Gartner, Inc. has identified 10 mobile technologies that will evolve significantly through 2011 in ways that will impact short-term mobile strategies and policies. Investments in mobile applications and technologies will increase through 2011 as organizations emerge from the recession and ramp up both business-to-employee (B2E) and business-to-consumer (B2C) mobile spending.

“We are highlighting these 10 mobile technologies that should be on every organization’s radar screen,” said Nick Jones, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “These mobile technologies were selected because they will evolve in ways that affect corporate strategies, significant numbers of customers or employees will adopt or expect them, or they will address particular mobile challenges that organizations will face through 2011.”

The 10 mobile technologies to watch in 2010 and 2011 include:

Bluetooth (3 and 4)

Two new Bluetooth versions will emerge by 2011: Bluetooth 3 will introduce 802.11 as a bearer for faster data transmission, and Bluetooth 4 will introduce a new low-energy (LE) mode that will enable communication with external peripherals and sensors. Both versions will include other technical improvements to improve battery life and security. Gartner believes that Bluetooth 3 will facilitate corporate and consumer functions demanding large bandwidth (e.g., downloading images and videos from handsets). Bluetooth LE will enable a range of new sensor-based business models in industries such as fitness, healthcare and environmental control and will be used by handset and PC peripherals to enable new functions, such as PCs that autolock when users move away from them.

The Mobile Web

By 2011, over 85 percent of handsets shipped globally will include some form of browser. In mature markets, such as Western Europe and Japan, approximately 60 percent of handsets shipped will be smartphones with sophisticated browsing capability and the ability to render conventional HTML sites in some manner. The growth in smartphones with relatively large and high-resolution screens will encourage greater numbers of people to access conventional websites on mobile devices, and will make it possible to deliver some B2C applications using conventional Web tools without adaptation. In mature markets, the mobile Web, along with associated Web adaptation tools, will be a leading technology for B2C mobile applications through 2012, and should be part of every organization’s B2C technology portfolio.

Mobile Widgets

Widgets are installable Web applications that use technologies such as JavaScript and HTML. Many handsets support widgets running on their home screens, where they are easily visible and accessible. Despite the lack of standards, widgets provide a convenient way to deliver simple, connected applications, especially those involving real-time data updates (such as weather forecasts, e-mail notifications, marketing, blogs and information feeds). Because widgets exploit well-understood tools and technologies, they have lower entry barriers than complex native applications, and thus can be a good first step to assess the demand for an application on a specific platform before undertaking expensive native development.

Platform-Independent Mobile AD Tools

Mobile platforms will become more diverse through 2012 although consolidation will not have started, and, in some markets, five or more platforms may have a significant presence. Therefore, tools that can reduce the burden of delivering installable applications to several platforms will be very attractive. Platform-independent application development (AD) tools cannot deliver a “write once, run anywhere” equivalent to native code; however, they can significantly reduce the cost of delivering and supporting multiplatform applications that provide a more sophisticated experience than the mobile Web and operate outside signal coverage.

App Stores

App stores will be the primary (and, in some cases, the only) way to distribute applications to smartphones and other mobile devices. App stores also provide a range of business support functions, such as payment processing, that assist smaller organizations. Gartner believes that app stores will play many roles in an organization’s B2C and B2E strategies. They will be a distribution channel for mobile applications and a commercial channel to sell applications and content (especially in international markets), and they will provide new options for application sourcing. Many applications will exploit ecosystem cloud services.

Enhanced Location Awareness

By the end of 2011, over 75 percent of devices shipped in mature markets will include a GPS. GPS will be the primary, but not the only, means of establishing handset location. Wi-Fi and cell ID systems will remain important in situations where GPS is unavailable or unreliable. The popularity of location-aware handsets will enable a wide range of B2E and B2C location-aware applications, and will serve as a foundation for more-sophisticated contextual applications in the future. However, organizations must be sensitive to local privacy regulations, ensure that applications that expose location are “opt in,” and remain on alert for new risks and concerns that will be raised by location awareness.

Cellular Broadband

During 2010 and 2011, the availability of multimegabit wireless broadband performance will continue to grow as mobile networks enhance their broadband performance. Continuous improvements in wireless broadband performance will increase the range of applications that no longer require fixed networking, and make cellular broadband a more effective fallback when fixed connections fail. Embedded cellular networking will become a standard feature of many corporate laptops, and will enable new types of network-connected devices and business models, such as e-books and media players.

