Qualcomm sees fastest growth in Asia; tie-up with HTC
456947
Qualcomm , the world&#39;s top  mobile chip designer, said on Wednesday China recently passed  Japan to become its second largest Asian market, as it unveiled  a major tie-up with leading smartphone maker HTC (2498.TW).
428530
At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Qualcomm offered a sneak peek of its concept for an ultramobile PC for the largely untapped market where it will meet Intel head on.Qualcomm for the first time demonstrated a prototype of a device reminiscent of Nokia&#39;s N800. Qualcomm calls it a pocketable computer because &quot;if you can&#39;t carry it in your pocket, you can&#39;t carry it with you,&quot; said Sanjay Jha, chief operating officer and president of Qualcomm&#39;s CDMA Technologies Group. The device, which has a slide-out keyboard, runs Windows Mobile, and has HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access), GPS (Global Positioning Service), Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.The screen is 800 pixels wide so that most Web sites designed for PCs render nicely, Jha said. That means users could view the regular YouTube.com site, rather than a version of the site designed for mobile phones, he said.The prototype runs on the 7201 chip, a new chip released recently by Qualcomm, but the design is intended to showcase&#160;Qualcomm&#39;s new Snapdragon line of chips. Those chips are now being sampled by hardware vendors, with initial commercial devices expected out this year, he said.Despite the slow take-off of such devices that sit between notebooks and phones -- such as the Samsung Q that runs on Microsoft&#39;s Windows-based ultra-mobile PC platform -- Jha said other factors are finally falling into place to increase their appeal. Faster wireless networks, better processors that require less power and in the near future, the openness of mobile networks and billing plans should increase demand and sales, he said.Still, Qualcomm doesn&#39;t expect that this category of device will approach the widespread adoption of mobile phones. He figures that smartphones make up about 200 million of the entire 1.3 billion handsets on the market. &quot;I think it&#39;s possible to envision a device that sells in that ballpark volume,&quot; Jha said.The chip maker will face Intel in this market, which is also introducing chips for devices that are smaller than laptops but bigger than cell phones. In fact,&#160;Apple is rumored to be developing an ultra-mobile PC product&#160;based on Intel&#39;s processors.&quot;We come at this problem from an understanding of wireless,&quot; Jha said. &quot;Intel comes at it from an understanding of computing. We both bring different things to the table. Time will tell how our vision works versus Intel&#39;s direction.&quot;The companies are also making different bets in terms of wireless network compatibility. &quot;We&#39;re working on WiMax as well but our priority is clearly 3G,&quot; Jha said. Intel, a big backer of WiMax, has said that it may&#160;build WiMax into Menlow, its platform for ultramobile devices, for release some time this year.Nokia&#39;s N800 devices fit into a similar category between a phone and a notebook. Despite the fact that Nokia and Qualcomm are in a bitter licensing dispute, Jha praised the N800, saying it sold more initially than Nokia expected. Nokia has typically declined to reveal sales figures for the devices.Qualcomm doesn&#39;t envision that Snapdragon will only be used in &quot;pocketable computing&quot; devices, the company&#39;s preferred term for what are commonly called ultra-mobile PCs. The chips could be used in navigation devices with wireless connectivity to deliver traffic information to users. Gaming devices, dedicated Internet devices or gadgets like Amazon&#39;s digital book-reader Kindle could also use the chips, Jha said.
624072
Wireless technology company Qualcomm Inc.  on Wednesday reported a higher quarterly profit on growing global demand for cellular networks using its technology.
753356
The chipmaker is upbeat about growth prospects in Asia, but is also watching the economic developments in the U.S.
650384
(InfoWorld) - Samsung Electronics held onto its title as the world's largest producer of DRAMÂ memory chips in 2006 despite a late charge by Hynix Semiconductor, according to a study released Thursday. Hynix leapfrogged Qimonda, jumping into second place by posting a 31 percent increase in DRAM bit shipments from the third to fourth quarter, while the market as a whole grew by only 14 percent in that time, according to iSuppli. In 2006, Samsung claimed DRAM revenues of $9.5 billion, 28 percent of the entire $33.9 billion market, iSuppli said. Hynix followed with 16.6 percent market share, leading Qimonda's 15.9 percent, Micron's 11 percent, and Elpida's 10.4 percent. All other producers were in single digits. Hardware vendors use DRAM semiconductor memory in a vast range of products, including PCs, printers, hard disk drives, mobile phones, digital cameras, televisions, and game consoles. Although demand will keep growing, iSuppli says slumping prices in 2007 will take the wind out of those sails, pushing revenue down despite rising sales. The vendors are more optimistic. Qimonda predicts that demand could rise in 2007 because of Microsoft's launch of its newÂ Windows Vista OS as well as other communication and consumer applications, according to the company's Jan. 23 earnings report. Likewise, Samsung predicts that a strong consumer electronics market will push demand for DRAM used in 2.5G and 3G handsets and in game consoles. DRAM vendors also hope to continue momentum by relying on technology advances, planning to shrink their chip architecture from 90 nanometers to 80nm and below in the short term and toÂ upgrade from current DDR2 design to DDR3 in coming years. Despite its dominant position, Samsung suffered in December asÂ one of its executives agreed to serve jail time and pay a large fineÂ as the result of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice into price-fixing practices in the industry. The plea was the fifth from a Samsung executive and marked the 18th person from four vendors indicted since December 2003. The other companies charged were Hynix, Elpida, and Infineon (which has since spun off its DRAM division as Qimonda). Â
57127
U.S. wireless technology firm and  chip supplier Qualcomm Inc.  is talking to potential  Chinese partners to prepare for the launch of third-generation  services, but its chief executive questioned on Tuesday the  market prospects for a homegrown standard Beijing is pushing.
