Manufacturers
HTC to double HTC One production capacity, but is it already too late?
Despite announcing an impressive smartphone, HTC has not been able to get it in the consumer hands because of production issues. Now, the company has announced that production of HTC One is rising sharply and it will double in May from previous month, but the question arises whether it is already late.
Probably yes, because the companies no longer have years to sell their smartphones, new technologies arrive every month and we see new flagships every six months. Since announcing the phone in February, the company has already wasted over two months and Samsung Galaxy S4, the main competitor to HTC One, is close to 10 million shipments.
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ZTE to launch smartphones, tablets in India
Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE is planning to enter the already crowded Indian smartphone market. The company has partnered with Pune-based Calyx Telecommunications to distribute its products in the country.
According to a report in Business Line, ZTE will initially release five smartphones ranging from INR 5,799 to INR 14,999 followed by tablets.
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Panasonic India to launch 8 smartphones this year, eyes 8pc market share
Panasonic has revealed that it plans to launch eight more smartphones in the Indian market this year. These smartphones will be priced between INR 6,990 and INR 35,000, company executives announced at the launch of P51, its first Android phone in the country.
The Japanese manufacturer has just re-entered the Indian mobile space, it earlier used to sell feature-phones in the country. With the growing demand of smartphones all over, the company is looking to get back in the game.
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Opera ties up with Indian mobile makers to pre-install Opera Mini on Android devices
Opera has announced that it has partnered with several Indian mobile phone companies to pre-install Opera Mini browser on their Android devices. According to a press release issued by the company, Celkon, Karbonn, Lava and Intex will be pre-loading Opera Mini on all of their Android devices, while Fly, Zen and HCL will put it on their select Android products.
Opera claims that Opera Mini is suited for Indian conditions as it provides data compression.
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Intel launches high-performance Silvermont microarchitecture for tablets, smartphones
Intel on Monday unveiled new mobile processor architecture ‘Silvermont,’ which will be released as a part of the company’s next-generation SoCs for tablets and smartphones.
As the company struggles to gain traction in the already huge smartphone market, Silvermont is its latest attempt to change the landscape. Silvermont architecture will act as the base for the company’s 22nm Bay Trail and Merrifield Atom processors.
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Google might partner Samsung in OLED business: Report
Google and Samsung might be planning to take their partnership to the next level. During Google CEO Larry Page’s trip to South Korea, Samsung vice-chairman Lee Jay-yong floated this idea of a partnership with Google in their OLED business and Page seemed very interested in that, reports Korea Times.
Google co-founder and CEO Larry Page, center, with Samsung top executives, including Samsung Vice Chairman Lee Jay-yong, fourth from
left, Samsung Corporate Office Head Choi Gee-sung, right, and Samsung mobile chief Shin Jong-kyun, left. You can also see Android’s new head Sunder Pichai, second from left.
Image Credit: Yonhap News
“During the meeting with the Google CEO, I proposed the expansion of our business partnership to him. Larry Page showed interest in our OLED business,” Lee told media.
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LG ships 10.3 million smartphones in Q1 – highest in a single quarter for the company
LG has announced its first quarter financial results today and they had some good news regarding the company’s smartphone business. According to a press release issued by the company, it shipped 10.3 million smartphones in the last quarter – highest for LG since it entered the smartphone race, thanks to the sales of Optimus G, G Pro and L-series.
The release adds that LG Mobile posted KRW 3.21 trillion (USD 2.96 billion) revenue in Q1, which increased 28.5 per cent year-on-year basis.
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Microsoft signs patent deal with ZTE for Android, Chrome devices
After the recent deal with contract manufacturer and the parent company of Foxconn – Hon Hai, Microsoft has now secured another biggie from China. The company has signed a patent deal with ZTE, which will be paying the Windows-maker royalty on its Android and Chrome OS devices, noted Reuters.
Looks like the alliance ZTE, Lenovo and other Chinese OEMs formed in late 2011 did not help the company. Microsoft has not published a press release on its website till now, but we can expect to see it later in the day.
Microsoft told Reuters that with the deal with ZTE, it now has Android related patent deals with about 20 device makers, and 60 per cent of Android phones sold worldwide are covered by a Microsoft patent license.
Key hardware manufacturers that have patent deals with Microsoft
- Samsung Electronics
- LG Electronics
- HTC Corp
- Acer
- ViewSonic
- Hon Hai
- Compal
- Quanta Computer
- Wistron
Huawei, Google and Motorola are the only big hold-outs remaining for the company now. Motorola and Microsoft are already in court dispute for the same, so the verdict in that court case will determine the solution.
Netherlands court grants injunction against HTC One
Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia has issued a press statement noting that it has won an injunction against the use of specific microphone component use in HTC One smartphone. HTC currently uses STMicroelectronics-made microphone components (high-amplitude microphones), which according to Nokia are invented by Nokia and manufactured exclusively for Nokia phones.
“Nokia filed this action after it discovered these components in the HTC One; HTC has no license or authorization from Nokia to use these microphones or the Nokia technologies from which they have been developed,” Nokia said in the statement.
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We are building ‘just right’ sized stock Android phones: Motorola design chief
It seems Motorola has some really nice Android phones in the pipeline. First, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt’s remarked at D: Dive Into Mobile that upcoming Motorola phones are ‘phenomenal’ and not just phones but “phone plus.” Now, Motorola design chief Jim Wicks has echoed more positive sentiments about Motorola’s future line-up in an interview with PC Mag.
Motorola RAZR M is a right-sized Android phone, according to Wicks.
Wicks said that the first Google influenced Motorola phones will be appearing in the second half of 2013. “And, if you like smaller form-factor devices or stock Android, you’re going to be excited,” he added.
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