Nokia Comes With... 23,000 users Tweet

Slow start for unlimited music package.

Despite saturation advertising, Nokia's Comes With Music bundle has attracted just 23,000 users in the UK, according to music consultancy MusicAlly.

Nokia hasn't commented on the claim, but says it's satisfied with the roll out so far globally. In Singapore, Nokia said last week, CWM has increased digital download sales by around 30 per cent. However in Singapore, the offer has been bundled from the start with a phone designed to appeal to the affluent, fashion conscious Hi-So set. In the UK, it kicked off with a phone that was more than year old (the 2G Nokia 5310) - and that set you back over a hundred quid. The N95 8GB, and touchscreen 5800, only followed some time later. Only last month, Nokia expanded the range with two decent-looking music handsets.

"Consumers are voting with their wallets and going for high-quality MP3 rather than the DRM-crippled tracks that the Nokia service offers," said 7Digital's CEO Ben Drury. "Why would you download music in a format that is so restrictive, when you can get the same music in a universal format that can be played and shared across any music enabled device?"

Um. Because it's free?

Being charitable to Nokia, CWM is a concept that needs a bit of selling. No other hardware manufacturer bundles unlimited music with hardware, let alone allows you to keep it after the subscription expires. Nokia seems to have anticipated this in its advertising, stressing that there were no hidden costs or too many strings attached. (Apart from the DRM, of course. ).

Music business scouts who went undercover in Carphone Warehouse before Christmas, told us the staff had little idea what the proposition was - leaving them unable to make a convincing sales pitch.

Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. If, as Nokia claims, the average CWM subscriber downloads 300 tracks, then it potentially leaves the company seriously out of pocket. Nokia has to pay Universal full whack for every song downloaded over a low monthly ceiling. That's around 60p a time, or potentially £200 per user. Is this wise?

No doubt Nokia is into music for the long run, and no doubt, too, it has some catching up to do with the iPod. But the steepest economic crash since the 1930s may not be the best time to be dabbling with Chris Anderson's freeconomics mantra. He's regarded as something of a guru round there. Maybe Nokia handsets - which are really OK as music players - don't need it.

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Samsung I9000 Galaxy S review: From outer space Tweet

Gsmarena have posted a review of the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S. Here are the phone's key features, main disadvantages and their final impression.

Key features:
* Quad-band GSM and tri-band 3G support
* 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA support
* 4" 16M-color Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution
* Android OS v2.1 with TouchWiz 3.0 UI customization
* 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird CPU; 256 MB of RAM
* 5 MP autofocus camera with face, smile and blink detection
* 720p HD video recording at 30fps
* Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g and n support
* GPS with A-GPS connectivity; Digital compass
* 8/16GB internal storage, microSD slot
* Accelerometer and proximity sensor
* Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
* microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
* Stereo FM radio with RDS
* 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery
* Great audio quality
* Slim waistline at only 9.9mm thickness
* Document editor
* File manager comes preinstalled
* Secondary video-call camera
* Swype predictive text input
* Excellent choice of preinstalled applications

Main disadvantages:
* No free GPS navigation solution
* No Flash support for the web browser
* No flash for the camera
* No dedicated camera key
* The all-plastic body is a real fingerprint magnet
* Feeble loudspeaker

We tested the Samsung I9000 Galaxy S and it tested us in return. It bared its teeth at us and so did we. Ours was a grin. Easy boy, good beast. There goes the new leader of the Android pack. The Samsung I9000 Galaxy S has oomph to spare and even hardened geeks like us cannot help but acknowledge its compelling power.

Not only does the Galaxy have a performance edge over its competitors, it's probably better too in terms of usability thanks to TouchWiz. And the majestic Super AMOLED display is a great reason on its own to buy the Galaxy. Be warned though, you're unlikely to ever go back to LCD again. Meaning that at this point, the question to ask yourself is whether you're ready for a long-term affair with Samsung.

If you are looking for the ultimate Android device, there are very few things really to make you consider another handset.

One thing would be still imaging. If that matters more to you than video, have a look at the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10. It gives you an (almost) equally capable CPU, a tad higher screen resolution but runs Android 1.6 Donut, which - Froyo or not - looks downright outdated.