Touchscreens

Touchscreens are emerging as the dominant user interface for large-screen handsets, and will be included in over 60 percent of mobile devices shipped in Western Europe and North America in 2011. Touch-enabled devices will also make increasing use of techniques such as haptics to enhance user experience. Organizations developing native handset applications may need to exploit single and multitouch interfaces and haptics to give their applications a compelling and competitive user experience.

M2M

Many network service providers increased their commitment to machine to machine (M2M) in 2009, so a good range of both national and multinational M2M service options will be available in mature markets during 2010 and 2011. Although the M2M market is very fragmented, it’s growing at over 30 percent per year. Low-cost M2M modules will enable a wide range of new networked devices and business models. Key applications include smart grid, meter reading, security/surveillance, automotive systems, vending and point of sale, remote monitoring, and track and trace.

Device-Independent Security

This isn’t strictly a single technology, but refers to a collection of security technologies, application technologies and sourcing options that enable the provisioning of applications that are secure, but less tightly tied to specific devices and platforms, and that, in many cases, do not require security tools to be installed on the client. It includes thin-client architectures, applications as a service, platform-independent forms of network access control (NAC), portable personality, virtualization, and hosted security services, such as “in the cloud” virus scanning. Device-independent tools cannot provide the rigor of fully installed security, but a blend of several of these tools can enable CIOs to deliver applications that can run on a wider range of devices while reducing security risks.

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With names like Storage Point and Aptimize already in the market offering performance optimization for SharePoint, Sharepoint still needed a software offering features both of these have alone. Today, Alachisoft has released such a product that does both data externalization as well as content optimization alongwith strong caching features. NCachePoint is Alachisoft’s new product focusing ‘SharePoint Performence & Scalability’. 

Some of the main features of NCachePoint includes External Binary Store (EBS), content optimization, session caching and list caching. Through EBS, users can store all their content (documents/images etc.) in an external storage. Content Optimization feature allows users to reduce the payload that gets transferred over the wire in form of ASP.NET ViewState, Javascript and CSS. Session Caching reduces the load on SQL Server (Which is used by default for sessions in SharePoint). List Caching feature allows users to save the output of different lists displayed in Calander View, Gantt View, Data Sheet View or HtmlView and prevent database query that retrieves the data of list from Sql Server.

It is expected that this product will grab a major share in SharePoint performance area. NCachePoint holds a competitive edge over StoragePoint & Aptimize as it has more features than these products individually have.

NCachePoint, SharePoint performance improvement solution is available at: http://www.Alachisoft.com/ncachepoint

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During 2010, TeliaSonera expects to offer its customers 4G coverage in the 25 largest municipalities in Sweden alongside the four largest municipalities in Norway, including Oslo. Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) has been selected as the sole supplier of the common core network as well as providing LTE radio access.

The Nordic region has had a tradition of being at the forefront of telecommunications development. With TeliaSonera’s 4G/LTE, this region is again in the lead. TeliaSonera now offers the consumers a next generation broadband network with wireless access to interactive and capacity-demanding services such as real-time web, online gaming, social media collaboration and video conferencing.

Lars Klasson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Business Area Mobility Services at TeliaSonera, says: “We have chosen Ericsson to deliver TeliaSonera’s 4G core network and further radio network rollout in Sweden and Norway based on their high quality technology and competitive offer. Our customers are the first in the world to use commercial 4G services. The use of mobile broadband in the Nordic is exploding and we offer 4G to meet the demand for high speed and capacity”

Mikael Bäckström, President Ericsson Nordic and Baltics, says: “As we move into next generation mobile networks with increased data traffic, securing network quality will be vital. We have delivered our latest solutions and gained TeliaSonera’s confidence in our ability to provide leading technology and services. We will work just as hard to secure a smooth rollout and support TeliaSonera in introducing new consumer services.”

Supplied by Ericsson, TeliaSonera recently launched the world’s first and largest LTE service in Stockholm. Ericsson has signed commercial LTE contracts with four major operators to date, including Verizon Wireless and MetroPCS in the US, NTT DoCoMo in Japan and TeliaSonera in Sweden.

LTE, the next generation of mobile communication technology, enables the fast transfer of huge amounts of data in an efficient and cost-effective way, optimizing the use of the frequency spectrum. With increased speed and decreased latency, consumers can enjoy whatever service is available online (real-time web, online gaming, social media collaboration and video conferencing) effortlessly and while on the move. LTE will meet the demands of new and enhanced internet applications of the future.

