Nokia says talks with Microsoft on schedule

Talks between Nokia, the world's largest cellphone maker by volume, and Microsoft on a software deal are on schedule and a large number of Nokia Windows phones should be sold in 2012.

"Negotiations have progressed very well. They will be concluded well on schedule," Kai Oistamo, head of corporate development at Nokia, said on Monday.

The companies signed a non-binding agreement on Feb. 11 for Nokia to start using Microsoft software as its main platform in smartphones .

Nokia chief executive Stephen Elop said in February it would take at least a couple of months to sign a deal.

The long negotiation process has led analysts to question whether the partnership can produce quick results. Some analysts have said talks should be concluded by end-April when Nokia plans to start talks over job cuts stemming from the agreement.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

MTS rolls out first phone using Russian satnav

The first smartphone using Russian positioning technology GLONASS went on sale on Monday, operator MTS said, marking a milestone in a project creating rival to the U.S.-led Global Positioning System (GPS).

The MTS Glonass 945 smartphone is manufactured by China's ZTE Corp, uses Google Inc's Android software and also supports the rival GPS technology.

Russia hopes the project will spark a domestic technology revolution and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has personally spearheaded the project acting as a salesman for the system on international visits.

"Successfully bringing a product to market is a significant step forward for the GLONASS project," said Canalys analyst Tim Shepherd on Monday.

"Other handset vendors will be particularly eager to see how Russian consumers respond, to understand whether GLONASS support is a matter of appealing to national pride or whether it genuinely encourages greater location-oriented usage," he said.

Google profile in China shrinking

A year after a public spat with Beijing over censorship, Google Inc. says its business with Chinese advertisers is growing even as the Internet giant's share of online searches in China plunges.


A major Chinese portal announced last week it would no longer use Google for search, compounding its rapid loss of market share since March last year when it closed its local search engine. The future of a Google map service that is a key part of its remaining appeal in China is in doubt.

Google's main presence in China has become its advertising sales offices, an unusual situation for a company that dominates the Internet elsewhere.

Google risked being completely shut out of China after it angered Beijing by announcing last January it no longer wanted to comply with Web censorship. It dodged that fate but without a flagship local online presence, analysts say Google will fall further behind Baidu Inc. as a search provider, while the controversy makes it hard to line up Chinese partners for other ventures.

"Chinese companies will think twice before they can have any kind of relationship with Google," said Edward Yu, president of Analysys International, a research firm in Beijing.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, says it sees its biggest opportunities in China in selling advertising on behalf of local websites or to companies that want to reach customers abroad through its global sites.

Review: Sony Alpha SLT-A33L

Camera technology is changing for the better these days. While the digital SLR or DSLR is normally the weapon of choice for the serious or professional photographer, a spate of new cameras has been challenging this notion. The Micro Four Thirds interchangeable lens cameras started it. Micro Four Thirds cameras usually have CMOS sensors, but vitally, the sensor size is smaller than even an entry-level DSLR. Even Sony's own NEX series is another example: a camera that uses a DLSR-size CMOS image sensor in a mirror-less, compact and lightweight body.


Each of these technologies has certain advantages - typically a smaller size and lesser weight as compared to a DSLR. But the Alpha SLT-A33L (and its big brother, A55L) takes things to a new level. The A33 is not much smaller or lighter than the average DSLR, but what it does do, is open up a super-fast continuous shooting mode (with continuous auto focus for each shot) in a price bracket that 'proper' DSLRs can't dream of matching.

A number of ground-breaking technologies enable this. For starters, the translucent mirror. In a conventional DSLR, the mirror stays down at a 45-degree angle to divert light upwards into the viewfinder and to the fast, phase-detection auto focus system. When the shutter button is pressed, the mirror flips up, allowing the light to pass through to the image sensor. This is why the viewfinder in a conventional DSLR goes blank while shooting. Also, the mechanical movement of the mirror is a comparatively slow movement when compared to the actual recording of light, which contributes to the slower frame rate of entry-level DSLRs. In Sony's system, the mirror just stays in place: most of the light passes through to the image sensor, while a portion of the light is diverted upwards towards the autofocus system and to generate an image for the electronic viewfinder (EVF).

Since the mirror is always down, the slow mechanical mirror flip movement is cut out of the equation and the recording of each image can be much faster. In high-speed mode, the A33 can take 7 frames per second at full resolution. Since the mirror stays down, the autofocus engine is always active. Rather unbelievably, the camera can focus each frame while shooting in high-speed mode, i.e., 7 times per second. This kind of frame rate and autofocus speed can only be matched by high-end professional DSLRs that cost thrice as much as the A33.

Crucially, the video recording features are also enhanced by the mirror. Since the AF system is always active, the A33 can continue to focus while shooting video: something which conventional DSLRs cannot do - the mirror has to stays up while shooting video to let light through to the image sensor. Stangely, the A33's video is limited to 1080i rather than 1080p full HD for some reason.

