KARBONN MOBILES SIGNS LONG- TERM SPONSORSHIP DEAL WITH IPL

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, MARCH 09 :
THE Indian Premier League (IPL) today announced that Karbonn Mobiles, a company that redefines mobility with its wide range of attractively priced multimedia phones, has signed long- term sponsorship deals for a host of IPL properties.

As part of these sponsorships Karbonn Mobile will be the league’s ‘Official Partner Mobile Phone’ and the title sponsor of the new and exciting property Karbonn Mobiles “IPL Nights”, which will be aired as the after parties’ hosted by the IPL post the matches on MTV.

The company's association with game of cricket has been synonymous since its launch last year when the mobile handset manufacturer sponsored the visiting Cape Cobras and was the associate sponsor for the Diamond Eagles during the Champions League Twenty20. More recently, Karbonn Mobiles was Title Sponsor for the five-match ODI series between India and Sri Lanka in December 2009.

Lalit Modi, Chairman and Commissioner, Indian Premier League said, “It is indeed a pleasure to partner with Karbonn Mobiles, which has emerged as one of the fastest growing mobile brand in the country. I am certain the company’s association with the IPL as its Official Partner Mobile Phone and the title sponsor for “IPL Nights” with MTV will prove to be a mutually beneficial partnership. Through Karbonn’s IPL Nights we will deliver on our promise of extending the IPL franchise beyond cricket, with the introduction of a unique proposition to create an unprecedented genre of cricketainment.”

Karbonn Mobiles is a joint venture between Delhi-based Jaina Group and Bangalore-based UTL Group. Sudhir Hasija, Chairman, Karbonn Mobiles commented, “Karbonn Mobiles is extremely proud to be associated as an Official Partner Mobile Phone of the IPL and a Title Sponsor for the IPL Nights – after parties."

"We believe this partnership shares many common ideals, including those of continual innovation to introduce new and innovative products to a broad consumer audience. Cricket is a religion in our country and is perhaps the most deep rooted sport in the Indian psyche, and hence, associating with the world’s hottest sports league was an easy decision," he added.

Pradeep Jain, Managing Director, Karbonn Mobiles, said, “Karbonn Mobiles is extremely proud to be associated with the IPL. Our partnership with IPL is one of the largest sponsorship deals signed by an Indian mobile phone brand. We feel that it’s a great platform to capitalize on the mass visibility and through this association we aim to leverage the Karbonn Mobiles brand. Going forward as a brand we will explore more such brand properties to further strengthen the brand.”

Catch the Pink - Karbonn Breast Cancer Initiative: Karbonn Mobiles will also donate Rs. 25,000 per match to the Indian Cancer Society Delhi as part of a special initiative.

Three IPL fans will be randomly selected from amongst the crowd in the stadium on match day to come onto the field during the mid-innings break and will get the opportunity to test their catching skills with the MCC’s pink balls. For each catch, Karbonn Mobiles will donate the sum of Rs. 25,000 to the Indian Cancer Society Delhi.

Karbonn Mobiles has earmarked an investment of Rs. 200 crores for the current fiscal for product development, marketing & sales operations in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal while it aims to foray into new and emerging markets of Middle East and Africa within the first quarter of 2010 – 11 financial year.

This is huge investments by any indigenous entity in India within the span of a year of operations in the mobile phones segment. The company is aiming to double its revenues in excess of Rs. 2400 crore from its operations in the current financial year.(editor@thesynergyonline.com)

TOUCHSCREEN MOBLE DEVICE SALES WILL GOW 97% IN 2010

Thesynergyonline Communications Bureau

NEW DELHI, MARCH 06 :
THE worldwide market for touchscreen mobile devices will surpass 362.7 million units in 2010, a 96.8 percent increase from 2009 sales of 184.3 million units, according to Gartner, Inc. By 2013, touchscreen mobile devices will account for 58 percent of all mobile device sales worldwide and more than 80 percent in developed markets such as North America and Western Europe.

