Cell Geek

Apple fell just short of annalists predictions for the Fourth quarter.  Predictions were set for Apple to produce $8.3 Billion in profits for the fourth quarter.  As expected their stock price dropped to $600 per share on the announcement.  The demand for the iPhone 5 is promising to put Apple back on track for the first quarter, as the demand has been larger than expected, and they are having difficulty keeping up with production.  Apple has also recently won their Patent Violation lawsuit against Samsung in the United States.  The win should prove to put some distance between Apple and Samsung in the market place.  Samsung is currently heavily relying on the Android operating system to fuel their smart phone sales.  Putting one of the larger manufacturers are arms length can only serve to assist Apple in trying to increase their market share for IOS.

Via Wireless Week

The world market is a very large place. While Samsung has been doing well overall with handset sales this year, on the global scale Samsung is just a drop in the bucket. Samsung is lagging behind the world smart phone market. Holding just 3.4% of the market, Samsung has a long way to go. Recently, Samsung has put out the Jet, a 3.1 AMOLED screened beauty. The handset runs on Samsungs Touchwiz 2.0 interface. Samsung is pushing hard to increase their touch screen offerings. This is one of between 45-50 touch screen handsets that Samsung will make available this year. Samsung expects to produce about 150 new handsets in 2009.

Samsung has made impressive increases in their overall global handset sales this year. Increasing their grasp on the global market to almost 20% up from 14% the previous year. Samsungs entire focus will not be on smart phones however. The low end handset market will not be safe.

Armed with the latest information from Juniper Research sighting the mid-level handset market shrinking. Samsung will redirect their focus to the other 2 remaining markets. High-end smart devices, and low end entry level handsets. By 2014 these 2 markets are expected to be 79% of the entire handset market. This would equate to about 1 billion units.

Samsung has announced a new wireless transfer option for their mobile phones, Wireless USB. The new wireless transfer technology is capable of transmitting data at a rate of 480 Mbps, and can be connected by placing your device on or near your target device. The chip used for this will integrate removeable media storage and a USB 2.0 on the go interface in one unit, without having to add extensive circuits to accomidate the technology. You can expect to see this new option in Samsung equipment around second quarter 2009.

Samsung will be using a new chip in their phones to support EDGE. Manufactured by Broadcom, this chip will allow Samsung to integrate services into 2G phones that were previously available only in 3G enabled models. Extended Bluetooth, Wifi, GPS, Touch screens, and much more will be available in cheaper hansets. This should prove to help Samsung booth their number one manufacturer position in the United States, and further seperate themselves from competitors. Samsung has been focused on growing markets, and sees alot of potential in EDGE. According to iSuppli the EDGE market in 2008 was 308 Million handsets, and is expected to grow to 483 Million by 2012.

Mobile World Congress is known for being one of those events that handset manufacturers show off their goods, and try very hard to out do each other. Even with the poor posting of number across the wireless industry in the fourth quarter this years MWC is going to be no exception. Currently there is only one phone in North America that operates on Google's Android platform. This number will change by the end of the show. Samsung and HTC both have another device to add to these ranks. We expect the devices to be revealed with the rest of the telecom world watching in awe. Motorola, LG, and Sony Ericsson have all recently committed to an Android phone development they are too early in the process to deliver the goods by show time. The show is also going to be full of non-traditional vendors such as Huawei, Acer, and possibly even Dell. All three companies are not known for handset production in North America. Huawei is starting to make a forey into the American handset markets, after selling exclusivly in Europe, and intends to start a bang with a handset announcement running Android. Both Dell and Acer will most likely release a Windows Mobile device that integrates well with their PC based business. It seems since Apple produced the iPhone everyone thinks they can make a good cell phone. Time will tell I guess, but its certainly the start of a war.

Everyone is also in high hopes that information will be released about the up and coming Windows Mobile 6.5. This has been pretty under wraps with Microsoft leaking bits and pieces just to get our juices flowing. Will Winodws Mobile 6.5 be the best Windows Mobile yet, or will this too be riddled with seemingly unstoppable super bugs? MWC won't give us the answer, but should leave us wriggling with anticipation.

Samsung has signed a deal to license SRS circle surround headphone, SRS Surround HD, and SRS VIP+ for its phones. The deal will allow Samsung to offer 5.1 Surround for stereo enabled headphones. The technologies will also improve bass response, and high frequency clarity. Coupled with SRS voice and noise cancelling technology, calls are going to start getting really good.

Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG Electronics have decided to help conserve electricity usage, by implimenting a "Green Rating System" for their chargers. The chargers will recieve a star rating between zero and 5 stars. Cellular phone chargers continue to draw power from the wall when they are plugged in, even if the cell phone is not charging on the other end. Two thirds of the wasted electricity from cellular phones is caused from chargers being left plugged into the wall when not in use.

Verizon wireless just added two new phones to their line up from Samsung.  Both phones share a few common features including:  CDMA, EVDO, quad band GSM/GPRS, Stereo Bluetooth, MicroSD Expandable memory, and a 2 MP camera onboard.

The Saga is a Windows Mobile 6.1 Smart Device containing a touch screen and simultaneously sporting a full QWERTY keyboard.  The phone also includes an optical mouse, Wifi, and comes pre-loaded with Opera's mobile web browser.  The price tag on the Saga will be $200 after contracts and rebates.  The Saga can be purchased via all channels starting December 1st.

The Renown is a standard clamshell phone equipped with VCast, MP3 , and Visual voicemail.  This handset will sell, after contracts and rebates, for $180.  The Renown will also be available December 1st in all channels.