HTC’s Paul Ghent leaves manufacturer to join Palm January 22, 2009
Posted by aikservices in Apple, BlackBerry, HTC, Mobile, Nokia, Palm, Telecom, Wireless.Tags: Apple, BlackBerry, HTC, Mobile, Nokia, Palm, Telecom, Wireless
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HTC’s executive director for Europe, Paul Ghent, has left the company to join Palm as sales vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. It comes as Palm launched its ‘Pre’ smartphone in a bid to take on Apple, HTC, BlackBerry and Nokia in the consumer smartphone market. Palm has been hatching plans to move beyond its ‘techy’ handheld IT professional devices with a consumer push in recent months.No permanent replacement for Ghent has been announced yet, but HTC’s Dave Catt will take on Ghent’s duties in the short term.Ghent was responsible for bringing HTC into the consumer market last year with devices like the Touch and Touch Diamond, as well as signing a deal with Brightpoint UK as an exclusive UK distributor.
HTC’s share of the global market doubled in 2008, after the manufacturer made the decision to move beyond making white label devices under operator brands to branching out with products under its own marque.The Pre is a touch-screen device with GPS, Wi-Fi and a slide-out full keyboard. No UK release date has yet been set.
US Patent Firms Seeks Ban on Imports of Nokia, HTC Mobile Phones January 20, 2009
Posted by aikservices in AMD, HTC, Mobile, Nokia, Palm, Panasonic, RIM, Telecom, USA, Wireless.Tags: AMD, HTC, Mobile, Nokia, Palm, Panasonic, RIM, Telecom, USA, Wireless
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Following a complaint late last year by patent holdings firm, Saxon Innovations, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has voted to institute an investigation of certain electronic devices, including handheld wireless communications devices. The products at issue in this investigation are handheld devices such as smart phones, cellular telephones, and television remote controls.
The ITC has named Nokia, RIM, HTC, Palm, Panasonic and AVC Networks as affected by the investigation – which has the power to block the imports of products made by these firms.The Saxon Innovations patent portfolio is comprised of over 180 US patents covering technology that originated from AMD and its spin off Legerity.
Apple iPhone Users Download 300 Million Apps December 8, 2008
Posted by aikservices in Apple, BlackBerry, CDMA, GSM, iPhone, Microsoft, Mobile, Palm, Research In Motion, RIM, Smartphone, Telecom, Wireless.Tags: Apple, BlackBerry, Microsoft, Mobile, Palm, Research In Motion, RIM, Smartphone, Telecom, Wireless
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Apple iPhone owners have downloaded 300 million applications through the App Store. The news came in the fine print of an advertisement in Friday’s edition of The New York Times.
What’s more, iPhone owners appear to have downloaded a whopping 100 million apps in the last six weeks alone, based on previous Apple disclosures.
To put the phenomenon into perspective, the App Store launched on July 11. By early September, Apple was boasting about its progress: 100 million downloads.
Apple launched its App Store with more than 3,000 applications — more than 90 percent priced at less than $10 and more than 600 offered for free. That number has since swelled to more than 10,000 applications, and numbers are growing as developers embrace the opportunity.
“This milestone demonstrates both Apple’s strengths and prominence in this space as a newcomer,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy for Jupitermedia. “It wasn’t that long ago when the CEO of Microsoft and the CEO of Palm were basically dismissing Apple’s efforts in mobile, talking about how difficult it is for a new entrant into the space.”
A Blockbuster App Store
The App Store’s applications can take advantage of the iPhone’s large display, multi-touch user interface, hardware-accelerated 3-D graphics, built-in accelerometer, and location-based technology.
Earlier this week, for example, Amazon released an application that lets users tap into its shopping features through the iPhone. But games and music topped the iPhone’s list of most popular applications.
“Apple has really turned the App Store quickly into an extremely viable and popular platform to developers. When Apple announced the first 100 million downloads, developers noticed,” Gartenberg said. “And there are something like 10,000 applications in the store right now, which is huge for a platform that’s been on the market and generally available for just a few months.”
Competitors Copycat
So popular is the iPhone App Store that Research In Motion is coming online with its own store. RIM in October announced the new store and a new on-device application center that opens up the BlackBerry’s millions of users to developers vying for an audience.
RIM said it plans to launch the BlackBerry application store next March, giving its users a one-stop shop for compatible applications and a user-friendly way to manage upgrades and purchases.
RIM said the introduction of more consumer-friendly features in BlackBerry smartphones has sparked interest from the general public. As a result, thousands of consumer and lifestyle-oriented applications for BlackBerry smartphones are now available.
Will Apple’s and RIM’s app stores duke it out? Analysts expect RIM to pick up its fair share of developers. Apple’s success with the iPhone and the subsequent App Store demonstrates the velocity of mobile and how quickly things change in this arena.
“When you’ve got the right technology, the right messaging, the right marketing, and the right product coming together at the right time, you can do a lot,” Gartenberg concluded.
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