"Touchscreens are no longer the preserve of high-end devices and are now being included in many midrange phones as more companies have been driving the consumer market for affordable touchscreen phones," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner. "As phone capabilities increase, consumers are becoming much more aware of the benefits of touch interfaces, and vendors are responding."

With mobile phone vendors now focused on integrating touch technologies, many are now going a step further and beginning to deliver user interfaces (UIs) that are truly optimized for touch input. They are also increasing their software skills to deliver deeper integration of touch UIs with the underlying platform, rather than software overlays.

Ms. Cozza said that the success of the iPhone has shown the viability of capacitive touch technology in mobile phones, which enables more-natural, responsive and intuitive gestures. Gartner predicts that capacitive and resistive touchscreens will coexist in the short term in mobile phones. Capacitive touch will be the mainstream technology; however, resistive touchscreens will still be around because of its lower cost.

"As we saw at Mobile World Congress touch interface technology will continue to be one of the key areas of innovation during 2010," said Ms. Cozza. "Vendor and industry focus on touch UI will bring increasing sophistication and spur adoption of touch UI in other consumer electronics devices."

However, vendors need to concentrate on delivering an experience rather than just a product. "Consumers won't buy a mobile device purely for the touch UI," said CK Lu, research analyst at Gartner. Touch technology is just an enabler, and ultimately, it is a compelling user experience — which includes good UI design, applications and services — that will make or break a product."

Mr. Lu advised vendors to invest in expanding their UI design capabilities and ensure that designs for touch-driven UIs integrate closely with the underlying device software, allowing for an uninterrupted experience. He also said that vendors should consider integrating touch with other form factors, such as numeric or QWERTY keypads, because touch UI cannot fulfill all kinds of operations.

From a sales volume perspective, Asia/Pacific is the leading region for touchscreen mobile devices. In 2010, touchscreen mobile device sales in Asia/Pacific are projected to surpass 129.1 million units, accounting for 35.6 percent of the global market. By comparison, Western Europe and North America are expected to account for 26.8 percent and 24.4 percent of global touchscreen mobile device sales.

Looking at penetration of touch devices as part of overall sales in their regions, however, Western Europe leads the way with 49 percent, followed by North America at 46.65 percent. Due to the much larger size of the overall market, touchscreen sales will account for just 23.4 percent of total mobile device sales in Asia/Pacific. 

“The Asia/Pacific region adapted touch very early since handwriting is great for Chinese input,” Mr. Lu said. “Looking at worldwide performance, touch technology is mainly driven by high end smartphones and feature phones. However, in Asia, the percentage of smartphones are relatively low compared to their sales in Western Europe and the U.S. Although the touch experience is generally welcome by users, price remains an inhibitor for wide adoption of touch phones, particularly in emerging markets.” (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

WORLWIDE MOBILE SALES TO END-USERS GREW TO 8% IN Q4 FY09

Thesynergyonline Communications Bureau

NEW DELHI, India, FEB 23 :
WORLDWIDE mobile phone sales to end- users totalled 1.211 billion units in 2009, a 0.9 per cent decline from 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. In the fourth quarter of 2009, the market registered a single-digit growth as mobile phone sales to end- users surpassed 340 million units, an 8.3 per cent increase from the fourth quarter of 2008.

"The mobile devices market finished on a very positive note, driven by growth in smartphones and low-end devices," said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner. ”Smartphone sales to end users continued their strong growth in the fourth quarter of 2009, totalling 53.8 million units, up 41.1 per cent from the same period in 2008. In 2009, smartphone sales reached 172.4 million units, a 23.8 per cent increase from 2008. In 2009, smartphone-focused vendors like Apple and Research In Motion (RIM) successfully captured market share from other larger device producers, controlling 14.4 and 19.9 per cent of the worldwide smartphone market, respectively.”

Throughout 2009, intense price competition put pressure on average selling prices (ASPs). The major handset producers had to respond more aggressively in markets such as China and India to compete with white-box producers, while in mature markets they competed hard with each other for market share. Gartner expects the better economic environment and the changing mix of sales to stabilise ASPs in 2010.