Ericsson continues to pioneer wireless technology and is leading the development of LTE. Together with NTT DoCoMo, Ericsson initiated LTE standardization at the international standardization body 3GPP in 2004, and has made the largest amount of approved contributions to the group. Ericsson also expects to hold 25 percent of all essential patents for LTE, making it the largest patent holder in the industry.

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Etisalat will use Alcatel-Lucent’s GPON platform to provide residential and business customers with simultaneous access to several high-definition (HD) TV channels and a Video on Demand (VOD) library – all while enabling them to surf the Internet up to 16 times faster.

“Etisalat is always keen to stay at the forefront of innovation in order to constantly provide our customers with the most attractive and advanced telecoms services. Etisalat’s FTTH roll-out in the UAE – branded eLife – positions Abu Dhabi to become the first capital city in the world with 100% fiber deployment by the end of this year. UAE will be one of the first countries in the world to have a nationwide fiber optics coverage by 2011,” said Essa Al Haddad, Chief Marketing Officer for Etisalat UAE.

“Through this partnership with Alcatel?Lucent, we will be able to accelerate the deployment of new and advanced service offerings that will revolutionize our customers’ triple play and home entertainment experience. Concretely, Alcatel?Lucent’s GPON platform will support the delivery of high-definition television (HDTV), video on demand, and the fastest Internet download and upload speeds,” he added.

“This contract is a key milestone for Alcatel-Lucent as it further strengthens our prominent position in the global – and UAE – FTTH market,” said Amr El Leithy, President of Alcatel-Lucent’s business in the Middle East and Africa. “We are fully committed to continue leveraging this leadership to help our customers transform their networks cost-effectively – catering to the surge of end-users’ bandwidth requirements, closely linked to today’s converged multimedia trend,” he added.

Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its 7342 Intelligent Services Access Manager Fiber-to-the-User (ISAM FTTU) GPON-based platform, and the related Alcatel-Lucent 5520 Access Management System. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent is supplying a range of optical network terminals (ONTs) to install at the end-users’ premises, and will provide Etisalat with its professional services expertise – including project management, installation, commissioning and training.

Alcatel-Lucent is the worldwide leader in the fixed broadband access market, supporting the largest mass deployments of video, voice and data services. Today, one out of three fixed broadband subscribers around the world is served through an access network provided by Alcatel-Lucent. Alcatel-Lucent is currently involved in over 95 FTTH projects worldwide, over 80 of which are with GPON.

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Association of Physicians of Pakistani-descent of North America (APPNA), a US based professional association has expressed its willingness to support tele-medicine efforts in Pakistan. This was revealed by a visiting delegation of APPNA in Pakistan.

According to a DAWN report, Dr. Samad (President APPNA) said that his association will sponsor a team of Pakistani American physicians who will visit Pakistan on regular basis to conduct surgeries in different disciplines which will help the citizens to save the cost of expensive surgeries.

“We will also develop a medical college and a hospital in the capital city on the lines of international standards besides extending support in the field of telemedicine’s” said Dr Samad.

A delegation of senior members of the organization, comprising President APPNA – Dr Syed Samad, Dr Dawood Nasir, Dr Jameel Farooqui, Dr Farid Qazi, Dr Zahid Ashger, Dr Rao Sohail and country representative Prof Amjad Chauhdry, also called on the federal health minister Makhdoom Shahab ud Din.

More details to be available soon.

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Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 286.1 million units in the second quarter of 2009, a 6.1 per cent decrease from the second quarter of 2008, according to Gartner, Inc. Smartphone sales surpassed 40 million units, a 27 per cent increase from the same period last year, representing the fastest-growing segment of the mobile-devices market.

“Despite the challenging market, some devices sold well as consumers who would usually have purchased standard midrange devices either cut back to less expensive handsets or moved up the range to get more features for their money,” said Carolina Milanesi, research director at Gartner. “Touchscreen and qwerty devices remained a major driver for replacement sales and benefited manufacturers with strong, touch-focused midtier devices. However, the decline in average selling price (ASP) accelerated in the first half of the year and particularly affected manufacturers that focus on midtier and low-end devices, where margins are already slim.”

The recession continued to suppress replacement sales in both mature and emerging markets. The distribution channel has dealt with lower demand and financial pressure by using up 13.9 million units of existing stock before ordering more. Gartner expects the gap between sell-in to the channel and sell-through to customers will reduce in the second half of 2009 as the channel starts to restock.

