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Investor Calls on Research in Motion to Put Itself Up for Sale

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 03:35:33 +0100

A Canadian merchant bank has called on Research In Motion to consider a sale of the company or its patent portfolio in order to return the cash to the shareholders.Jaguar Financial is recommending that RIM's Directors appoint a Special Committee of the Board consisting of four or five of the current seven independent directors to pursue a shareholder value maximization process.The bank argues that the company's "chronic underperformance and repeated delays in executing its strategy" have led it to the conclusion that fundamental change at RIM is requiredThe do acknowledge that while few would question the email and security capabilities of RIM's BlackBerry platform, the state that the reality is that RIM has failed to develop the multi-purpose device that meets the requirements of today's dynamic consumer landscapeJaguar believes RIM's current corporate structure, which includes James Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis as Co-Chief Executive Officers and Co-Chairmen of the Company, is ineffective and requires meaningful change. The company is however already looking into that specific issue following a previous shareholder revolt.
The bank also noted the current patent-bubble with sales generating substantial pots of cash for sellers, although there is concern in the industry that the bubble may be about to burst, so pressure to sell the patents before prices drop will intensify.
Vic Alboini, Chairman and CEO of Jaguar, stated: "The status quo is not acceptable, the Company cannot sit still. It is time for transformational change. The Directors need to seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost."

Breakthrough Could Double Wireless Capacity with No New Towers

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:33:50 +0100

The days of waiting for smartphones to upload video may be numbered. Rice University engineering researchers have made a breakthrough that could allow wireless phone companies to double throughput on their networks without adding a single cell tower.

Rice's new "full-duplex" technology allows wireless devices like cell phones and electronic tablets to both "talk" and "listen" to wireless cell towers on the same frequency -- something that requires two frequencies today.

In 2010, Sabharwal and Rice colleagues Melissa Duarte and Chris Dick published the first paper showing that full-duplex was possible . That set off a worldwide race to demonstrate that the technology could actually be used in a real network. This summer, Sabharwal and Rice's Achaleshwar Sahai and Gaurav Patel set new performance records < http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.0607> with a real-time demo of the technology that produced signal quality at least 10 times better than any previously published result.

"Our solution requires minimal new hardware, both for mobile devices and for networks, which is why we've attracted the attention of just about every wireless company in the world," said Ashutosh Sabharwal, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice. "The bigger change will be developing new wireless standards for full-duplex. I expect people may start seeing this when carriers upgrade to 4.5G or 5G networks in just a few years."

"We showed that our approach could support higher throughput and better link reliability than anything else that's been demonstrated, which is a plus for wireless carriers," Sabharwal said. "On the device side, we've shown that we can add full duplex as an additional mode on existing hardware. Device makers love this because real estate inside mobile devices is at a premium, and it means they don't have to add new hardware that only supports full duplex."

To explain why full-duplex wireless was long thought impossible for wireless networks, Sabharwal uses the analogy of two people standing far apart inside an otherwise empty arena. If each shouts to the other at the same time, neither can hear what the other is saying. The easy solution is to have only one person speak at a time, and that's what happens on two-way radios where only one person may speak at a given time. Cell phones achieve two-way communications by using two different frequencies to send and listen.

Rice's team overcame the full-duplex hurdle by employing an extra antenna and some computing tricks. In the shouting analogy, the result is that the shouter cannot hear himself, and therefore hears the only other sound in the arena -- the person shouting from far away.

"We send two signals such that they cancel each other at the receiving antenna -- the device ears," Sabharwal said. "The canceling effect is purely local, so the other node can still hear what we're sending."

He said the cancellation idea is relatively simple in theory and had been proposed some time ago. But no one had figured a way to implement the idea at low cost and without requiring complex new radio hardware.

"We repurposed antenna technology called MIMO, which are common in today's devices," Sabharwal said. "MIMO stands for 'multiple-input multiple-output' and it uses several antennas to improve overall performance. We took advantage of the multiple antennas for our full-duplex scheme, which is the main reason why all wireless carriers are very comfortable with our technology."

