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Posted on 06.26.08 by Nikhil @ 1:30 am
Remember the fanfare when Google announced that it was coming out with Android, its wireless OS? Well, maybe not so fast. It seem that Android’s system has been delayed and it could be year end or later before it actually comes out. As a result, T-Mobile USA reportedly won’t deliver its Android-powered phone until fourth quarter, Sprint and China Mobile will likely be delayed with their Android-powered phones until late 2008 or early 2009. The main point here is not so much thast its being delayed, but that Google didn’t realize just how tought the wireless business can be.As a journalist who covered many new, innovative companies for Forbes Magazine - during the early days of the Internet - I can tell you that so many aspiring companies came in to my office to tell me their big plans. And so many of them are no longer around today. Breaking into new businesses is tough.For Google, one of the big challenges is getting the OS to work across many different operating systems and handsets. Of course, Google isn’t some upstart company. But even big companies such as Disney, with Disney Mobile and ESPN with its Mobile ESPN ran into big problems. I wouldn’t underestimate Google yet - but I do think that the company didn’t quite realize the challenges it faced with it debuted Android. Filed under: Stock Watch and Applications and Infrastructure Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 11.27.07 by Nikhil @ 1:05 pm
Verizon Wireless (nyse: VZ), made an announcement this morning that could represent a turning point in wireless. The company said that starting at the end of 2008, it will allow its customers to use phones and software not sold by Verizon. Why would the company announce such a thing? Typically, the wireless carriers, concerned with protecting the value of their networks as well as the relationships they have with customers, have kept a tight control over the phones that they make available on their networks. Customers can only buy the phones made available by their carrier and they are restricted to the software loaded onto those phones. One reason: The fast growing wireless sector is being hit by new, innovative entrants. Google (nasdaq: GOOG), for instance, recently announced a plan to create an open platform for mobile phones. If Verizon did nothing, its business could, ultimately, be severely hampered. But Verizon is an astute company and is keenly aware of the market in which it operates and the threats that stand to attack its business plan. So Verizon has made a bold move and now says it will make its technical standards available to developers in the first part of 2008 and then open up its network at the end of the year so that consumers can buy phones and use software that is compatible with the network. To put this a bit more in perspective, all wireless carriers have recently been under pressure to open up their networks from regulators as well as from new competitors such as Google. But besides the pressure to open up networks, the move is also a good way for Verizon to increase traffic over its network. Increasingly, there are more devices that are being sold that are wirelessly enabled — from Internet tablets to digital cameras. Many of these are products that Verizon doesn’t now sell and could provide substantial revenues in the future. Another good reason for opening up its networks: If Verizon can get more software developers to create for it’s networks, that means that it can also sell more data plans – which is where wireless companies will ultimately be generating most of their revenues. Good news for Verizon. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and News Comments: None |
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Posted on 02.07.07 by Nikhil @ 4:12 pm
Many investors fear Novatel Wireless. The company, which was supposed to ride the wireless broadband wave in 2006, instead ran into a number of problems. Its shares fell about 19% in 2006, hitting a low of $8.14 in November. But there is good news. The company is riding the demand for increased broadband wireless services; its developing new applications business is turning around; and the stock is beginning to rebound as well. I believe that this year, demand for Novatel’s products will grow and investors will be rewarded. To put Novatel’s (nasdaq: NVTL - news - people ) rebound into some perspective, let me quickly explain what happened over the past two years. No question, Novatel went through a difficult time in 2005 and early 2006. The company, which makes wireless PC card modems, reported disappointing earnings for the fourth quarter of 2005. Even so, the company ramped up its R&D spending to develop several technologies that would one day be embedded into laptops to provide high-speed connectivity rather than relying on add-on PC cards. Novatel took a charge of $2.3 million to write down its inventory of old 2.5G data cards. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 11.22.06 by Nikhil @ 1:08 pm
Fujitsu wants to get back into the wireless race in North America by being a major U.S. player in the race to build high speed wireless broadband WiMax networks. The Japanese company, which is a big manufacturer of cell phones and infrastructure equipment such as base stations, once developed analog handsets for the North American market only to sell out of that business about 12 years ago. The company felt that the U.S. market was highly competitive and that margins on cell phones were too low. Better to focus its efforts where it had the best relationships: in Asia, where it had strong partnerships with carriers such as Japan’s NTT DoCoMo (nyse: DCM - news - people ) cand KDDI. But now, Fujitsu wants back into the North American wireless market, and James Hintze, a senior vice president at Fujitsu Network Communications, says that WiMax technology will be the company’s ticket. WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a high capacity IP-based technology that can be deployed as a new network or as an overlay to existing 2G and 3G wireless technologies. It promises to be the fastest network yet, providing fixed and mobile broadband service and can deliver up to 40 megabits per second per channel up to 30 miles away from a base station. That’s enough bandwidth to support hundreds of business with T-1 speed connectivity and thousands of residences with DSL speed connectivity. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 10.19.06 by Nikhil @ 4:05 pm