Mentioning Android 2.2, the Google Nexus One will certainly be one of the first devices to get it. Froyo brings a handful of new features and a vast performance improvement so it will put compatible devices to an obvious advantage.

HTC also confirmed that their latest smartphones will be getting the Android 2.2 treatment before the end of the year so the Sense UI-packing Desire is worth a second look, too.

To be honest though, the AMOLED displays of the Desire and the Nexus One are nowhere near the Galaxy S standard.

Then, there comes the Motorola MILESTONE for those that do need a full QWERTY keyboard. The MILESTONE will also be among the first Froyo adopters so it has quite a lot of potential. It doesn't obviously offer the same kind of processing power, nor a display that impressive.

All this raises the pricing issue. We have no idea what the Galaxy S will cost but Samsung's recent record does offer some reason to be cautiously optimistic. The price of the other Super AMOLED device, the Samsung S8500 Wave, is a good reference. So, if our intuition is right the Galaxy S will be a great deal. If we're wrong, the best screen in business will cost you dear. At least, it won't be a surprise.

So, while Samsung I9000 Galaxy S is coming to the market a bit late it hasn't been wasting its time. It certainly is the best Android package we've seen so far - a hearty Samsung welcome to all upgraders. We're not sure about Android newcomers, but anyone looking for the ultimate performance has almost no alternatives but the Galaxy S.

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Building The World's Largest BlackBerry! Tweet

Theres something HUGE happening in Paris until Saturday.!!

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Quick Look - LG Ally Android phone from Google I/O 2010 Tweet

The LG Ally was on hand at Google I/O 2010 to show off LG's chops in the Android space. It's an Android 2.1 OS phone with a 3.2-inch display, 3.2-megapixel camera, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. It supports both LG themed and standard Google Android homescreen themes.

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Microsoft Security Essentials Real Time to Full Protection Tweet

Increases performance by optimizing the Operating System is necessary for us to do. Recently, Microsoft offered to users of their products using the Microsoft Security Essentials are provided free. This Antivirus program promising performance of the operating system becomes more optimized, faster and lighter to use.

To install the Microsoft Security Essentials, Operating System you must use genuine Microsoft Operating System product. Before you install Microsoft Security Essentials should discard any of the Antivirus on your computer to avoid the crash so that the Microsoft Security Essentials will run optimally in your Operating System for scan Viruses or Spyware, and other malicious software.

For those of you who use Microsoft's Operating System should consider using Microsoft Security Essentials for protecting your computer from Viruses or Spyware, and other malicious software. I think only Microsoft Security Essentials is understood to keep their Operating System from Virus attacks, Spyware, and other malicious software. Microsoft Security Essentials for sure is lighter because of smaller file size when compared with other Antivirus programs.

Microsoft Security Essentials in real time to full protection for your computer. For those of you who want to use the Microsoft Security Essentials download at http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/, immediately replace Antivirus with the Microsoft Security Essentials to improve and optimize your performance when using a Microsoft Operating System.

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Samsung unit sees firm smartphone market Tweet

Global shipments of smartphones may grow 50 percent this year and drive explosive expansion in high-end OLED display sales over the next five years, a Samsung Mobile Display executive said on Thursday.

Technology

"Demand for high-end displays is very strong and we may continue to fail to meet all customer requirements, even after expanding capacity by seven-fold, until next year," Lee Woo-jong, vice president of marketing at Samsung Mobile Display, told the Reuters Global Technology Summit.

Reflecting strong demand for advanced displays, Samsung said early this week that it would invest 2.5 trillion won ($2.15 billion) by 2012 to build the world's largest production line of ultra-bright active-matric organic light-emitting diode (AM-OLED) screens.

Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile carrier, also said in the Reuters Summit that it was unable to keep up with strong demand for some smartphone models such as the Droid Incredible from HTC due in part to component shortages such as high-quality screens made by Samsung.

Samsung Mobile Display is an equal joint venture of Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDI and ranks as the world's largest display maker for mobile devices.

It is also the biggest maker of a next-generation ultra-bright AM-OLED display screen, which is increasingly used in high-end mobile devices as it is thinner, has better image quality and consumes less power than traditional LCD screens.

Lee forecast shipments of overall mobile devices such as handsets and digital media players to grow to around 2.1 billion and 2.2 billion units this year from 1.9 billion last year.