Sabharwal said Rice is planning to roll its full-duplex innovations into its "wireless open-access research platform," or WARP. WARP is a collection of programmable processors, transmitters and other gadgets that make it possible for wireless researchers to test new ideas without building new hardware for each test. Sabharwal said adding full-duplex to WARP will allow other researchers to start innovating on top of Rice's breakthrough.

"There are groups that are already using WARP and our open-source software to compete with us," he said. "This is great because our vision for the WARP project is to enable never-before-possible research and to allow anyone to innovate freely with minimal startup effort."

Sabharwal's team has gone one step further and achieved asynchronous full-duplex too - that is one wireless node can start receiving a signal while it's in the midst of transmitting. Asynchronous transmission is import for carriers wishing to maximize traffic on their networks, and Rice's team is the first to demonstrate the technology.

"We've also developed a preliminary theory that explains why our system is working the way that it is," Sabharwal said. "That's also important for carriers and device makers, because engineers aren't likely to implement something like this without a clear understanding of fundamental tradeoffs."

Nokia makes Anna available

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:40:05 +0100

IT.Telecom Desk
Nokia Symbian Anna, the latest software update for Symbian smartphones has been made available for download using the latest Ovi Suite (version 3.1.1) on a PC, or over-the-air directly to smartphones, says a press release.
The Anna significantly enhances the user experience on Nokia N8, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01 and Nokia E7.
A new user interface, virtual QWERTY keypad in portrait mode, split-screen messaging, enhanced Nokia Maps, better web browsing and stronger security are among other improvements.
The software update also activates the NFC (Near Field Communications) hardware in the Nokia C7 so that people can now simply tap their Nokia C7s together to share contacts, photos, videos and play games, easily pair with NFC-enabled accessories from Nokia and others and read NFC tags.
Ramadan apps
Nokia has also released some Ramadan apps for the holy month. The apps include islamic wallpapers, ringtones, prayer times and Quran verses, Hadith and more.
The apps are available for download at Ovi store.

Apple, iPhone Enter the Post-Jobs Era

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 04:33:18 +0100

These are momentous times at Apple (AAPL). Just a couple of weeks after Steve Jobs stepped down, new CEO Tim Cook gets to launch a major product: the iPhone 5.

With Apple under increasing pressure from a deluge of Google (GOOG) Android devices, the stakes are high for the new iPhone, said Sandeep Aggarwal, an analyst at research firm Digital Route.

"Given that Android has become much stronger competitor since the last iPhone release, Apple must show some killer features/apps to make a bigger dent in the Android ecosystem," he told TheStreet.

The headline-grabber for the new iPhone 5 is widely expected to be a "world phone" capability, enabling the device to run on all U.S. and European networks. There has also been talk thatSprint (S) will join AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) as an Apple iPhone partner, extending the iPhone 5's reach well beyond that of its predecessors.

While tech watchers generally agree that the new iPhone, running the next iteration of iOS 5 software, will be faster, there's been plenty of chatter about it having a bigger screen than the 3.5-inch frame sported by the iPhone 4. Industry trade magazine eWeek also predicts improved graphical capabilities and, potentially, near-field communication (NFC) technology for mobile payments.

A 4G LTE version of the iPhone, however, will likely not appear until next year.

In addition to the new iPhone 5, we could see a stripped-down freebie iPhone, aimed at the low end of the market.

True to form, Apple hasn't publicly said anything about its next iPhone plans and has not yet responded to TheStreet's request for comment on its iPhone launch plans.

The biggest change for Apple as it prepares to roll out its hardware, however, will be the absence of Steve Jobs at the company's helm. A visionary capable of predicting major shifts in the consumer tech landscape, Jobs was also a master tactician, carefully orchestrating the company's launches for maximum impact.

While Apple fans will surely miss having the former Apple chief preside over launch events, investors shouldn't worry about his absence during the upcoming phone launch, said Michael Mannor, Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Notre Dame.

"This iPhone has been in development for a long time," he told TheStreet. "Just as it is difficult to make dramatic turns with a supertanker, it would be difficult to imagine anything fundamentally different with the process that created this new iPhone -- this is great news for investors who would love to see 'more of the same' from Apple."

The iPhone has certainly enjoyed phenomenal success. Apple sold a record 20.3 million iPhones during its recent fiscal third quarter, up from 8.4 million in the same period last year. The company's continued iPhone success, however, now rests on the shoulders of Cook.