Three of the top five mobile phone vendors experienced a decline in sales in 2009 (see Table 1). The top five vendors continued to lose market share to Apple and other vendors, with their combined share dropping from 79.7 in 2008 to 75.3 per cent in 2009.

In 2009, Nokia's annual mobile phone sales to end users reached 441 million units, a 2.2 per cent drop in market share from 2008. Although Nokia outperformed industry expectations in sales and revenue in the fourth quarter of 2009, its declining smartphone ASP showed that it continues to face challenges from other smartphone vendors. "Nokia will face a tough first half of 2010 as improvement to Symbian and new products based on the Meego platform will not reach the market well before the second half of 2010," said Ms Milanesi. "Its very strong mid-tier portfolio will help it hold market share, but its ongoing weakness at the high end of the portfolio will hurt its share of market value."

Samsung was the clear winner among the top five with market share growing by 3.2 percentage points from 2008. This achievement came as a result of improved channel relationships with distributors to extend its reach and better address the needs of individual markets as well as a rich mid-tier portfolio. For 2010, the company is putting a focus on Bada, its new operating system (OS) that aims at adding the value of an ecosystem to its successful hardware lineup.

Motorola sold slightly more than half of its 2008 sales and exhibited the sharpest drop in market share, accounting for 4.8 per cent market share in 2009. "Its refocus away from the low-end market limited the volume opportunity, but should help it drive margins going forward. Motorola's hardest barrier is to grow brand awareness outside the North American market, where it benefits from a long-lasting relationship with key communications service providers (CSPs).

In the smartphone OS market, Symbian continued its lead, but its share dropped 5.4 percentage points in 2009 (see Table 2). Competitive pressure from its competitors, such as RIM and Apple, and the continued weakness of Nokia's high-end device sales have negatively impacted Symbian's share.

At Mobile World Congress 2010, Symbian Foundation announced its first release since Symbian became fully open source. Symbian^3 should be made available by the end of the first quarter of 2010 and may reach the first devices by the third quarter of 2010, while Symbian^4 should be released by the end of 2010.

"Symbian had become uncompetitive in recent years, but its market share, particularly on Nokia devices, is still strong. If Symbian can use this momentum, it could return to positive growth," said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.

The two best performers in 2009 were Android and Apple. Android increased its market share by 3.5 percentage points in 2009, while Apple's share grew by 6.2 percentage points from 2008, which helped it move to the No. 3 position and displace Microsoft Windows Mobile.

“Android's success experienced in the fourth quarter of 2009 should continue into 2010 as more manufacturers launch Android products, but some CSPs and manufacturers have expressed growing concern about Google's intentions in the mobile market,” Ms Cozza said. “If such concerns cause manufacturers to change their product strategies or CSPs to change which devices they stock, this might hinder Android's growth in 2010.”

"Looking back at the announcements during Mobile World Congress 2010, we can expect 2010 to retain a strong focus around operating systems, services and applications while hardware takes a back seat," said Ms Milanesi. "Sales will return to low-double-digit growth, but the competition will continue to put a strain on vendors' margins." (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

NEED FOR OPTIMISNG PRODUCTIVITY , PROFITABILITY DRIVES MOBILITY IN INDIA

Thersynergyonline Communications Bureau

MUMBAI, India , FEB 15 :
THE enterprise mobile being under-penetrated in India displays enormous growth potential. Companies are deploying enterprise mobility solutions to enable better accessibility for their employees and enhance customer care services. Enterprise mobile users are realizing the significance of being able to access mission-critical or operational data and information from any location and at any time.

Apart from enabling faster turnaround, quick decision-making, and higher efficiency, it can also help to ratchet down operational costs. Owing to these and other multiple benefits, the enterprise mobility market is poised for robust growth.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan , Enterprise Mobility Market in India, finds that the market earned revenues of over Rs 346.1 crore in FY2008-09, and estimates this to reach Rs 1,880.7 crore in FY 2015-16.