Acer to take on Apple, HTC after CEO exit

Gianfranco Lanci tried to make Acer the world's largest laptop maker by outselling Hewlett-Packard. The board says he should have set his sights on Apple and HTC Corp instead.

The rift led to Lanci quitting as chief executive officer of the Taiwanese computer maker, Chief Financial Officer Tu Che-min said in an interview on Friday. The company plans to name a new president this month and Acer is seeking to be a leading player in smartphones and tablets, he said.

As Acer reels from its worst weekly stock plunge in almost a decade, the board faces the challenge of finding a leader able to reinvent the company into a developer of products that can challenge Apple and HTC from being a volume-driven maker of commoditised computers. The shift in strategy means spending on research and development will increase, Tu said.

"For Acer, and other PC makers in general, the way to create value is to innovate and find new markets and opportunities, and that's a big challenge," said Simon Ye, an analyst at research company Gartner in Shanghai. "Acer's problem is that it is commonly perceived as a brand that competes on price, and that doesn't help profitability."

The shares fell 4.8% to close at NT$57.10 in Taipei trading, capping a 22% rout since the company on March 25 slashed its first-quarter sales forecast. Brokerages from CLSA to Goldman Sachs Group cut their ratings on the stock to sell in the past week.

Acer to take on Apple, HTC after CEO exit

Gianfranco Lanci tried to make Acer the world's largest laptop maker by outselling Hewlett-Packard. The board says he should have set his sights on Apple and HTC Corp instead.


The rift led to Lanci quitting as chief executive officer of the Taiwanese computer maker, Chief Financial Officer Tu Che-min said in an interview on Friday. The company plans to name a new president this month and Acer is seeking to be a leading player in smartphones and tablets, he said.

As Acer reels from its worst weekly stock plunge in almost a decade, the board faces the challenge of finding a leader able to reinvent the company into a developer of products that can challenge Apple and HTC from being a volume-driven maker of commoditised computers. The shift in strategy means spending on research and development will increase, Tu said.

"For Acer, and other PC makers in general, the way to create value is to innovate and find new markets and opportunities, and that's a big challenge," said Simon Ye, an analyst at research company Gartner in Shanghai. "Acer's problem is that it is commonly perceived as a brand that competes on price, and that doesn't help profitability."

The shares fell 4.8% to close at NT$57.10 in Taipei trading, capping a 22% rout since the company on March 25 slashed its first-quarter sales forecast. Brokerages from CLSA to Goldman Sachs Group cut their ratings on the stock to sell in the past week.

Tablets
As conventional laptops lose their appeal to new-generation devices such as handheld computers with touch screens, companies such as Acer may need to focus more on developing tablet computers to boost profits, analysts said. "There is a concern at Acer about profit margins," said Dean Lim, who rates Acer shares "reduce" at Mirae Asset Securities in Hong Kong. "If they can increase sales of tablets, that will help improve the profit margins."

Chairman JT Wang will temporarily take over the chief executive officer's role from Lanci, the company said. Walter Deppeler, president of the Europe, Middle East and Africa operations, and procurement head Jim Wong are frontrunners to succeed Lanci, according to Macquarie Group . Acer's Tu declined to identify any candidates.

The Taiwanese PC maker is realigning its business to focus on profitability, instead of sales volumes, spokesman Henry Wang said today. Lanci quit after a slump in Acer's stock this year, the most in the MSCI AC Asia Pacific excluding Japan Information Technology Index, as a focus on low-cost laptops eroded profit margins.

Profit Margin
Apple, maker of the iPad tablet, iPhone and iMac computer had a 21.5% profit margin in its last fiscal year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Acer had 2.3%. "There is good consensus among the board members that the tablet is the way to go," CFO Tu said by phone. Previously, the company's goal was to boost shipments of notebook computers to increase market share, he said.

The board and Lanci "placed different levels of importance on scale, growth, customer value creation, brand position enhancement, and on resource allocation and methods of implementation," Acer said in a statement. Calls to Lanci's Taipei office weren't answered and e-mails to his Acer account bounced back.

Rising Costs
Acer in January reported fourth-quarter profit that missed analysts' estimates after revenue fell 11%. The company last month started sales of its Iconia tablet, more than a year after the unveiling of the Apple iPad. "We think Acer inevitably will see rising research and development expenses," Nomura Holdings analyst Eve Jung wrote in a report. "Acer plans to focus more on product innovation to face growing competition from Apple's iPad 2."

Acer overtook Dell as the world's second-largest maker of PCs in 2009 as the company boosted overseas sales through the acquisitions of Gateway and Packard Bell. Lanci, who had been president of the company since 2005, also oversaw Acer as it capitalized on the boom in demand for sub-$500 laptops, known as netbooks, after the worst global financial crisis since World War II prompted consumers to buy cheaper computers.

Apple's iPad starts at $499 in the US. The focus on netbooks cost Acer last year as Apple' iPad gave consumers an alternative product to a low-end laptop. Acer's market share of the PC market fell to 12.7% in the fourth quarter, down from 13.3% a year earlier, according to estimates by research firm Gartner.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us