Of these, smartphone shipments would grow nearly 50 percent to 260 million units this year from 175 million last year.

"Strong growth of smartphones will drive robust expansion in the AM-OLED market, which we expect to grow by 30 times to 600 million units by 2015 when shipments of mobile devices are expected to grow to 2.6 billion units," Lee said.

But high price has kept it from becoming a mass-produced technology in the market dominated by cheaper LCD panels. OLED screens are making inroads into high-end mobile phones but the cost of applying the technology to PCs and TVs are still prohibitive.

Competition is also intensifying, with LG Display planning to invest 250 billion won this year to triple capacity of a line producing OLED displays.

"We welcome competition and the industry needs more major players to grow this market, which is likely to expand application segments to other areas such as tablet PCs and TVs eventually."

The OLED market grew 35 percent last year to a record $826 million and Samsung Mobile controlled 70 percent of the market with $566 million revenue, according to research firm DisplaySearch.

Lee said its AM-OLED operation was now trading above break-even point as strong sales have started offsetting years of massive investment.

Samsung Mobile Display competes with local rival LG Display, Japan's Sharp Corp and TDK Corp and Taiwan's AU Optronics.

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FTC Closes its Investigation of Google AdMob Deal Tweet

After Thorough Review, Agency Finds Transaction Not Likely to Harm Competition.

The Federal Trade Commission has closed its investigation of Google’s proposed acquisition of mobile advertising network company AdMob after thoroughly reviewing the deal and concluding that it is unlikely to harm competition in the emerging market for mobile advertising networks.

In a statement issued today, the Commission said that although the combination of the two leading mobile advertising networks raised serious antitrust issues, the agency’s concerns ultimately were overshadowed by recent developments in the market, most notably a move by Apple Computer Inc. – the maker of the iPhone – to launch its own, competing mobile ad network. In addition, a number of firms appear to be developing or acquiring smartphone platforms to better compete against Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android, and these firms would have a strong incentive to facilitate competition among mobile advertising networks.

“As a result of Apple’s entry (into the market), AdMob’s success to date on the iPhone platform is unlikely to be an accurate predictor of AdMob’s competitive significance going forward, whether AdMob is owned by Google or not,” the Commission’s statement explains.

The Commission stressed that mergers in fast-growing new markets like mobile advertising should get the same level of antitrust scrutiny as those in other markets. The statement goes on to note that, “Though we have determined not to take action today, the Commission will continue to monitor the mobile marketplace to ensure a competitive environment and to protect the interests of consumers.”

Mobile ad networks, such as those provided by Google and AdMob, sell advertising space for mobile publishers, who create applications and content for websites configured for mobile devices, primarily Apple’s iPhone and devices that run Google’s Android operating system. By “monetizing” mobile publishers’ content through the sale of advertising space, mobile ad networks play a vital role in fueling the rapid expansion of mobile applications and Internet content.

According to the FTC’s statement, evidence gathered by the agency raised important questions about the transaction. Google and AdMob have competed head-to-head for the past few years, with a notable increase in intensity during the past year. This competition has spurred innovation and allowed mobile publishers to keep a large share of the revenue generated from the sale of their ad space. The companies also have economies of scale that give them a major advantage over smaller rivals in the business, the statement says.

These concerns, however, were outweighed by recent evidence that Apple is poised to become a strong competitor in the mobile advertising market, the FTC’s statement says. Apple recently acquired Quattro Wireless and used it to launch its own iAd service. In addition, Apple can leverage its close relationships with application developers and users, its access to a large amount of proprietary user data, and its ownership of iPhone software development tools and control over the iPhone developers’ license agreement.

The Commission vote to close the investigation was 5-0.

Copies of the Commission’s statement can be found at www.ftc.gov. The FTC’s Bureau of Competition works with the Bureau of Economics to investigate alleged anticompetitive business practices and, when appropriate, recommends that the Commission take law enforcement action. To inform the Bureau about particular business practices, call 202-326-3300, send an e-mail to antitrust@ftc.gov, or write to the Office of Policy and Coordination, Room 383, Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W., Washington, DC 20580. To learn more about the Bureau of Competition, read “Competition Counts” at http://www.ftc.gov/competitioncounts.

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