“The emergence of 3G and WiMax is likely to further accelerate market momentum,” says Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Lavanya Palani Batcha. “With the growing number of high-end affordable mobile devices possessing features such as high storage capacity and greater operating system speed, it is anticipated that this will trigger interest among enterprise mobile users.”

Although the overall outlook looks bright, some overwhelming restraints are preventing the market from achieving stronger traction. Considering that highly confidential and sensitive corporate data is being made accessible through public networks, security concerns have come to the fore. Threats from e-mail-borne viruses, spam, and device theft are some of the more significant security concerns.

The cost has also been a limiting factor for the adoption of high-end phones. High investments in terms of infrastructure, enterprise servers, and license fees have deterred several enterprises from adopting these solutions. However, faced with declining average revenue per user (ARPU), telecommunication service providers are exploring various avenues including value-added services (VAS) to stem the decline.

Device compatibility is another pertinent issue surrounding handsets. Applications that can run on one handset are unlikely to run on another. To address this concern, applications must offer compatibility with any handset. The lack of awareness on the advantages offered by enterprise mobility is another stumbling block for the market growth.

Awareness is higher among the senior management, but it has not percolated to the other rungs within organizations. Rugged handhelds, which are made available to lower level, on-field employees, are exceptions in this case.

“Sensitization and awareness campaigns by the telecommunication service providers and other key stakeholders will serve to alleviate major security concerns in the mindset of enterprise users,” says Batcha. “The various encryption techniques and methodologies that can be employed in order to preserve the sanctity of corporate data must be showcased to enterprise customers in order to gain their trust and interest in enterprise mobility applications.”

Stakeholders in the enterprise mobility market ecosystem such as telecommunication service providers must unleash aggressive awareness campaigns to promote their offerings. Targeting specific enterprise verticals and offering bundled solutions customized to the needs of a particular enterprise would guarantee successful business outcomes.

Going forward, demand is expected to stem from models, which have deeper engagement and add direct value to the enterprise business. In India, core business applications that include sales force automation (SFA), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply chain management (SCM) hold huge promise for the future. The furious pace of market expansion underpins the requirement for up scaling handset technology and applications. This can be achieved by active collaboration between handset manufacturers and application service providers. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

ZEN MOBILE UNVEILS PALM SIZE TOUCH SCREEN MOBILE -Z 90

Thesynergyonline Communications Bureau

NEW DELHI, FEB 12 :
IN a bid to ramp up its portfolio of mobile phones and cash on the popularity of trendy and stylish touch phones in India, Zen Mobile, one of India's most exciting mobile phone company has launched a palm size touch screen mobile - Z 90. This compact and stylish palm size phone has been designed with the best features and will be available at a price of Rs. 5399 .

The Z 90 has got a twist and slide mechanism which ends up revealing the hidden keypad and it’s the first of its kind in India. Also it comes with preloaded themes which enable you to choose between multiple user interfaces.

It has a wide 2.4´´ touch screen for easy usability. One can watch movies and videos on the widescreen as it offers the benefit of the real mp3 playback and recording. Special moments and memories can now be captured and cherished on Z 90’s 3 mp camera. A track of one’s daily life can be kept the directing reminders of appointments, birthdays and the latest events with notes.

Other impressive features are the mp3 playback, wireless fm radio and the expandable memory of the phone up to 4GB. Having a stand by time of 240 hours and talk time of 2.5 hours, this touch screen handset has a phone book capacity of 1000 and SMS capacity of 1000. One can easily have different looks of screensavers.

Commenting on the newly launched model, Mr. Deepesh Gupta, MD Zen Mobile said, “Z-90 is very much in line with the new age needs and consumption patterns of today. The touch screen phones have recently gained immense popularity in the Indian market with various studies indicating that touch phones will account for nearly 40 percent of the Indian market by 2012."