For wireless carriers, business is becoming increasingly complex. In addition to handling voice calls, the carriers are now faced with distributing games, ringtones and multimedia messaging. Even television is on its way. But one problem that the carriers still haven’t figured out is how to make sending and receiving e-mails from a cellphone easy. Now, there is a little-known company, Huntington Beach, Calif.-based Voice Genesis, that has come up with a product it calls Vemail. It could be the answer. WiMax is coming, and 3G networks are already being rolled out. Are you profiting from wireless broadband? Click here for analysis on undervalued wireless companies set to soar. Vemail, which is based on Qualcomm’s BREW platform, is currently used by 28 carriers in 50 million mobile phones, and it is remarkably simple. The idea is fast message review. E-mails come in and you read them. To respond quickly, you speak the response instead of trying to type a response using the tiny keys on a mobile phone. The system then records your voice and sends an e-mail to the recipient with a hyperlink. The recipient clicks on the hyperlink and hears the recording of your message. Please click here to read the rest of the story at Forbes.com Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Cutting Edge Comments: Comments Off |
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Posted on 10.13.06 by Nikhil @ 4:26 pm
Qualcomm got a boost recently. The FCC had ruled that Qualcomm could not deploy its MediaFlo service (which allows broadcast quality TV on your cell phone) on Channel 55 in some areas because of potential interference with broadcasters that operate on Channel 54 and 56. This was a blow to Qualcomm, which owns the 700 Mhz band inteded for mobile TV use. Qualcomm filed a petition with the FCC to allow relief from certain interference protection rules. The FCC responded by specifying the permitted level of minimal interference. It also expalined how interference would be calculate from MediaFlo to televsion and DTV stations. This new ruling will hold until DTV transition ends on February 17, 2009–when the stations must move off those channels. You can get more details on this at Qualcomm’s site. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
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Posted on 10.10.06 by Nikhil @ 1:51 pm
T-Mobile just announced today that, yes, it has a 3G Wireless strategy! The company, which has been often criticized for lacking enough spectrum to keep up with competitors,said that it will spend $2.6 billion over the next three years to build a UMTS/HSDPA network. But don’t expect TV on your cellphone anytime soon, at least with T-Mobile. The company’s USA CEO Robert Dotson says that the first priorities are to applications already being used such as email. The company also said that infrastructure and handset vendors have already been picked for T-Mobile USA’s 3G network rollout. expect to see this network launched in the middle of next year. Visit WirelessWeek for more info. Filed under: Applications and Infrastructure and News Comments: None |
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Posted on 10.10.06 by Nikhil @ 1:45 pm
According to Gartner Group, Motorola is still making headway, snagging market share away from competitor Nokia. According to the company, Motorola increased its market share in the mobile-phone market in the second quarter to 22%. Nokia, still the top dog, has 33% of the market. Motorola sold 50 million handsets globally during the quarter, compared with the 77 million that Nokia shipped. For more details, Click Here for an article in the Register. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.28.06 by Nikhil @ 5:57 pm
Shares of Novatel Wireless (NVTL) fell more than 18% last week. The reason: Nokia (NOK) and Intel (INTC) announced that the two companies would work together to make notebook computers able to access cellular networks through high speed downlink packet access technology (HSDPA). The idea is to have product out in 2007. Nokia plans to make the cellular module while Intel would embed the module into a platform and handle sales and marketing to notebook vendors. Shares of Novatel were hit hard because Novatel dominates the sale of embedded wide area wireless modems. These are the radios that go inside a laptop, such as one from Dell, that are then activated by a wireless carrier, such as Verizon or Cingular, for use on their high speed data network. For Novatel, this is a growing part of its business. Of course, when you have a big opportunity like this and you hear that not just one Goliath, but two are coming into your turf, it’s not good news. It means that Novatel will now have a new competitor in the marketplace – one that could be very tough. Besides that, Intel was not considered a real threat, prior to this announcement. After all, in June Intel took steps to reduce its exposure to wireless, selling some of its wireless business to Marvell Technology Group (MRVL). Now, Intel is coming back strong with Nokia. Let me say, however, that right now, all this is nothing more than announcements. Intel and Nokia have not announced any particular product yet and obviously have no customers. They have just stated their intent. Shares of NVTL have fallen because investors are discounting the stock for a less competitive environment. This may, however, not be all bad news. With Intel now entering this market for wireless laptops, can Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) be far behind? If so, from where will AMD get its radios? It could be from a number of companies including Novatel or from others such as Sierra Wireless (SWIR) or Motorola (MOT). Enabling wireless laptops promises to be a big business worth half a billion dollars or more. I believe there will be room for many players. I’ll continue to watch this company and update readers of Forbes Wireless Stock Watch. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and Components and Cutting Edge Comments: None |
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Posted on 09.19.06 by Nikhil @ 2:23 pm
Today, Motorola announced that it will acquire Symbol Technologies in an all cash deal for $15 per share - or $3.9 billion. You may wonder why Motorola would want anything to do with this maker of bar code scanners. The company, after all, has been less than a star performer over the past few years and its business has lost ground to more nimble competitors. But Motorola sees a silver lining: A way to boost its own business in the enterprise with Symbol’s radio frequency indentification technologies (RFID used in bar code scanners) as well as its mobile software aimed at businesses. Its a big market and as more companies turn to wireless technologies to boost producitivity of their employees, Motorola can make inroads into warehousing companies and manufacturing companies that need the technology to track inventory. The acquisition, of course, must receive regulatory approval. If all goes through, the deal will be finalized at the end of this year, or in the early part of 2007. Shares of Motorola (MOT) are off a little on the news, but shares of Symbol Technologies (SBL) soared 15% on Monday over speculation about the acquisition. Filed under: Stock Watch and Infrastructure and News Comments: None |
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