Nokia maintained its leadership position, but its portfolio remained heavily skewed toward low-end devices. Its flagship high-end N97 smartphone met little enthusiasm at its launch in the second quarter of 2009 and has sold just 500,000 units in the channel since it started to ship in June, compared to Apple’s iPhone 3G S, which sold 1 million units in its first weekend. “The right high-end product and an increased focus on services and content are vital for Nokia if it wants to both revamp its brand and please investors with a more promising outlook in ASPs and margins,” said Ms Milanesi.

Samsung and LG both had a very strong second quarter of 2009 with sales of 55 million units and 30.5 million units, respectively. Samsung’s touchscreen devices, qwerty phones and smartphones drove sales in mature markets, and Gartner expects it will continue to gain market share in the second half of 2009 to close the gap with Nokia. Gartner expects LG to keep moving into lower-tier devices to drive growth in emerging markets and be well-positioned to take advantage of China’s 3G rollout as it can deliver good-value-for-money devices. Motorola’s sales of 15.9 million units were slightly better than expected, but its presence has rapidly concentrated on the Americas, and it has lost most of its share of the Western European market, where it sold fewer than 1 million units in the second quarter of 2009. Most operators and customers will be waiting for Motorola’s new Android-based products planned for the fourth quarter of 2009.

Sony Ericsson’s market share dropped 2.8 percentage points year-on-year in the second quarter of 2009 but its volume dropped 41 per cent. Although the market environment was challenging, Gartner attributes Sony Ericsson’s poor performance to its uncompetitive range of handsets. “Sony Ericsson has neglected to exploit key trends such as qwerty products for messaging and e-mail, internet browsing and navigation. If it wants to build the presence of its three new products announced this quarter in the channel and capture Christmas sales, the products need to come to market early in the fourth quarter of 2009,” Ms Milanesi added.

“Smartphone sales were strong during the second quarter of 2009, with sales of 40.9 million units in line with Gartner’s forecast of 27 per cent year-on-year sales growth for 2009,” said Ms Milanesi. “Given the higher margins, smartphones offer the biggest opportunity for manufacturers. It is the fastest-growing market segment and the most resistant to declining ASPs.”

Apple’s expansion into a larger number of countries in the past year has produced a clear effect on sales volumes, as have the recent price adjustments on the 8GB 3G iPhone. Sales of 5.4 million units in the second quarter of 2009 indicated a 509 per cent growth in shipments and helped Apple maintain the No. 3 position in the smartphone market, where it has stayed since the third quarter of 2008. Apple brought its much-anticipated new device — the iPhone 3G S — to market at the end of the second quarter of 2009, but its full potential will only start to show in the sales figures in the second half of 2009.

At the high end of the smartphone market, HTC remained in the No. 4 position behind Apple, where it has been since the third quarter of 2008. It reported lower expectations for the second half of 2009 due to product delays and now expects 2009 revenue to decline by low- to mid-single digits year-on-year, far below its previous outlook of 10 per cent annual growth.

In the smartphone operating system (OS) market, Symbian held 51 per cent share, down from 57 per cent a year ago, while RIM and Apple grew their shares year-on-year. Android’s share was just under 2 per cent of the market and more Android-based devices will come to market in the fourth quarter of 2009, intensifying competition in the smartphone OS market, particularly for Symbian and Windows Mobile. Microsoft’s share continued to drop year-on-year to account for 9 per cent of the market in the second quarter of 2009.

“Microsoft licensees HTC and Samsung continued to add features to their own interfaces, on top of Windows Mobile, to create more competitive products and make up for the usability constraints of the Microsoft platform,” said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.

This quarter also saw the debut of the long-awaited Palm Pre based on the new web operating system. “This device attracted a lot of media attention but showed mixed results at the cash register as sales only reached 205,000 units,” said Ms Cozza. “Palm currently ranks tenth in the smartphone market and Gartner remains concerned about its ability to gain traction outside the US market, where its brand is less strong.”

“For the remainder of 2009, manufacturers must offer products with the features that consumers and operators are demanding most strongly — like touchscreens, focus on user interfaces and application/content ecosystems — and work hard to keep operators loyal,” concluded Ms Milanesi. “We expect competition to intensify in the second half of 2009. Mobile operators are likely to drive competition among manufacturers as they start selling e-book readers and mini-notebooks from other manufacturers to foster mobile broadband subscriptions. Operators are also starting to subsidise e-book readers and mini notebooks on contract and this means that there will be less subsidy available to drive sales of mobile phones and smartphones. In turn, operators will demand lower prices from phone manufacturers, which will be under even more pressure to deliver strong feature sets at the lowest possible price.”

