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Thursday, February 23, 2012

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MetroPCS Q4 results are in: increased revenue, slowing growth

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 10:38 AM PST

MetroPCS Q4 results are in; revenue and ARPU up, growth slows

The nation's fifth largest wireless provider -- MetroPCS -- has checked in with its Q4 2011 financials, and on the whole, the company looks to be doing quite well. Metro reported $1.2 billion in consolidated quarterly revenues and $362 million in earnings, an increase of 16% and 15% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. A few other positive vitals: average revenue per user (ARPU) was up $0.76, net income rose to $77 million and churn dropped 80 basis points from 4.5% in Q3 to 3.7% in Q4. Two small blemishes can be found in the net customer additions and cost per user (CPU) columns. While MetroPCS added well over 197,000 new customers in Q4, the rate at which it grew slowed dramatically -- down 34% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. The company's CPU also rose $1.17 during that same period -- which can be partially attributed to LTE network services, along with general expansion and operating costs. One other mildly unfortunate note was word that voice over LTE wouldn't be launching till the second half of the year, slightly later than we had been anticipating. Taking all that into consideration, it was still a strong quarterly showing from the value-centered wireless carrier.

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MetroPCS Reports Fourth Quarter and Year End 2011 Results

Fourth Quarter 2011 Highlights Include:
  • Quarterly net subscriber additions of 197 thousand
  • Quarterly consolidated total revenues of $1.2 billion, an increase of 16% over the fourth quarter of 2010
  • Record Adjusted EBITDA of $362 million, an increase of 15% over the fourth quarter of 2010 and the highest quarterly Adjusted EBITDA in Company history
Full Year 2011 Highlights Include:
  • Total subscriber growth of 15% in 2011 to over 9.3 million total subscribers
  • Sixth consecutive year of over 1 million net subscriber additions
  • Consolidated total revenues of $4.8 billion, an increase of 19% over 2010
  • Record Adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 billion, an increase of 13% over 2010, and the highest Adjusted EBITDA in Company history
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MetroPCS Communications, Inc. (NYSE: PCS), the nation's leading provider of no annual contract, unlimited, flat-rate wireless communications service, today announced financial and operational results for the quarter and year ended December 31, 2011. MetroPCS reported growth in quarterly Adjusted EBITDA of 15% over the fourth quarter 2010 and ended the fourth quarter 2011 with over 9.3 million subscribers.

"Definition of Terms and Reconciliation of non-GAAP Financial Measures"

Roger D. Linquist, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MetroPCS, said, "We reported solid financial and operating results for 2011, marked by record Adjusted EBITDA for the full year and the fourth quarter as well as strong full year subscriber growth. Adjusted EBITDA both for the fourth quarter and the full year 2011 was the highest in company history at $362 million and $1.3 billion, respectively. These Adjusted EBITDA results represent strong year over year growth rates of 15% and 13%, respectively. Operationally, during the fourth quarter, we effectively balanced growth with profitability, recorded a sequential 80 basis point decline in churn, and recorded a 300 basis point sequential increase in Adjusted EBITDA margin.

"Throughout 2011, we maintained our cost discipline while growing our subscriber base. We believe 2011 results were driven by our compelling lineup of smartphones and our continued investment in our CDMA network combined with our focus on enhancing the customer experience. For the sixth consecutive year, we added over 1 million net subscribers, growing our subscriber base at a 30% CAGR over the same period. This growth rate is outstanding and we believe demonstrates that no annual contract mobile broadband wireless service continues to be the fastest growing sector within wireless. As we move towards the second half of 2012, we expect to offer MetroPCS subscribers Android smartphones on our 4G LTE network at lower prices. Since our launch of Android smartphones in late 2010, 35% of our subscriber base is now on a smartphone plan. With our 4G LTE network and line-up of smartphones, we believe we can build on our momentum and continue to drive profitable growth," Linquist concluded.

