Mobile/Insights/2011 Week25
In competitor news, Dolphin released the beta of Dolphin HD 6.0 and Microsoft launched a mobile demos website.
The next Nexus device, featuring Ice Cream Sandwhich, expected this fall with an up to 1.5 GHz dual-core CPU and 1 GB RAM.
Nokia has announced the Nokia N9, its MeeGo device, days before a video of Stephen Elop presenting its Q4 upcoming WP7 device was leaked.
SE Asia continues to grow in the mobile area and it is expected to maintain long-term high growth patterns
RIM is facing loses in marketshare and sales, while HP is releasing the Touch Pad tablet, welcomed with reserved reviews
The next Nexus device featuring Ice Cream Sandwich is rumoured to be released this fall. Specifications include a dual-core 1.2GHz to 1.5GHz dual-core processor probably the OMAP 4460 from Texas Instruments or a new Qualcomm Snapdragon chip and 1 GB of RAM. The next version of Android will merge the phone and tablet branches of the OS and will feature deeper NFC integration and a more advanced motion detector. The OEM is still unknown. Read more
After the release of Dolphin HD 5.0 three weeks ago and of 5.1 10 days ago, the beta of Dolphin HD 6.0 was released on the Android Market as an alternative package of the app. The new version introduces a Webzine feature, a new home page design and bug fixes. Read more
Microsoft has launched a mobile demo website with the tagline: "explore a more beautiful mobile".
Demos include:
- audio player
- geolocation
- border radius
- DOM Local Storage
- SVG
- CSS3 Media Queries
- DOMContentLoaded
- performance tests: the IE Fish Tank (of course) and others
- graphics demos
- Browser Control Theming
They will be adding more demos as the Windows Phone 7 "Mango" release approaches. Read more
SE Asia is a key area in the mobile landscape which is continuing its growth and shows that it will be a important area in the long-term. Mobile phone shipments are growing at a 19% rate, with growth going to up to 39% year-on-year by 2015, according to a report by Canalys. Local factors such as growing economies, expansion of 3G networks, strong social media usage and demand for mobility products are fueling the growth. Read more
A video of Stephen Elop, Nokia's CEO, presenting the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 device has been leaked. The phone will look very similar to the N9, it will be running Mango and it is code-named SeaRay. Talking points and promoted features include:
- a "people-centric" smartphone
- face-recognition software
- XBOX Live integration
- Microsoft Office
- SkyDrive
- Windows Marketplace as the app store
- the IE9 browser which is exactly like the one on PCs and it is HTML5 capable
- multi-tasking
- Nokia navigation applications
The first Nokia Meego device has been announced: the Nokia N9. It will begin selling within a week first targetting 6 European markets. The phone has a 3.9 inch touch screen, a 1 GHz Tl OMAP 3630 processor. The built-in browser is based on Webkit. It comes with an NFC chip. The Nokia N950 is the developer version. While the reviewers are impressed by what the phone brings to the market, they are aware that MeeGo will not be a platform with a long life, as the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 devices are still on track for Q4 of 2011. Read More
Nokia has also announced that for its Symbian platform it will release 10 more devices and it continues to develop its newest iteration of the OS, code-named Anna. The administration and licensing of the Symbian platform have been out-sourced to third-parties, respectively Accenture and Digia. Read more
RIM, the producer of Blackberry phones, has issued a profit warning among declines in sales and loses in stock prices. Analysts are pessimistic about the company's future saying that its survival will require a reform of its products to be able to compete with the innovation that is happening in the market. Blackberry's market share has been falling gradually with an average of 1 point per quarter, but the company had still been making profits and growing shipment numbers until this quarter. Read more
The first WebOs tablet, the HP TouchPad will launch next week. Reviewers have already tested it they predict that because the tablet does not have any major differentiators from the iPad it is not likely to be a popular device. Read more