"Style is not restricted to clothes and cars, Mobiles phones too have become an extension of an individual’s personality. Keeping this need in mind we have launched a handset which is very stylish, user friendly and loaded with smart features. Z90 is the latest addition to our bouquet of multimedia and feature loaded mobile phones for the Indian consumers," he added.

Z 90 offers the latest in advanced design and technology with dual SIM facilities (GSM + GSM), amazing battery back up, expandable memory and exceptional feel of owning a fashionable handset, to name a few. This stylish palm size handset will be available in stores from February 10, 2010 onwards. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

SUBEX CLOSES 12 ROC IMPLEMENTATIONS FOR FRAUD MANANGMENT IN FY10Q3

Thesynergyonline Corporate Bureau

NEW DELHI, INDIA, FEB 07 :
SUBEX, a global provider of Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS), has completed 12 implementations of ROC (Revenue Operations Center) for fraud management across different regions in the third quarter of FY10, ending December 2009.

As the company claims this is a historic achievement for the company and brings out two trends in the industry. The first is that fraud management for CSPs (communications service providers) has moved from a 'nice-to-have' to a definite 'must-have'.

Given the possibility of various types of fraud that a CSP's network is susceptible to, it becomes imperative for them to have a fool-proof fraud management system in place. Subex's fraud management solution, NikiraTM, a key component of the ROC, and the market-leading fraud management solution (FMS), is built to help CSPs move towards fraud prevention by eliminating known frauds, reducing free run time, augmenting internal controls and through continuous fraud management process improvement.

The second is that Subex now wins a vast majority of all fraud management contracts globally on the technical strength of its fraud management solution, NikiraTM, a key component of the ROC, and on the excellent reputation that the company enjoys among CSPs.

"Being world leaders in fraud management, we see a lot of demand for FMS from all types of CSPs across the globe. Closing 12 implementations in one quarter is a landmark achievement, and our teams have worked hard to achieve this. Customers in turn are happy, and now prepared to combat the various types of telecoms frauds that occur" said Vinod Kumar, Group President, Subex .

The bulk of the implementations last quarter were at pure play mobile GSM operators, while others were at mobile and fixed line players. The Europe, Middle-East and Africa regions had the maximum implementations.

Nikira claims several industry-leading features, enabling real time reaction through its in-line controls and transaction controls and prioritizes investigation of potential fraud cases through its advanced artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.

Some of Nikira's features are:
" Pre-check functionality, which runs multiple checks on new subscription against blacklists and identifies fraudsters based on phonetic, exact and combination matches.
" Patent-pending e-fingerprinting feature, which captures the details of subscriber behaviour and matches against a hot list of previously recorded fraudster fingerprints without relying on any subscriber credentials.
" IAQ (Intelligent Alarm Qualifier), which uses AI to detect the truly false alarms, thereby increasing analyst productivity and reducing revenue leakage.

THe company's customers include 36 of the world's 72 biggest telecommunications service providers. The company has more than 300 installations across 70 countries. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

LET DMRC, DTC, NR FORGE ALLIANCE, ISSUE `MASTER CARDS’ TO NCR COMMUTERS

Thesynergyonline Economic Bureau

NEW DELHI, FEB 04 :
DELHI Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Northern Railways (NR) should forge an alliance to evolve a mechanism for issuance of “Master Cards” on lines of `OYSTER CARD’ in vogue in London so that commuters in NCR can take optimum advantage of their transport facilities on mutually convenient lines.

In a communication jointly addressed to DMRC, DTC and Northern Railways, the ASSOCHAM Secretary General, Mr. D S Rawat has pointed out that OYSTER CARD facilities are widely prevalent in London to enable it’s commuters to commute within the city on transport facilities of their choice.

In London, commuting through this Card is permitted in bus, Tube, trams, DLR, London Overground and National Rail services with owning a Oyster Card which has a reasonable price tag but provides them with options.

Since, NCR now provides for multiple transportation system which include bus, railways and metro service, similar facility of issuing of Master Card should be created in NCR so that commuters can ply to and fro through different modes of transportation of their choice.  This will enable them spend lesser time in commuting and at the same time crowd in existing transport system will wean away provided the master card are priced affordable without eroding revenues of authorities that ran them.

