Nokia to halve smartphone offerings in 2010

Click Video CES 2010 Nokia N900 from Youtube


Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone maker, has announced it will be cutting its smartphone offering in half next year, despite losing market share to rivals RIM and Apple.

"We see... really fierce competition certainly in the high end, but we also see it in the mid to low end of smartphones increasing," said Jo Harlow, chief of Nokia's smartphone unit, via Reuters. "We will defend our position, but we believe we also have tools to play offense as well as defense."

Part of that "defense" will be to push smartphone prices lower while at the same time increasing margins. Recent figures showed that Nokia had lost smartphone market share for the most recent quarter, from 41 percent to 35 percent.

"Reducing the number of smartphone models makes a lot of sense... but Nokia has to be very careful in finding the right balance: its large product portfolio has been one of its strong competitive advantages in the past," concludes Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu.



Source: www.afterdawn.com

Sony Ericsson sees Q4 turnaround, announces new phones

In an interview with Reuters, Sony Ericsson CEO Hideki Komiyama said he thinks the global handset may strengthen in the third or fourth quarter of this year. However, he was vague on whether his company would need a fresh influx of cash by the beginning of next year.


"It's difficult to say definitively [whether the market has bottomed] but I can see the trend," Komiyama said.

He said the recovery would be weak, but could start by the middle of the third quarter and extend into the fourth quarter. The global handset market suffered its fastest rate of annual decline in handset shipments since 1984, according to Strategy Analytics.

Komiyama was noncommittal on the financial position of the joint venture between Japan's Sony and Sweden's Ericsson. "I don't know if we will need it or not," he said, referring to Sony's recent statements that Sony Ericsson will need about $135.5 million in new funds by next March.

In other Sony Ericsson news, the handset maker unveiled three new phones at a London press event. The Aino is a touchscreen and media-centric phone that allows users to connect to content on their PlayStation 3 gaming console.

The Yari is a gaming-centric phone that has Nintendo Wii-like gesture controls. And the Satio, previously named the Idou, sports a 12-megapixel camera, will run on the Symbian Foundation OS and will have a touchscreen user interface.

All three devices will be released in the fourth quarter, but Sony Ericsson declined to discuss whether they will be available to American shoppers.

"Regarding U.S. availability, we don't pre-announce which handsets will be availabe and with which carriers," a Sony Ericsson spokesman told FierceWireless. Interestingly, though, the devices do feature spectrum compatible with the U.S. Market.


By Phil Goldstein, www.fiercewireless.com

Graphics Chips Shipment Boosted By Netbooks

Intel leads the race

According to market researcher Jon Peddie Research, third-quarter shipments of graphics chips jumped 21.2 percent over the second quarter. The increase in the demand for integrated graphics processors is behind Intel's good numbers.

Reportedly, in contrast to the third quarter of 2008, when the record 111 million units were distributed, Q3 of 2009 saw an increase of 8.45 million, totaling 119.45mil units. . "So the market has caught up with, and exceeded,
last year's highs. The Crash of fall 2008 is now behind us," Peddie said in a statement. "Q2 was already a great quarter clearly signaling the holidays will be robbust for PCs and the industry in general," he said.


Allegedly, AMD demonstrated the biggest jump at 30 percent, followed by Intel at 21 and also gained on discrete graphics card leader Nvidia. "Intel shipped he most
parts at 63 million, over twice as many as its nearest competitor Nvidia," said Peddie, and explained that Intel had a 53 percent share of the market in the third quarter.


"Netbooks will remain popular but they will not have the high market share they had during the recession when they were just introduced. Rather, consumers are expected to 'buy up' in the next quarter," reported Peddie.



By: Ivan Zhekov,www.notebookcheck.net