Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Year of the foundations -December 22nd

By Magnus Ingelsten
As we have aggressively pursued Android from the very start we have realized the good strengths with Linux. Thus also recently we joined the LiMo foundation.
Our VP of Solutions Management, Andrew Till did a speech at the SEE in October on “Avoiding the pitfalls of open source”. This speech was much appreciated and since then we have created a whitepaper available from our web as well as it generated an article which was posted today on the LiMo foundation blog. http://blog.limofoundation.org/index.php/LiMo-Foundation/Avoiding-the-pitfalls-of-Open-Source-–-Part-1.html Enjoy reading, all of you that consider the uses of open source software, and how you get most out of it.

Yes, obviously we will continuously strive to support mobile linux including Maemo on which we have many engineers and experts engaged. And we are looking for more people and engineers to join our team right now.

And, not least, the Symbian Foundation with new phones from SonyEricsson, Samsung and Nokia hopefully will make great x-mas gifts and fuel a great 2010 for Symbian.

Yes, we are heading towards brighter times. The Christmas shopping in Sweden breaks an all times high, despite the financial crisis, Tokyo stock exchange just hit all year high. As well as a very happy Nasdaq, as I am writing these lines, makes the outlook for 2010 very encouraging.

So, A merry x-mas and a happy new year to all of you!

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Time to get unified? -December 9th

By Magnus Ingelsten

2 years ago we thought mobile platforms were getting pretty unified with J2ME and the uptake of Symbian. Has there ever been as many OS and foundations to choose from as now?

Isn´t it pretty cool that whatever song (read format) we get from a friend we can play it in any laptop? Or that there is (in principle) one CD format that plays in every CD player? It’s easy and intuitive.

From the mobile handset standpoint it would be great if we could swap the handset and keep the apps. Or even buy apps from any marketplace whatever handset we have.

From an operators perspective it would be a great thing with one service to all handsets. The fact is the GSMA hailed JIL as the potential saviour to the disparate application environment. The Joint Innovation Lab´s (www.jil.org) call for a unified widget standard is a great initiative. Vodafone, Softbank, Verizon and China Mobile are certainly strong enough to impact the market, as well as attractive enough application developers.
The additional €1,000,000 prize fund set up by Vodafone won´t make it less interesting. Already LG, RIM, Samsung, Sharp and recently Foxconn have agreed to launch JIL compatible handsets. And Vodafone´s 360 service already includes the first JIL devices from Samsung.
It is interesting that the rockets in the statistics of manufacturer volumes have jumped on the train first (Foxconn built the iPhones). Can anybody resist the >1 billion user base represented by these operators?

Will the time come when it will be as easy managing apps as listening to any radio channel on any FM radio? Let’s hope it’s sooner rather than later.

North America – Breaking into a new frontier -December 9th

By Martin Wilde

Perhaps you recall a time not so long ago when business phones, then dubbed “smart,” were considered the consumer phone’s ugly cousin? When the idea of mobile Linux was sneered at, 4G was written off as a casualty of the global economic crisis, and no one had ever heard of an iPhone, Android, app store, eBook or netbook.
Fast-forward to the present when you can’t read twenty words on an industry blog without at least one of these terms popping up. Today, “smartphones” have become ubiquitous across the cellular landscape, and are in dire need of a new definition. What does it mean when my teenage kid wants a Blackberry? Should I be happy or call a shrink? Open Source and mobile Linux are fast becoming standard due to such organizations as the Open Handset Alliance, the Symbian Foundation, the LiMo foundation, along with the full support of new and established companies in the form of Google and Nokia. 4G services are being commercialized as we speak in such technological beachheads as Pittsburgh and Atlanta. Everything in my life is connected to the internet – my cellphone, my home phone, my TV, my car, my eBook reader, my refrigerator. There’s an “app” for everything, whatever that means, and now I have to worry about whether I live in a red, blue or yellow coverage area. What in the world is going on? Have we all lost our minds?

What a time to be in the mobile industry business! The above attempt at humor belies the tremendous explosion of both existing and new mobile technologies we have experienced around the world in just the last 2-3 years. And the marketplace shows no sign of slowing down.
That is good news for a world-leading mobile solutions and services company like Teleca, and especially good news for North America, one of the leading global markets for both the evolution of mobile handsets and for new emerging devices. As the industry we know begins to move beyond mobile handsets and into the broader segment of mobile enabled devices and end-user applications, Teleca has responded to the challenge by re-organizing the North America team around a new vertical strategy driven by our commitment to our existing customers and a view towards future market opportunity. From manufacturers, carriers and chipset vendors to converged devices and applications, Teleca provides best-in-class mobile software development, system-integration, customization and testing services to all these market segments, helping our customers be more successful and expand their global penetration.
In North America, and indeed across the entire company, Teleca combines strategic understanding and market expertise with an absolute commitment to our clients’ growth to help them reach their full potential.

Welcome the new frontier of mobile. Welcome to Teleca!