2011 Operational Highlights
  • Approximately 1.2 million net subscriber additions, surpassing the 9.3 million subscriber milestone
  • Sixth consecutive year of over 1 million net subscriber additions
  • Introduced 4G LTE service plans which offer unprecedented value
  • Launched and continued to build out 4G LTE service in all major metropolitan areas
  • Introduced MetroPCS unlimited wireless service in selected portions of Connecticut and Massachusetts
  • Completed amendment and expansion of senior secured credit facility and completed an additional $1 billion of borrowing
2011 Smartphone Launches include:
  • World's first commercially available 4G LTE Android smartphone, Samsung Galaxy Indulge
  • Samsung Admire and Huawei M835 Android CDMA smartphones
  • 4G LTE LG Esteem for entertainment-minded consumers
  • HTC Wildfire S, Company's first Android smartphone provided by HTC
  • 2011 Service Offering Additions:
  • Visual Voice Mail services allowing subscribers to manage voice mail directly on their mobile screen
  • Rhapsody music service, which offers an unlimited mobile music experience with access to more than 12 million songs
  • Added content from Disney/ABC Television Group and ESPN to MetroSTUDIO Video on Demand application for 4G LTE handsets. Clips and full-length videos are now available on 20 channels including: NBC Universal, Black Entertainment Television (BET), ESPN, ABC Entertainment and Univision.
2011 Announced Partnerships:
  • MetroPCS handsets available on Amazon.com
  • Official wireless provider of USA Basketball
  • Exclusive wireless provider for The Ultimate Fighting Championship® in the U.S. and Puerto Rico
Quarterly Consolidated Results
  • Consolidated service revenues of $1.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2011, an increase of $162 million, or 17%, when compared to the prior year's fourth quarter.
  • Income from operations increased $8 million, or 4%, for the fourth quarter of 2011 when compared to the prior year's fourth quarter.
  • Net income increased $77 million, or 573%, for the fourth quarter of 2011 when compared to the prior year's fourth quarter. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2010 includes approximately $60 million in net charges related to the extinguishment of our 9 1/4% Senior Notes due 2014 and a gain recognized on a FCC license exchange consummated during the quarter. On a non-GAAP basis excluding the loss on extinguishment of debt and gain on the FCC license exchange, net income for the fourth quarter 2010 would have been $74 million, or $0.20 per common share.
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $362 million increased by $47 million for the fourth quarter of 2011, or 15%, when compared to the prior year's fourth quarter.
  • Average revenue per user (ARPU) of $40.55 for the fourth quarter of 2011 represents an increase of $0.76 when compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. The increase in ARPU was primarily attributable to continued demand for our Wireless for All and 4G LTE service plans offset by an increase in family plan penetration from 32% of our customer base in 2010 to 45% of our customer base in 2011.
  • The Company's cost per gross addition (CPGA) of $166 for the fourth quarter of 2011 represents an increase of $4 when compared to the prior year's fourth quarter. The increase was primarily driven by increased promotional activities.
  • Cost per user (CPU) increased to $20.00 in the fourth quarter of 2011, or a 6% increase over the fourth quarter of 2010. The increase in CPU is primarily driven by the increase in retention expense for existing customers, costs associated with our 4G LTE network upgrade and roaming expenses associated with Metro USA, offset by the continued scaling of our business.
  • Churn decreased 80 basis points from 4.5% to 3.7%, when compared to the third quarter of 2011, and increased 20 basis points when compared to the fourth quarter of 2010. The sequential decrease in churn was driven by normal seasonal effects related to the traditional retail selling periods, as well as improved network performance resulting from the investment in our CDMA network to meet increased data demands. When compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, the increase in churn was primarily driven by an increase in gross additions, adjusted for false churn, in the first nine months of 2011 over the first nine months of 2010, and we believe continued economic pressures on our subscribers as well as increased data demands on our CDMA network driven by Android penetration.
Annual Consolidated Results
  • MetroPCS reported consolidated service revenues of $4.4 billion, an increase of 20% over the prior year.
  • Income from operations increased $29 million, or 4%, for the year ended December 31, 2011 as compared to the prior year.
  • Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA of $1.3 billion increased $156 million, or 13%, when compared to the prior year.
  • Net income for the year was $301 million and increased $108 million, or 56%, when compared to the prior year. Net income for 2010 includes approximately $59 million in net charges related to the extinguishment of our 9 1/4% Senior Notes due 2014 and gains recognized on FCC license exchanges consummated during the year. On a non-GAAP basis excluding the loss on extinguishment of debt and gains on FCC license exchanges, net income for 2010 would have been $252 million, or $0.70 per common share.
Financial Guidance for 2012

MetroPCS currently expects to incur capital expenditures in the range of $900 million to $1.0 billion on a consolidated basis for the year ending December 31, 2012.

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 review

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 10:00 AM PST

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world of email. Yes, email! Sure, many of you have given up on the stuff in favor of more instant means of communication, but don't worry, because that's here too! Yes, the BlackBerry PlayBook, which was released 10 months ago, is now finally able to send messages all by itself. Sure, BlackBerry Bridge is still there and more useful than ever, tying the PlayBook even closer to your work-issued smartphone, but the 7-inch slate finally feels like it can stand a little more solidly on its own two feet.

