Wireless woes for NBN Co
THE growing number of households ditching their landline in favour of wireless services could threaten the government’s high-speed internet plan, a new report has found.
For taxpayers to recoup their $27 billion investment in the national broadband network, the government is betting at least 70 per cent of households will have signed up by 2025.
It is also assuming the share of homes who use only mobile phone and internet services – typically renters and share households – will increase slightly from 13 per cent today to 16.3 per cent in 2025.
But an independent review by the advisory firm Greenhill Caliburn has told Canberra to keep a close eye on those mobile-only households that are shunning fixed-line connections.
The review was commissioned by the government to assess the corporate plan for the NBN Co. An executive summary was published yesterday.
While the review said NBN Co’s corporate plan and its assumptions were ”reasonable”, it also said competition from wireless technology was a ”key risk” to the revenue raised by the NBN Co.
Amid predictions of ballooning use of mobile devices such as iPads, it said trends towards ”mobile-centric” broadband networks could affect the number of people who connected to the network.
In comments pounced on by critics of the network, the review said ”some consumers may be willing to sacrifice higher-speed fibre transmissions for the convenience of mobile platforms”.
The opposition communications spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, said this exposed serious risks to NBN’s economic viability.
He also said the review did not address whether taxpayers were getting their money’s worth through the project. ”This report, like the other multimillion-dollar consultants’ reports the government has commissioned, fails to address the single most important issue – what is the most cost-effective way to ensure that all Australians have access to high speed and affordable broadband?” Mr Turnbull said.
But the Minister for Broadband, Stephen Conroy, said the government would make sure NBN Co was hitting a range of performance targets as it was rolled out.
”The government will work closely with NBN Co to put in place agreed performance indicators to track its performance and adjust strategies or operations as needed.”
Information Source smh.com.au
Google says ‘I do’ to wedding planning
Google is getting into wedding planning.
The internet search giant launched a new site, google.com/weddings, this week offering its free tools and products to couples preparing to tie the knot.
Google Sites allows a couple to create a website featuring information about the bride and groom, the ceremony, directions, nearby hotels, an RSVP list and a gift registry.
Google Docs offers wedding planning tools including a guest list, seating chart, reception menu, budget planner and more.
Photographs can be saved and shared online using Picasa.
Google said it had enlisted a wedding planner to help design the new site.
Microsoft to pay Nokia ‘billions’ to ditch its mobile operating system
Nokia will get billions of dollars from Microsoft to ditch its current smartphone software in favour of Windows Phone 7, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said, in a defence of the deal.
Nokia, the world’s largest maker of phones, and Microsoft announced their alliance late last week. Both investors and employees reacted with dismay: Nokia’s stock dived 14 per cent and Finnish employees used flex time to go home early.
Today, a day ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress mobile phone trade show in Barcelona, Elop told press, analysts and industry players that apart from the benefits of the alliance that were laid out late last week, Microsoft is paying Nokia billions of dollars to switch to Windows Phone 7.
“This is something I don’t think was completely explained,” Elop said.
Elop, a former Microsoft executive, said Finland-based Nokia had been courted by Google as well, which sought to convince it to use its popular Android software for smart phones. Microsoft’s payments are recognition that Nokia had “substantial value to contribute”, said Elop.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7 last year, on phones made by LG Electronics and HTC, but has only captured a few percentage points of the smartphone market, according to analysts.
Nokia’s worldwide market share in smartphones was just over 30 per cent in last year’s fourth quarter, down from 40 per cent a year earlier. Those phones use Symbian, a relatively old software package that wasn’t designed to be used with touchscreens.
Money and in-kind contributions will flow both ways in the deal, Elop reiterated. Nokia will be contributing its Ovi mapping service and will be paying Microsoft royalties for the use of its software, as other manufacturers do. It will save money by not continuing development of its own software. The net benefit is still in the billions, he said.
Analysts believe Google pays manufacturers to use Android, but no figures have come to light.
Elop was hired in September to shake things up at Nokia, but he may face an uphill battle in getting employees on board. At the Barcelona event, Elop was asked whether he’s a “Trojan horse” – a Microsoft insider who’s penetrated Nokia and steered it in a direction favorable to Microsoft.
“The obvious answer is ‘No’,” Elop said. “Thanks for asking.”
He said the decision to go with Windows Phone was unanimous in Nokia’s senior management team. Nokia’s board approved the deal a day ahead of the announcement in London.
Adding Nokia’s market share to that of existing Android phones would have left the world with only two real players in smartphone software, Elop said. He didn’t mention the iPhone, but it’s the other dominant force in smartphones. A duopoly would have big ramifications for everyone, he said.
“A decision to go with Windows Phone creates a very different dynamic,” Elop said. “It’s an environment where now, Windows Phone is a challenger.”
