WiFi will allow Skype users to log in to any participating wifi location with their Skype ID using the Skype WiFi app. Users will be able to browse the web, engage with social media, access and send emails, shop, compare prices and download special deals from participating high street retailers.

Skype’s offering is launched on the back of recent YouGov survey conducted by Wicoms which revealed that 52 per cent of people who had used public wifi hotspots whilst out shopping said that the experience is generally poor. Over 50 per cent of 18 to 34 year olds also said they would be more likely to buy something from a store if the store was able to send a discount or voucher to their phone when they entered.

The service is available for businesses and venues through a number of different packages starting from £9.99 per month, plus a router costing £49.

HTC's Windows Phone 8x

As it continues its aggressive push in the smartphone space,  Microsoft has announced two Windows Phone 8 handsets designed by Taiwanese vendor HTC. The HTC Windows Phone 8X is the premium handset of the two, with a 4.3in HD screen and a Qualcomm S4 1.5GHz dual-core processor. It has 1GB RAM, 16GB storage space and comes with an 8-megapixel camera.

The HTC Windows Phone 8S meanwhile has a smaller 4in display, a Qualcomm S4 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM and 16GB storage space.

According to Digantam Gurung, analyst at CCS insight, the appearance of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer at the launch event, alongside Peter Chou, CEO of HTC, provides assurance of the strength of the HTC-Microsoft relationship.

“However, this is likely to frustrate Nokia who feel they are the “lead” Windows 8 licensee. It appears Microsoft is very keen to maintain a level playing field amongst Windows Phone makers at this stage,” he said.

He added that the release of the 8X at the high end of the smartphone market now presents an opportunity for HTC to reassert itself following disappointing sales of previous Android handsets that were eclipsed by Samsung’s.

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“HTC will try and capitalise on growing momentum behind Windows Phone 8 aligned to the impending launch of Windows 8 which will be supported by an eye-watering Microsoft marketing budget,” Gurung added. “These new devices are not an attempt to de-emphasise HTC’s focus on Android, but rather add more diversity to the HTC portfolio, particularly given the growing competitive pressure with Android.”

Earlier this month, Nokia announced its Flagship WP8 products, the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, while Samsung also launched its ATIV S device. The Windows 8 operating system for desktops is slated for launch in October this year.

The Windows Phone 8X and 8S by HTC will be available beginning in November, through more than 150 carriers in over 50 countries.

HTC

How does this article affect your perception of HTC? What is this?

HTC is Neutral

Total votes: 2

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Microsoft

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Microsoft is 72.2% positive

Total votes: 93

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Nokia's Lumia 920

In an effort to consolidate its position as the third biggest player in the smartphone ecosystem, Finnish handset manufacturer Nokia has unveiled two devices running on Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 platform.The move comes less than a week after Samsung pipped Nokia to the post with a view of the first Windows Phone 8 device to be seen.

The Lumia 920 comes with a 4.5in HD display, while the smaller Lumia 820 has a 4.3in display. Both run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 1.5GHz dual-core processor and Nokia will be releasing versions of the devices specifically made for the enterprise sector. Both handsets are due to be launched during 4Q12 but no pricing has yet been given.

David McQueen, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, called the 920 handset a “desirable and impressive piece of kit” but warned that Nokia’s marketing efforts will determine the success of the devices and the Windows platform in general. Indeed, the firms are facing an uphill struggle, as a major challenge they face is establishing the optimum pricing strategy.

“The issue of incompatibility with WP7 devices means that the WP8 platform will again need to seek to drive out cost and move down the smartphone price tiers as quickly as possible,” he explained.

The launch is particularly notable for Microsoft, as the firm is aiming to generate awareness and demand for Windows Phone 8 devices among not only consumers and carriers, but also business users. The Windows Phone 8 shares common software with the Windows 8 OS, which is expected to be used widely among businesses when it is launched next month.

Tony Cripps, principal analyst for devices & platforms at Ovum, said that the Windows Phone platform is not yet performing to the research firm’s expectations. While this is partially due to the strength of the opposition, Cripps suspects that it could also be a deliberate move by Microsoft. He argued that the firm may be avoiding flooding the market prematurely with the platform before it is in a position to play up its synergies with Windows 8 and its business applications.

“The clear benefits to businesses from the ready integration possible across Microsoft’s products set will set a benchmark for BYOD strategies focused on out-of-box device capabilities once Microsoft’s full range of new platforms is available,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Google’s newly acquired smartphone business Motorola Mobility, has launched three new additions to its Razr smartphone range: the Razr M, Razr HD and Razr Maxx HD. The devices run on the Android 4.0.4, Ice Cream Sandwich OS, and will be upgradeable to Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, in the coming weeks.

Nokia

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Nokia is 11% negative

Total votes: 18

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Microsoft

How does this article affect your perception of Microsoft? What is this?

Microsoft is 72.2% positive

Total votes: 93

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Skype is set to introduce direct operator billing in key markets

Internet telephony darling and over-the-top success, Skype, stepped up its threat to operators with the introduction of direct operator billing this week.

The VoIP service provider, now owned by Microsoft, has been a popular platform for users seeking free or low-cost alternatives to operators’ cellular voice services. While voice revenues continue to decline for operators, particularly in mature markets, Skype’s leveraging of another aspect of carrier-owned infrastructure could add further pressure.

Customers in key global markets will be able to purchase Skype Credits through both desktop and mobile web browsers, from October. Skype also plans to facilitate in-app credit purchases in the future.

“Delivering a strong user-experience has been at the heart of Skype’s adoption by millions of users globally, and we want to extend this philosophy to the payment options we provide,” said Neil Ward, GM for business operations in Microsoft’s Skype division. “We expect ease of payment to attract new users, while existing users will become more profitable customers as they increase their spend with us.”

However, Morten Brøgger, CEO of Mach – the direct operator billing vendor selected by Skype, argued that the service does not pose a threat to operators, but an opportunity. He claimed that the solution enables operators to enter the e-commerce value chain, and start to win market share from the major credit card brands and companies.

“Being able to play in this value chain will be critical to raising operator revenues in the future and it’s fantastic to have a high-profile merchant like Skype on board,” said Brøgger.