Thankfully that's not all -- this recently refreshed tablet has a few other tricks up its sleeve, most notable being the ability to run some (focus on the some) Android apps without having to resort to any messy tweaks or hacks. The experience isn't entirely clean, nor does it quite feel like the refresh the "two dot oh" moniker implies, but it is a nice step forward. Click on through to see what you get.
BlackBerry PlayBook 2.0

Messages



No, the biggest point of discussion at the PlayBook's launch was what it couldn't do.

The biggest point of discussion at the launch of the PlayBook wasn't the thing's stout build
quality, its stoic good looks or even its finger-friendly gestures. No, the biggest tale was what it couldn't do. It lacked a dedicated email app, had no concept of a calendar and couldn't even keep track of your contacts. Sure, there was a Gmail icon sitting there next to the other apps, but that was just a link to an optimized version of the web interface. It didn't fool anybody.

As we mentioned, more and more people are forgoing email for other means of communication and those still down with POP are largely sending their missives through some online service or another. But, for a platform that made a name for itself by producing the most email-friendly smartphones on the planet, producing a tablet by the same name that's completely ignorant to the stuff was a glaring oversight.

Of course, the PlayBook could send emails, but only when paired with a willing BlackBerry smartphone via the Bridge app. That 'ol Bridge is still here, which we'll discuss in just a moment, and now users are swimming in a wealth of messaging options. Both Bridge and Messages let you send and receive emails and, should you configure the same email account in both you'll get not one but two notifications with every email you receive! That is every bit as annoying as it sounds.


Thankfully Messages is much more than just email. Through it you can aggregate messaging from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn -- the most important social network for suits -- though you are limited to only one of each. (Sorry, Twitter schizos.) You can, however, have as many email accounts as you like, coming through Exchange, Hotmail, Gmail, IMAP, or POP.

Add a bunch and everything will be all jumbled together into a single view of what's going on. Every friend request, every Twitter DM and every desperate "Know of any openings?" message from that guy you used to work with that summer who quit in a huff and quickly had second thoughts. The integrated view is nice if you're a casual communicator, but if you're the social sort things quickly become overwhelming. Thankfully, with a tap in the list of accounts on the left you can display only content from that source, and you can also filter by folder (or label, in the case of Gmail).

While you can view other content, this is not a replacement for the various other social apps in there. For example, unlike the (generally quite good) Facebook app, in Messages you can only view messages, friend requests and events. No status updates here.

The email sending interface is clean and simple and pretty much everything you would expect. There's a box for "To," a box for "Cc," a third for "Subject" and, finally, the place where you type in the body itself. No, Bcc is not supported, but attachments thankfully are, and you can choose any file you like.

Contacts and Calendar



Yes, there are new applications to manage these things, too. We signed in with our Gmail and Facebook accounts and the tablet made quick work of our pending appointments, listing them all in a simple, straightforward calendar view. You can create new events and push them to any of those accounts, but the functionality is somewhat limited compared to the real thing. For example, you can create an event on your Google Calendar, but you can't specify anything more than a simple pop-up reminder.

The Contacts app is similarly functional, pulling down whatever your social networks want to serve up. However, it's not particularly smart. For example, we have plenty of friends in LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter who appeared two or three separate times in the list. You can manually link them together if you're so inclined, but that sounds only marginally more entertaining than manually defragmenting your hard drive bit by bit.

Android



Happening across an Android app in the App World is a bit like winning the lottery: you're unlikely to do either by chance.

As nice as it is to finally have some proper integrated messaging, the most talked-about feature here is the ability to run Android apps right out of the box. You'll find them in the App World -- well, you might find them. RIM didn't want to make these stand out beyond the standard apps, so happening across an official APK is a bit like winning the lottery: you're unlikely to do either by chance.

So we specifically went looking for some clues on what to search for, and we had the most luck poking around the CrackBerry forums for posts by lucky winners. In this thread we found a short list of available apps and downloaded two: the Dolphin HD browser and Pool Break Lite.

The apps download and install quickly and smoothly enough, like any other app, and they're listed right next to any native apps with nothing untoward about their icons. Just make sure you save up a little extra patience the first time you run them. Select one and you'll be presented with a black screen telling you that the app is "initializing" and ask that you "please wait."