What can investors expect from the new iPhone launch, rumored to be imminent? Initial speculation tagged Sep. 7 as a potential launch date, although this now seems unlikely. Apple, however, typically debuts a major product in the late summer/early fall.

New Apple CEO Tim Cook

"The reality is that Tim Cook is not like Steve Jobs, and he knows that he is not Steve Jobs," said Notre Dame's Mannor. "But he is talented -- if Apple had gone to the CEO labor market to find the next Steve Jobs, I think investors would have had a lot more to worry about."

Describing Jobs as a "once-in-a-generation talent," Mannor thinks that Apple was smart to promote Cook. "One could easily have imagined Apple's board scouring the Earth to find the next Steve Jobs, but they would have failed," he said. "What Apple needed was certainty, a long-term solution, and a safe bridge to the post-Jobs era --Cook knows what Apple is about and embraces it, but brings a laser-like execution focus that I believe will power tremendous growth into the future."

A highly capable stand-in for Jobs during his boss' three medical leaves of absence, Cook is also an IT operations guru, a skill which will prove crucial as Apple unfolds its ambitious cloud strategy.

Cook also has some product development breathing space, according to Digital Route's Aggarwal. The analyst predicts that the new exec will get to enjoy a honeymoon period into late 2012 or early 2013, at which point consumers will be looking for the next big wave of Apple innovation.

"The real test for Apple, Tim Cook and next generations of Apple products such as iPhone, iPad and Mac does not start immediately after Mr. Jobs' departure as CEO, but perhaps 15 to 18 months from now," he told TheStreet. "I am sure Steve Jobs deeply influenced the next iterations for all the major products for next 12 to 15 months, so the real challenge is what kind of company Apple will be and what kind of CEO Tim Cook will be after a year and a half from now."

Telefonica in Major European Shake-Up

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:02:00 +0100

A restructuring at Telefonica will see the company shift around 2,500 jobs from Spain to offices around the world as it folds its Spanish networks into its larger European division.Currently, the company has a European division, made up largely of the former O2 mobile networks, but treats its home market of Spain as separate from that. Under the plans announced today, the company will retain its global HQ in Spain, but the management of the Spanish networks will be combined with the rest of the European management.
A new Telefónica Digital department will be led by Matthew Key, currently head of Telefónica Europe and based in London, with the transfer of around 2,500 jobs. The division will have regional offices in Madrid, Sao Paulo, Silicon Valley and certain strategic hubs in Asia.
A new global resources division designed to consolidate purchasing across the divisions will also be formed, and is expected to be based in Germany, where Telefonica operates the O2 mobile network. This unit will be overseen by Guillermo Ansaldo, currently the head of Telefónica Spain.
The company will end up with three divisions, the Digital services, Europe and Latin America. José María Álvarez-Pallete, head of Telefónica Latin America until now, will oversee Europe, while Santiago Fernández Valbuena, previously General Manager of Strategy, Finance and Corporate Development, will be in charge of Latin America.
The main lines of the new organisational structure were approved today by the Executive Commission of the Board of Directors, but the final details wont be announced until later this month.
The new organisational structure will revolve around a nine-member Executive Committee, backed by a Transformation Committee composed of the company's senior managers.
Updated: Earlier story understood that all the jobs will move to the UK. Now understood to be a global redeployment.

UK May Delay 4G Radio Spectrum Auction

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 14:57:45 +0100

The UK's telecom regulator, Ofcom has pushed back the country's radio spectrum auction by at least three months following rumoured threats of legal action from the main mobile networks.The auction paperwork was due to be published by the end of this year, but will now be published sometime in the first quarter of next year, with the auction itself taking place about thee months later.

The auction - offering 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum blocks -- is estimated to raise upwards of UK£3 billion for the government.

An Ofcom spokesman told The Guardian newspaper: "The spokesman added: "This is a complex area, involving a large number of technical and competition issues that we need to consider and resolve before finalising proposals. For example, a very high proportion of households in the UK rely on Digital Terrestrial TV -- Freeview -- which needs to be relocated before 4G can be rolled out."

O2 has warned that it considers the way the auction is being structured -- which will impose a spectrum cap on spectrum below 1Ghz -- could be seen as illegal state aid for Hutchison 3G UK, who would be able to pick up more of the 800Mhz spectrum than its rivals.