92852
The U.S. International Trade Commission has denied Qualcomm Inc.'s  request to stay an order banning imports of new phone models with Qualcomm chips the trade agency said infringe a Broadcom Corp.  patent, Broadcom said on Friday.
239121
The worldâs largest maker of wireless networks said today that strong sales in Asia helped boost earnings to $960 million in the second quarter.
753244
Japan&#39;s biggest mobile telecom carrier gave its strongest support yet to&#160;Google&#39;s Android platform&#160;on Thursday when it said it is considering a cell phone based on the technology.&quot;We are starting discussions to offer handsets that will have the Android operating system,&quot; said Takeshi Natsuno, managing director of the multimedia services department at NTT DoCoMo.The talks include getting support for I-mode, DoCoMo&#39;s hit mobile Internet service, on the Android platform. Nearly 48 million of DoCoMo&#39;s 53 million customers subscribe to I-mode, so having it on Android will be key to the Google platform&#39;s success in Japan.Android is a Linux-based platform for cell phones that will combine open-source components and include an operating system, middleware stack, customizable user interface and applications.NTT DoCoMo is one of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance, the group developing Android. Until Thursday hadn&#39;t disclosed what it hoped to gain from its participation in the group, which includes about 40 companies including some of the biggest names in the cell phone industry.&quot;When I look at the prototype, the Android-based handset works really well even on some of the cheaper handset designs,&quot; said Natsuno.Natsuno didn&#39;t provide any specifics about when such a handset might be available. When the Open Handset Alliance was launched last year Google said that it expected the first phones running the software to appear in late 2008.Despite its support for Android, NTT DoCoMo is also working with companies developing rival platforms. It has an alliance with Access, a Japanese software company with which is has deep ties, on the Access Linux Platform (ALP). DoCoMo is working on a &quot;carrier pack,&quot; a set of unique products and services, that can run on ALP, which is intended to be a common Linux platform for cell phones.Natsuno&#39;s comments came at a Tokyo news conference held to detail a partnership between the carrier and Google.The alliance will see Google products and applications added to DoCoMo handsets. These will include the addition of a Google search box on the main I-mode menu page from which users will access mobile and PC Web sites. Google Ads will appear alongside search results. The two companies said they are also planning to bring more Google services, such as Google Maps, to handsets and build in support for Flash video so that users can access and stream content from YouTube.Google will appear as the default start page on mobile phones that feature browsers for the full Internet.The deal is Google&#39;s second in the mobile space in Japan. It already has a deal with second-ranked carrier &quot;au&quot; to which it provides search and advertising services. Number three carrier Softbank Mobile has a link with Yahoo Japan, the portal in which its parent company, Softbank, is the biggest shareholder.&#160;
176753
Wireless technology company Qualcomm Inc.  on Wednesday posted quarterly earnings that rose 46 percent on strong sales of cell phones using its chips, but said current-quarter earnings would fall short of the average Wall Street forecast.
96324
Global mobile phone makers including Taiwan&#39;s High Tech Computer Corp. are already testing new processors from Qualcomm Inc. with which the chip manufacturer hopes to challenge Intel Corp. in the market for ultramobile PCs and mobile devices.
588916
Qualcomm Inc. Friday raised its earnings and revenue forecasts for the current quarter, based on higher shipments of its cell-phone chips.
476017
HTC will beat iPhone to the punch in Germany as that country's three largest cellular operators say they expect to start selling the Touch device by the end of June.
208528
Qualcomm Inc.&#39;s earnings rose 35 percent on continued sales growth in its fiscal fourth quarter, but the cell-phone technology company projected earnings for the new fiscal year below Wall Street&#39;s views.