Mr. Rawat said that in a bid to provide options and facilities to NCR commuters, the ASSOCHAM has floated the idea for introduction of Master Cards in its’ public transportation system, feasibility of which can be possible provided three agencies namely Northern Railways, DMRC and Delhi government forge an alliance and work out a mechanism for issuance of suggested cards.

By permitting Master Card on Northern Railway’s local trains which ferry working class from different places like Meerut, Faridabad, Sonepat etc. to Delhi, the Master Card can be the viable option and would encourage those that take advantage of such facility to subscribe this card. The ASSOCHAM has clarified that it does not seek any subsidy on the Master Card.

The proposed cards should be offered at affordable price tag without hurting revenues of any of transportation system.  The suggestion if acceptable, will provide huge relief not only to commuters but those that manage public transportation in Delhi and NCR and reduce lot of paper work, said Mr. Rawat.

However, the ASSOCHAM has suggested that to easy recharge the Master Card holders, the concerned authorities should come out with the facilitation centres in major metro stations, DTC buses, key locations in the NCR’s so that the commuters can recharge the Master card without any hassle.

The Chamber has further pointed out that the Master Card users should be given discount rates of 15-25% since majority of Delhi and NCR’s working community and students have to use the facilities of multiple modes of transport to reach their destination and return home.

The Master Card can bring maximum revenue by targeting corporate sector employers in BPOs, Call centres, IT and service sector since they provide complimentary transport to their employees.

Apart from that, the Chamber has further recommended that Master Card holder should be given Complimentary Travel Fare for the Senior Citizens, Ex-servicemen/war widows.  For students also, the Master card can be given concessional travel scheme.  By providing concessional fare, the government can generate huge revenue since over 3 lakh students daily commute from NCR to Delhi and from Delhi to NCR.

The Chamber has argued that Oyster has permitted senior citizens and students to travel at a cheaper tariff in London’s bus, Tube, trams, DLR, London Overground and National Rail services. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

AKSH OPTIFIBRE TO EXPAND SUBSCRIBER BASE ; TIES UP WITH CHANNEL PARTNERS

Thesynergyonline Communication Bureau

NEW DELHI, FEB 02 :
AKSH Optifibre’s and MTNL’s IPTV service iControl, the in IPTV service provider in India with a subscriber base of over 30,000, has unveiled its plan to strengthen its operations in the capital of India. iControl expands its partner ecosystem by bringing onboard Channel Partners.

Aksh Optifibre’s IPTV service iControl provides an opportunity for people who are looking to invest in new and promising business.

According to Dr. K.S. Choudhari, Managing Director, Aksh Optifibre “Aksh Optifibre’s brand philosophy is to provide ubiquitous technology at economical prices. iControl reflects the same philosophy.

Through this association with channel partners we have taken yet another step towards making iControl a household name. Aksh Optifibre believes in expanding mediums of entertainment and education through our breakthrough technology of IPTV service.”

Lt. Gen. V Dhir, President Corporate Initiatives, said “Currently, the service is available in Delhi , Mumbai and cities of Haryana, Punjab , Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. For the same we have also come up with an Aggressive 360o Marketing Campaign”. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

ACER UNVEILS NEW SMARTPHONE 'LIQUID' SERIES

Thesynergyonline Communication Bureau

NEW DELHI, FEB 02 :
ACER Smart Handheld Business Group (SHBG) today introduced its new smartphone "Liquid" series: the Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor- based and Android™ 1.6 high definition smartphone, combining cutting-edge technologies, software innovation and an ultra-fluid user interface to create an all-new mobile experience."

"It is the ideal solution for users demanding the best from their devices, and in particular outstanding multimedia, web browsing, social media integration and video streaming. It also brings smartphone product design forward with its unique and modern style."