Microsoft has made smartphone software for more than a decade. Windows Phone 7 is an attempt to make a clean break with the past, and create an operating system designed for big iPhone-style touch screens.
Information Source smh.com.au
Apple to launch smaller iPhone
Apple is working on new versions of the iPhone that are aimed at slowing the advance of competing handsets based on Google’s Android software, according to people who have been briefed on the plans.
One version would be cheaper and smaller than the most recent iPhone, said a person who has seen a prototype and asked not to be identified because the plans haven’t been made public. Apple also is developing technology that makes it easier to use the iPhone on multiple wireless networks, two people said.
Chief executive officer Steve Jobs, who remains involved in strategic decisions while on medical leave, aims to narrow the price gap that has made phones running Android more popular than iPhones. Google’s share of the global smartphone market more than tripled to 32.9 per cent in the fourth quarter, eclipsing Apple’s 16 per cent, according to Canalys.
Apple has considered selling the new iPhone for about $US200 in the US, without obligating users to sign a two-year service contract, said the person who has seen it. Android phones sell for a range of prices at AT&T, Verizon Wireless and other US carriers, and typically come with agreements that include a fee for broken contracts. The iPhone 4, sold in the U.S. by AT&T and Verizon Wireless, costs $US200 to $US300 with a contract.
Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment.
While Apple has aimed to unveil the device near mid-year, the introduction may be delayed or scrapped, the person said. Few Apple employees know the details of the project, the person said. Apple often works on products that don’t get released.
The prototype was about one-third smaller than the iPhone 4, said the person, who saw it last year.
Apple can sell it at a low price mainly because the smartphone will use a processor, display and other components similar to those used in the current model, rather than pricier, more advanced parts that will be in the next iPhone, the person said. Component prices typically drop over time.
Apple is also working on a so-called dual-mode phone, two people said. This device would be able to work with the world’s two main wireless standards – the global system for mobile communications, used by AT&T and carriers such as Vodafone, and code division multiple access, used by Verizon Wireless. It isn’t known whether Apple intended to include this capability in the cheaper iPhone.
Universal SIM
Apple is working on a technology called a Universal SIM, which would let iPhone users toggle between GSM networks without having to switch the so-called SIM cards that associate a phone with a network, according to one person. This would help cut the cost of distributing and managing millions of SIM cards.
The new features could also give Apple an advantage over mobile carriers in influencing customers. The device would be affordable without a carrier subsidy, so buyers wouldn’t need to agree to terms, such as termination fees, that carriers demand in exchange for subsidising the cost of the phone.
Apple has also worked on redesigned iPhone software that would let customers choose a network and configure their device on their own, without relying on a store clerk or representative of a carrier, according to the person.
Information Source smh.com.au
HP hits tablet market with TouchPad
US computer powerhouse Hewlett-Packard has unveiled a TouchPad tablet computer as its entry in a booming market dominated by Apple’s iPad.
HP senior vice president Jon Rubinstein, who was part of the Apple team that brought the world the iPod, unveiled the TouchPad to applause in a pavilion on the San Francisco shoreline within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge.
“TouchPad is more than just a pretty face,” Rubinstein said as he caressed one on stage. “The TouchPad is all about you; how you work, play, and connect with the things you value most.”
TouchPad will be the first tablet in a family of products based on a webOS software platform Palm began building from the ground up about five years ago.
HP last year bought Palm in a $US1.2-billion deal in what analysts believe was a move to get its hands on the platform that could make it a player in the fast-growing market for smartphones and tablet computers.
“No one has come close to replicating our webOS experience,” said Rubinstein, who was chief executive of Palm when it was acquired by HP.
TouchPad weighs about 1.5 pounds (0.7 kilograms) and has a 9.7-inch (24.6 centimeter) display – the same weight and screen size as the iPad.
The tablet is built with a Qualcomm processor that is “screaming fast”, according to Rubinstein. HP did not disclose the price.
TouchPad software is crafted for easy multi-tasking and supports Adobe Flash software commonly used in online video. The tablet also features a camera for video calling.
“This product has a chance to beat RIM (BlackBerry maker Research In Motion) and any individual Android tablet, but not Apple,” Forrester Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps said of the TouchPad.
“Consumers will consider the TouchPad, and then buy an iPad.”
The TouchPad is likely to win over application developers because it should be relatively easy to convert software crafted for iPads and HP will allow freedom when it comes to making money from “apps”, the analyst added.
Forrester predicted that more than 24 million tablets, most of them iPads, will be sold in the United States this year.
HP plans to use its global resources to back the TouchPad along with an entire webOS “ecosystem” consisting of two new smartphones and a line of personal computers built on the platform.
The California-based computer titan is putting “meaningful talent and significant resources” into webOS, according to Todd Bradley, executive vice president of the personal systems group at HP.
Information Source smh.com.au