262593
(InfoWorld) - As IT investors brace for a wave of financial reports next week, mobile device makers are attracting attention as Asia becomes an increasingly important battleground for handset sales. For example, Motorola preannounced part of its quarterly report, due July 19, on Wednesday, saying thatÂ second quarter sales would be $8.6 billion to $8.7 billion, instead of $9.4 billion as previously forecast. The company expects a drop in handset sales in Asia, where vendors are vying to get the lion's share of the market in growing national economies, as North American and Europe become saturated with mobile phones. Despite the revised forecast, Motorola enjoyed a spike in the price of its shares caused by rumors that CEO Ed Zander might resign. Motorola shares jumped Wednesday by $0.33 Wednesday to close at $17.95, and rose again Thursday to close at $18.08. Zander attracted criticism from heavyweight investor Carl Icahn earlier this year and now has come under attack from well-known activist shareholder Eric Jackson. Zander's departure would indicate that a serious restructuring was under way at the company, which has been outflanked on several fronts in the handsets wars by rivals like Apple. Meanwhile, investors saw Motorola's quarterly weakness as Nokia's gain. Brokerage Oppenheimer & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating on Nokia after Motorola's announcement. Nokia shares rose $1.08 Thursday to close at $29.95. The mobile phone market has come under increasing scrutiny lately in the wake of the June 29 launch of Apple's iPhone in the U.S. Apple is now reported to be in talks with carriers to launch the device in Europe, Finland-based Nokia's home market. A report from a JP Morgan Chase analyst Tuesday thatÂ Apple will also launch a cheaper version of the iPhoneÂ in the fourth quarter drove up Apple shares. JP Morgan analyst Kevin Chang said the new model could sell for less than $300, basing his report on Apple patent filings and component supplier sources. A cheaper iPhone would put it within reach of younger customers. Apple shares rose by $1.68 Thursday to close at $134.07. Technology companies for the most part are riding high on general confidence in corporate earnings. The technology-heavy Nasdaq has hit several six-and-a-half year highs over the last 10 days. General economic conditions have helped. For example, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached a record Thursday on positive news from retail sales data and continued mergers and acquisitions announcements. But IT vendors themselves are coming off a string of quarters that have generally been good for earnings overall. The torrid pace of M&A in IT also continues unabated: Just this week, for example, Google beefed up security offerings with itsÂ planned $625 million buy of Postini. Next week will provide key information for forecasts for the rest of the year as a string of IT bellwether reports quarterly sales and guidance for the rest of the year. Among those due to report: IBM, Google, Yahoo, Motorola, Microsoft, Intel, AMD, and SAP.
753580
EMC&#39;s Asian operations are back on track after sluggish growth during early 2006, and the company aims to take Asian market share away from rivals and push into new market segments.&quot;We went from worst to first,&quot; said Steve Leonard, president of Asia-Pacific and Japan, explaining that Asia went from being EMC&#39;s slowest-growing region in 2006 to its fastest in 2007.EMC&#39;s Asia-Pacific revenue grew 24 percent during 2007, hitting $1.46 billion. By comparison, revenue from Asia grew by just 6 percent during 2006, which was lower than previous years and far slower than EMC&#39;s growth in other regions during that period.Gartner and IDC pegged Asian storage revenue growth at around 23 percent during the third quarter, the most recent period for which figures are available.&quot;We see EMC very well placed as a storage vendor in Asia,&quot; said Avneesh Saxena, group vice president of systems, storage, and software research at IDC Asia-Pacific, citing EMC&#39;s improved channel relationships and &quot;software-driven approach&quot; to developing storage products. &quot;They aren&#39;t just selling boxes,&quot; he said.Even so, taking storage market share away from rivals won&#39;t necessarily be easy for EMC, Saxena said, noting IBM and Hewlett-Packard are firmly entrenched in key Asian markets.EMC&#39;s turnaround&#160;is largely a credit to Leonard, who was hired in 2006 and given the job of transforming its Asian operations.Getting the company back on track in Asia involved a variety of steps, including shaking up the company&#39;s sales teams and building stronger ties with channel partners. EMC also embarked on an aggressive expansion in India and China to spur growth in these markets and tap into the vast pools of engineering talent there.&quot;We effectively had zero software-engineering capabilities resident in China during the summer of 2006. I was just up in Beijing and we are going to hire our 1,000th engineer this quarter,&quot; Leonard said.Looking ahead, EMC is counting on new products that tap user demand for information storage, content-management capabilities, and security to spur further revenue growth in Asia. In a break with EMC&#39;s traditional sales focus on large corporations and organizations, the company also plans to expand into new markets, offering storage products and services for small business and even consumers.At the top end of the market, EMC hopes to generate more sales with a line of flash memory-based drives, announced last month, designed to replace some disk drives in the company&#39;s Symmetrix storage arrays.&quot;EMC is in a very high innovation cycle right now. It&#39;s been bringing more things out to the market than at any moment in its history,&quot; Leonard said.While the woes of early 2006 are now history for EMC, the company still faces challenges in Asia. In particular, Japan remains a difficult market.EMC is working to improve its Japanese operations, but it will take time for these efforts to yield the desired results, Leonard said, calling the company&#39;s transformation there a &quot;work in progress.&quot;&quot;We&#39;ve had dozens and dozens of meetings with executives from leading Japanese companies, essentially to say, &#39;We&#39;re committed to being a better local company, we&#39;re asking for your support,&quot; he said.As part of these efforts, EMC turned to sport to help raise its profile in Japan. The Massachusetts-based company is sponsoring the Boston Red Sox baseball team&#39;s upcoming March visit to Japan and will use the occasion to woo prospective customers and partners. Baseball is very popular in Japan and Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka is a celebrity in his home country, where he played professionally for several years.&#160;
15347
Qualcomm Incorporated, pioneer and world leader of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) digital wireless technology, on October 1 announced the opening of a research and development (R&amp;D) center in Hyderabad, India.