It's basically like rebooting the tablet, but thankfully that's just a one-time thing. Android apps will later load more quickly and, once in memory, seem to run well. We prefer the (still excellent) stock PlayBook browser to Dolphin HD, but that's not to say the other one doesn't swim very well in these unusual waters. It does.

We wanted to try out a little game performance, and are happy to report that Pool Break Lite too ran well. It admittedly isn't the most polygonally demanding of all titles in the world, and the multi-touch navigation in the app was a bit jumpy, but the tablet had no problem emulating the Android calls to make it run.

Developers will be glad to know that, after submitting their apps to App World, they can charge money if they wish, and indeed many already are. In-game ads are also supported, but RIM provides no Android support for its own BlackBerry ad services.

BlackBerry Remote

BlackBerry Remote will turn your Bold into the best HTPC remote on the planet.

The biggest new feature in the 2.0 version of BlackBerry Bridge, which ties your phone to your tablet, isn't actually directly related to Bridge at all. It's Remote, which adds the ability to use it as a very smart, very expensive remote control. Pair the two and you can use the phone's display like a trackpad, moving a cursor about the tablet and performing gestures on the edges. You can also use the phone's keyboard to type or enter a Presentation Mode for easy navigation through a PowerPoint hosted on the tablet.

It's really great, but what's even more great is that this works with any device -- any device that can talk to a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, at least. We've seen this hooked up with PCs, Android tablets and more, so even if you don't have a PlayBook you'll be wanting to install the new Bridge app. It will turn your Bold into the best HTPC remote on the planet.

Print To Go

Docs To Go has been around since the beginning, giving simple viewing and editing for Office-like documents. New in 2.0 is Print To Go, which you're probably thinking gives the ability to print from your PlayBook. Actually it's the other way around. If you install the Print To Go client on your PC (no Mac support currently) you can print documents directly to your tablet, wirelessly. It shows up like a printer and anything sent through it can be easily viewed offline later. Nice and simple -- if you have a PC.

BBM

It's clear that RIM doesn't even want to bring it to its own platforms, and so we're going to go ahead and stop wondering about when it will show up on anyone else's.

This is the part where we'd like to write about how great the new BBM integration is with the PlayBook 2.0 OS but, sadly, we can't -- because there still isn't a BBM app outside of BlackBerry Bridge. Yes, you can BBM on the tablet if you have a tethered smartphone, but it's time to be able to do it without.

For a long time we wondered when, not if, BlackBerry would bring BBM to other platforms -- iOS, Android, we knew people who would pay real money to use it. Now, though, it's clear that RIM doesn't even want to bring it to its own platforms, and so we're going to go ahead and stop wondering about when it will show up on anyone else's.

Wrap-up



The PlayBook was clearly designed at the outset to only be used with a crutch, and that crutch is a smartphone. Using the tablet just felt a bit uncomfortable without a reassuringly blinking blue light from a nearby BlackBerry. With the 2.0 release the PlayBook is rather more independent, less codependant, but still far from a strong figure when stacked up against the competition. This is a positive refresh that current owners will want to apply as soon as is readily possible, but it won't bring many new users to the fold.

The Messages app fills a void and the Android app support is a nice plus, but the former is simply something that should have been there at the beginning and the latter offers far too limited selection now to be a proper selling point. Both feel like too little and both have arrived far too late. Sadly, the best new feature here is not on the tablet at all -- it's the BlackBerry Remote app for smartphones.

Google 'close' to picking new Motorola Mobility CEO, say the usual gang of sources

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 09:59 AM PST

Google's first act with Motorola Mobility under its wing? Picking a new head for the company, apparently. According to some anonymous-type sources over at Bloomberg, Mountain View "is close" to picking its own SVP, former ad man Dennis Woodside, to succeed Sanjay Jha. Google, naturally is refusing to comment on the matter, which is still waiting the completion of the $12.5 billion acquisition.

ComScore report finds 42 percent of US mobile users have smartphones, Android at nearly 50 percent

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 09:46 AM PST

ComScore released its annual Digital Future in Focus report earlier this month, offering new findings on things like email and web use, and it's now out with its latest Mobile Future in Focus report, which provides a year-end wrap of mobile device use both in the US and around the world. Not surprisingly, that year was marked by the continued growth of the smartphone, with the adoption rate among US mobile users jumping from 27 percent in 2010 to just under 42 percent in 2011 (similar growth was found elsewhere, with it cracking the 50 percent mark in a few countries). Among those, Android proved to be the most popular platform with a 47.3 percent market share, followed by iOS at 30 percent and RIM at 16 percent (exactly half of what it was in 2010, with the majority of that lost share moving to Android). Incidentally, Canada was the sole country where RIM retained a lead, but just barely; it accounts for 32.6 percent of the smartphone market in the country, followed closely by iOS at 31.2 percent and Android at 27.8 percent.