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LiMo Foundation™, a global consortium of mobile industry leaders today announced the newest round of LiMo-compliant handsets has been released to market. Developed by leading device manufacturers and LiMo members NEC and Panasonic Mobile Communications for LiMo board member NTT DOCOMO, these latest handset models offer an array of next-generation features and functionality.

Today’s announcement signals a continued expansion of LiMo’s footprint in the global mobile marketplace, as well as growing industry endorsement and coalescence around its collaborative device platform.

“In February 2009, a number of major network operators announced their intent to launch multiple devices built upon the LiMo Platform,” said Morgan Gillis, executive director of the LiMo Foundation. “This additional line of innovative handsets is indicative of the deep and abiding commitment our operators and device manufacturers hold towards fulfilling that promise by delivering next-generation LiMo technologies.”

Each of the new LiMo handsets offers a variety of advanced functionality and enhancements. Next-generation features including high megapixel cameras, rich media capabilities, and upgraded connectivity support resonate deeply with today’s demanding mobile audience, delivering a richer, more immersive mobile experience. NTT DOCOMO’s commercially shipping LiMo handsets announced today include:

• docomo PRIME series TM N-06A, docomo PRIME series TM N-07A, docomo STYLE series TM N-08A, and docomo SMART series TM N-09A models from NEC; and
• docomo STYLE series TM P-06A, docomo PRIME series TM P-07A, docomo STYLE series TM P-08A, docomo SMART series TM P-09A, and docomo STYLE series TM P-10A models from Panasonic Mobile Communications

“The successful launch of the latest LiMo handsets further establishes LiMo PlatformTM as a leading device platform within today’s rapidly evolving mobile ecosystem,” said Kiyohito Nagata of NTT DOCOMO, chairperson of LiMo Foundation.

With this latest release, the total number of LiMo-compliant handsets rises to 42, the largest number of commercially available mobile handsets produced by any global collaborative development platform organization.

LiMo Foundation was launched in January 2007 by mobile industry leaders to provide the mobile industry with an open, consistent Mobile Linux-based handset OS, enabling the development of immersive, next-generation mobile consumer experiences. LiMo’s membership includes mobile industry leaders from around the world, including OEMs, technology developers, and 12 global network operators representing nearly one billion mobile subscribers.

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Nokia Siemens Networks selected to build advanced 3G mobile network

Subscribers of T-Mobile in the Czech Republic can expect to enjoy advanced 3G data and multimedia services thanks to a faster mobile broadband network.

The upgraded 3G network is based on the energy-efficient Nokia Siemens Networks Flexi Multiradio Base Stations and HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) technology. It is expected to be launched in Prague by the end of the year.

The agreement between T-Mobile and Nokia Siemens Networks signed this month will offer a number of benefits to customers, but in particular the availability of high-speed mobile data services. HSPA technology is one of the latest developments in 3G mobile networks. The main advantage it provides to customers is high-speed data transfers with download and upload peak rates of up to 14.4 Mbps and 5.7 Mbps respectively. Such performance will create a DSL-like user experience. Moreover, the technology to be installed, will prepare the ground for the roll-out of the next generation of mobile networks.

“The demand for data services in the Czech Republic has been growing continually. Therefore building a 3G network is one of our priorities even in these economically more challenging times,” says Roland Mahler, Managing Director of T-Mobile Czech Republic. “Nokia Siemens Networks is one of the companies that supplies technology for the entire mobile division of the Deutsche Telekom Group, which is a guarantee that we will be able to offer the top quality services to our customers.”

“We are very pleased to extend our partnership with this important agreement,” said Ralph Griewing of Nokia Siemens Networks, in charge of business relations with Deutsche Telekom. “We are also glad that our innovative solutions, like the Flexi Base Station and HSPA, will provide the Czech consumers with a fast, reliable broadband experience, offering at the same time an energy-efficient platform to T-Mobile.”

Nokia Siemens Networks is also providing T-Mobile with network integration services, the NetAct network management system to monitor, manage and optimize the network and an upgrade of the core network to support advanced 3G services.

The pilot operation of T-Mobile’s 3G network will start in the autumn in Prague.

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