Liquid exemplifies speed in style. With ellipse curves, a choice of red, white and black colors, and a slim body shape, Liquid will please the style-seeking smartphone consumer. It fits well in the hand, and displays a smooth finish…the fluidity of its curves gives the Acer Liquid its unique character and unconventional style.

Liquid, powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon running Android 1.6 delivers real-time ubiquitous communication & location-aware content. Liquid is outstanding for multimedia, web browsing, social media integration and video streaming." said Richard Tan, Country Head India, Acer SHBG.

Acer Liquid is the Wide-VGA smartphone in the market benefiting from the latest release of the Android™ 1.6 Operating System (aka Donut) and is perhaps the most compelling Android™ smartphone in the market equipped with the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor. Acer Liquid will be priced at 24,900 INR (with 2 GB micro SD) and would be available across major retailers

With its High Definition capacitive touch screen (Wide VGA), Acer Liquid offers today an unparalleled experience when watching pictures or videos. But it also holds a promise for the future: the promise of an abundance of new applications on Android™ Smart Handhelds - games, professional applications and web applets that will enrich the end user experience. Now developers can be assured that their investment will build upon a standard resolution for the years to come
Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon™ processor, Acer Liquid provides instant access to web pages, smooth streaming of videos or music[1], and instant response from popular mail, maps and search applications.

The high-speed processing capability and high-speed internet access (HSPA) of Snapdragon™ brings to life the Android™ experience: no idle-time, almost instant uploads of web pages and downloads of rich multimedia contents. The developer community can now take full advantage of these capabilities to bring to market innovative applications that demand raw computing power and superior handling of 3D graphics. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

CONSUMERS WILL SPEND $6.2 BILLION IN MOBILE APPLICATION STORES IN 2010

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, India , JAN 19 :
CONSUMERS will spend $6.2 billion in 2010 in mobile application stores while advertising revenue is expected to generate $0.6 billion worldwide, according to Gartner, Inc. Analysts said mobile application stores will exceed 4.5 billion downloads in 2010, eight out of ten of which will be free to end users.

Gartner forecasts worldwide downloads in mobile application stores to surpass 21.6 billion by 2013. Free downloads will account for 82 per cent of all downloads in 2010, and will account for 87 per cent of downloads in 2013.

“As smartphones grow in popularity and application stores become the focus for several players in the value chain, more consumers will experiment with application downloads,” said Stephanie Baghdassarian, research director at Gartner. “Games remain the No. 1 application, and mobile shopping, social networking, utilities and productivity tools continue to grow and attract increasing amounts of money.”

An application can be free because the developer is offering it at no cost to the consumer while charging for other things within the application. There are also applications that are free to use but that charge for physical goods that you can have delivered through the application. There are many applications that are free to users and derive their revenue from advertising. This can be done with banners as well as full page advertising between game levels for instance.

Worldwide mobile application stores’ download revenue exceeded $4.2 billion in 2009 and will grow to $29.5 billion by the end of 2013. This revenue forecast includes end-user spending on paid-for applications and advertising-sponsored free applications. Advertising-sponsored mobile applications will generate almost 25 per cent of mobile application stores revenue by 2013.

High-end smartphone users today tend to be early adopters of new mobile applications and more trustful of billing mechanisms, so they will pay for applications that can meet their needs. Average smartphone users will become less tech-savvy as smartphones come down in price to have a mass market appeal and these users will be more reluctant to pay for applications.
 
“Growth in smartphone sales will not necessarily mean that consumers will spend more money, but it will widen the addressable market for an offering that will be advertising-funded,” Ms Baghdassarian added. “The value chain of the application stores will evolve as rules are set and broken in an attempt to find the most profitable business model for all parties involved.”