"We note that because these technical issues need to be satisfactorily resolved before new networks can be built, it will not be possible for mobile operators to start rolling out 4G networks until 2013 at the earliest regardless of when the auction itself actually takes place."

Yesterday, the country's smallest mobile network, Hutchison 3G UK (Three) warned that a delay would be particularly detrimental to the company as it lacks the lower frequency spectrum that its rivals have, and were recently permitted to run 3G services over.

Facebook, Twitter integration spreads to all of Apple's online store

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:31:34 +0100

Links to share products on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter are now available for all items sold in Apple's online store, including third-party products.

The gradual roll-out of the social networking features began last month, but was initially limited to only a handful of Apple-specific products, namely the iPod classic and Mac Pro. But as of Monday, all products in Apple's online store now sport links to Facebook and Twitter.

Using the links, users can share products with their friends on the popular social networking sites. The links can be found by clicking a drop-down arrow located to the right of "Add to Cart" links on the store.

Choosing to share a link on Twitter opens a window pre-populated with the name of the product and a link to the Apple online store. For Facebook, a window opens and users can post a thumbnail and a link to the product via their account.

The enhancements to Apple's online store are another way that the company has chosen to embrace social networking. The iPhone maker will also add system-wide Twitter integration to iOS 5 this fall, while videos of an alleged iPhone prototype suggest the company also looked into Facebook integration at the system level.

Vodafone Website Knocked Offline by Hackers

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:10:00 +0100

A number of major websites -- including Vodafone's Group website -- were disrupted yesterday after an apparently Turkish group of hackers were able to break the DNS server that underpins them.

When you type in a website address, your ISP looks up the underlying IP address of the website via a DNS service. If that is compromised, then it might send back the wrong IP address -- which is what appears to have happened in this case.

None of the company's actual websites were directly targeted by the hackers.

The attack appears to have come from the Turkish hacking group TurkGuvenligi, who described the 4th of September as 'World Hackers Day'.

Although fixing the security breach itself can be a swift affair for the DNS server, as ISPs around the world cache the results to save looking them up for every request, it could take as much as three days for some people to stop seeing the hacked messages.
Click on images to enlarge

Hacked DNS message

Police Clear Up Confusion Over Lost iPhone Prototype

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 09:06:00 +0100

Following the report that an Apple employee lost one of the company's prototype iPhone 5 handsets a couple of months ago, there has been some confusion over the role of the San Francisco Police Department in the affair.

Some reports suggested that although no formal complaint was filed with the police, when Apple staff visited the home where they had tracked the phone to, they were accompanied by police officers.

This had raised some queries as to how the police could have been there if the police had themselves no record of the complaint, and there has been some speculation that the "police" were not in fact police, but just said they were. That would have been a crime.

In a statement that clears up the issue, the San Francisco Police said that after speaking again to Apple representatives, it was discovered that Apple employees called Mission Police station directly, wanting assistance in tracking down a lost item. Because the address was in the neighbouring Ingleside Police district Apple employees were referred to the other police station.

Four SFPD Officers accompanied Apple employees to the home. The two Apple employees met with the resident and then went into the house to look for the lost item. The Apple employees did not find the lost item and left the house.

The Police statement confirmed that the Apple employees did not want to make an official report of the lost item.

The whereabouts of the missing prototype is still unknown.

Apple Employee Loses a Prototype iPhone Handset

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 18:30:22 +0100

An Apple employee has reportedly lost one of the company's forthcoming handsets -- reportedly an Apple iPhone 5 -- after taking it out with them to a local Mexican restaurant and bar.Unlike the lost iPhone last year, this handset appears to have simply been sold on eBay by someone presumably unaware of the significance of their find.

According to a report by Cnet, the phone went missing in late July and Apple's security have been working to recover the missing phone.

Apple hasn't filed a lost property report with the San Francisco police, although it is reported that Apple contacted the police for help with recovering the "priceless" device.

The company reportedly tracked the phone to a private home, but a search was unable to find it.

Quite what happened to the phone is unknown, but if it was sold to someone and they are using it, then it would presumably have been detected by the mobile networks.