Breaking things down further, while Android had the largest market share among smartphones, Apple had the three biggest selling phones in the US for the year with the iPhone 4, 3GS and 4S; the BlackBerry Curve 8530 snagged the fourth spot and the HTC EVO 4G took fifth. Of course, ComScore also took a look at tablets, and found that close to 15 percent of all US mobile users owned a tablet in addition to a phone, with the iPad of course accounting for an overwhelming majority of those. Notably, it also estimates that iPads account for over half of all iOS traffic, which helped boost iOS' overall share of mobile device traffic to a whopping 90.4 percent, although it notes it expect that to decline somewhat in 2012 as devices like the Kindle Fire peck away at the iPad's dominant market share. The full report can be found at the source link below.
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comScore Releases the "2012 Mobile Future in Focus" Report
Report Offers Insights on the Mobile and Connected Device Landscape in 2011 and What They Mean for 2012

RESTON, VA, February 23, 2012 - comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the 2012 Mobile Future in Focus report. This annual report examines the mobile and connected device landscape, covering several mobile markets measured by comScore, through an exploration of key trends driving smartphone adoption growth, mobile media usage in categories such as social networking and retail, mobile ecosystem dynamics, and shifts in multi-device digital media consumption in 2011. The report highlights insights primarily from mobile markets in the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada.

"2011 proved to be a groundbreaking year for the mobile industry, with smartphones hitting the mainstream, tablets emerging as a formidable fourth screen, and consumers increasingly integrating mobile behaviors into their lifestyles. As the industry continues to innovate and more consumers look to multiple devices and platforms to consume digital media, we expect the mobile and connected device landscape to be shaken up even further in 2012," said Mark Donovan, comScore Senior Vice President of Mobile. "As mobile channels present a more personal, social, and ubiquitous experience to consumers, advertisers and publishers have an opportunity to better engage target audiences, given an understanding of how to connect and leverage the unique characteristics of these emerging platforms."

To download a complimentary copy of 2012 Mobile Future in Focus report, please visit: http://www.comscore.com/2012MobileFutureinFocus

Key findings highlighted in 2012 Mobile Future in Focus include:

Smartphones Gain Adoption Among 'Early Majority', Driving Mobile Media Consumption
Nearly 42 percent of all U.S. mobile subscribers now use smartphones, along with 44.0 percent of mobile users across the EU5 (comprised of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK). Mobile media use – defined as browsing the mobile web, accessing applications, or downloading content – saw increased growth as a result, surpassing the 50-percent threshold in many markets, supported by the proliferation of high-speed networks and increased public WiFi availability.

Smartphone Platform Wars Intensify As Android and Apple Take the Lead in Most Markets
The Google Android and Apple iOS smartphone platforms emerged as the leaders of the U.S. smartphone market in 2011, with Android just a few points shy of capturing half of the smartphone market and iOS accounting for nearly 30 percent of the market. In the EU5, Android saw similarly significant gains, unseating market leader Symbian in 3 out of the 5 European markets measured.

Surge in Mobile App Usage Shapes a Dual Mobile Browsing Experience, Fueling Category Growth
In 2011, both the U.S. and EU5 saw the growth in mobile app use exceed the growth in mobile browser use, leading to both markets seeing the same percentage of their mobile audience use both apps and browsers to access mobile media. Health ranked as the fastest-growing mobile media category in the U.S. in 2011, followed by Retail and other commerce-related categories such as Electronic Payments and Auction Sites.

Mobile Retail Information Leads to Emergence of Smartphone Shopping Behaviors
More than half of the U.S. smartphone population used their phone to perform retail research while inside a store in 2011, illustrating the emergence of savvy smartphone shoppers who bring online shopping behaviors in-store – a trend seen in other markets as well. At the end of 2011, nearly 1 in 5 smartphone users scanned product barcodes and nearly 1 in 8 compared prices on their phone while in a store.

Mobile Devices Fuel Social Networking On-The-Go, Driving Real-Time Online Interaction
64.2 million U.S. smartphone users and 48.4 million EU5 smartphone users accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile devices at least once in December 2011, with more than half of these mobile social networking users accessing social media almost every day. While mobile social networking users showed the highest propensity to read posts from people they knew personally, more than half of those in the U.S. and nearly half in the EU5 also reported reading posts from brands, organizations, and events.