“Application stores will be a core focus throughout 2010 for the mobile industry and applications themselves will help determine the winner among mobile devices platforms,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner. “Consumers will have a wide choice of stores and will seek the ones that make it easy for them to discover applications they are interested in and make it easy to pay for them when they have to. Developers will have to consider carefully not only which platform to support but also which store to promote their applications in.” (editor@thesynergyonline.com)

IT BUDGETS IN 2010 TO BE AT 2005 LEVELS, SAYS SURVEY OF 1600 CIOs

Thesynergyonline Infotech Bureau

NEW DELHI, JAN 19 :
IT budgets will essentially be flat in 2010, increasing by a weighted global average of 1.3 percent in nominal terms, compared with 2009 levels where IT budgets declined 8.1 percent, according to results from the 2010 CIO survey by Gartner Executive Programs (EXP).

2009 was the most challenging year for IT since the survey began in 1999, and CIOs had faced multiple budget cuts wiping away four years of budget increases, giving CIOs basically the same level of resources as they had in 2005. While there are some signs of recovery in the 2010 projections, these will not ovecome last year’s cuts.

The worldwide CIO survey was conducted by Gartner EXP from September to December 2009 and represents CIO budget plans reported at that time. The Gartner EXP CIO report "Leading in Times of Transition: The 2010 CIO Agenda" represents the most comprehensive examination of business priorities and CIO strategies. The survey includes responses from 1,586 CIOs representing more than $126 billion in corporate and public-sector IT spending across 41 countries and 27 industries.

“2009 was the most challenging year for CIOs in the corporate and public sectors as they faced multiple budget cuts, delayed spending and increased demand for services with reduced resources,” said Mark McDonald, group vice president and head of research for Gartner EXP. “This is set to change in 2010, as the economy transitions from recession to recovery and enterprises transition their strategies from cost-cutting efficiency to value-creating productivity.”

Mr. McDonald said that while technologies are transitioning from “heavy” owner-operated solutions to “lighter-weight” services, CIOs are, in turn, transitioning IT beyond merely managing resources to taking responsibility for managing results.

“Transition gives the enterprise and IT the opportunity to reposition themselves and exploit the tough corrective actions taken during the recession,” he said. “CIOs see 2010 as an opportunity to accelerate IT’s transition from a support function to strategic contributor focused on innovation and competitive advantage. They have aspired to this shift for years, but economic, strategic and technological changes have only recently made it feasible.”

Gartner EXP’s CIO survey findings show that, in the near term, business expectations and CIO strategies appear stable, with a continued focus on business process improvement, cost reduction and analytics .

Business expectations are shifting from a focus on greater cost-based efficiencies, to achieving better results based on enterprise and IT productivity. These productivity gains will come from collaborative and innovative solutions that take advantage of the new “lighter-weight” services-based and social media technologies, including virtualization, cloud computing and Web 2.0 social computing. This transition can be seen in the top 10 technology priorities for CIOs in 2010 where business intelligence, the No. 1 technology the past five years, dropped to the No. 5 priority.

These strategic, “lighter-weight” technologies are of increasing importance to the CIO. Exploiting them provides the cost, capacity and capability gains needed to define, source, create and deploy information- and process-intensive solutions that will reshape IT and its future role.

Moreover, the technologies that CIOs are prioritizing in 2010 are technologies that can be implemented quickly and without significant upfront expense, instead of investing millions of dollars to get millions in benefits, with these technologies, up front investments are measured in thousands of dollars to get those same benefits.

“These technologies, implemented properly, create the opportunity for IT to change its role and the operational performance of the enterprise,” said Mr. McDonald. “Asymmetric technologies like virtualization, cloud and Web 2.0 enable companies to get out from under a front-loaded heavy investment model that limits IT’s agility and flexibility.”

“While enterprises will transition at different rates and times, every CIO faces the need to raise productivity, create new capabilities and use the recovery to drive fundamentals of the current agenda and the repositioning of IT,” Mr. McDonald said. “Such transitions will not happen overnight but they will start with the decisions and directions established in 2010.”

This year's survey collected data in the middle of the economic changes in the fourth quarter of 2009. As such, it provides a snapshot of CIO plans, priorities and budgets for 2010 as they stood at the end of the fourth quarter of 2009. They represent Gartner's best current indication of CIO plans at this time. (editor@thesynergyonline.com)