Mobile Connectivity and Connected Devices Encourage Cross-Platform Digital Media Consumption among 'Digital Omnivores'
Tablets quickly rose in popularity in 2011, taking less than two years to account for nearly 40 million tablets in use among U.S. mobile users and outpacing smartphones which took 7 years to reach the same. By the end of 2011, nearly 15 percent of U.S. mobile users also had tablets – a trend seen across other markets as well.

About comScore
comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital business analytics. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/companyinfo.

Gevey Ultra S SIM brings freedom to iPhone 4S, unlockers rejoice (video)

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 09:24 AM PST

Fancy yourself a world traveler but steadfastly refuse to pay a premium for an unlocked variant of Apple's 4S? Or perhaps it's just not up for grabs on that beloved carrier of yours. Well, a solution to all of your iPhone's freedom problems may be on the way -- and no, it doesn't involve jailbreaking. That is, if you're on iOS 5.0 or 5.0.1 and your Baseband digits are within the 1.0.11, 1.0.13, 1.0.14 boundaries. Unfortunately, those of you lingering on 04.11.08 are out of luck for now. The Gevey Ultra S, as it's so cleverly dubbed, is set to start shipping on March 3rd for $55. We've yet to come across anyone we know who's put it to the test, thus you'll be taking the dive at your own risk. Meanwhile, you can jump past the break to catch the Ultra S in some self-promoting action.

Lumus' OE-31 optical engine turns motorcycle helmets, other eyewear into wearable displays

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 08:57 AM PST

After showing off a duo of wearable, see-through displays at CES, Lumus is back with a second optical engine -- one that could be used in any style of frames, from prescription glasses to ski goggles. Available in binocular and monocular configurations, the tiny OE-31 sensor weighs just 10 grams (.35 ounces), allowing it to accommodate a variety of form factors besides your run-of-the mill (and quite dorky-looking) 3D glasses. As always, Lumus' hook is its ability to combine head up content, augmented reality and see-through displays, though this time around the sensor allows for a 19-degree field of view and a full-color, 640 x 360 picture. Though that's not as impressive as the 720p, 3D-capable frames on offer at CES, the company argues it should be adequate for reading text, particularly since the viewing experience will be comparable to staring at a 40-inch screen from 10 feet away. No word, of course, on what products might incorporate these discreet head up displays, though maybe, just maybe, we'll catch a demo in Barcelona. For now, we've got photos below along with a handful of demo videos after the break.
Lumus OE-31 optical engine

OMAP 5's dual A15 cores wipe the floor with four A9s in browsing benchmark

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 08:35 AM PST

We've seen Texas Instrument's OMAP 5 in action, but we haven't been able to pit it directly against a competitor. The Dallas company must be growing more and more confident in its product however, as its posted a video demoing its pair of A15 cores alongside an unspecified quad-core A9 part -- presumably the Tegra 3. The video shows the next-gen TI part powering through the EEMBC BrowsingBench in 95 seconds, while its opposition takes a whopping 201. What's more, this thrashing was performed by an 800MHz part -- the four A9s were clocked at 1.3GHz. Of course, Tegra 3s are already in shipping products, while the OMAP 5 might not find a home in consumer devices before 2013. It's also unclear just how much of a hit these new high-powered ARM cores will have on battery life or how much the pair of M4 companion cores helped in the benchmark. Head on after the break to watch a pair of tablets load up 20 websites in quick succession.

The winners of the 2011 Engadget Awards -- Readers' Choice

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 08:00 AM PST

The results for the 2011 Engadget Awards are in! With more than 250,000 total votes, the response this year has been tremendous -- and no, that's not just another name for the Galaxy Note, which garnered just 3.5 percent of tallies in the Smartphone category. Instead, the iPhone 4S took top prize for Smartphones, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S II as the runner up. The ASUS Zenbook was the first pick among this year's Laptops, with the Apple iMac besting the rest of 2011's Desktops. Canon and Nikon battled it out till the end, but the former eventually came out ahead, earning 17.9 percent of the Digital Camera vote for its T3i, while the Nikon D5100 represented a very respectable 17.6 percent. That's just a small sample of this year's top gadgets -- there are 15 categories in all, and we're crowning both Readers' and Editors' Choice winners for each. Jump past the break for an unabridged look at your selections for the 2011 Engadget Awards, and check back tomorrow for the Editors' Choice. And if you're wondering who came in almost-first place, you can find the runners up for each category in this week's issue of Engadget Distro.

NPD: Apple grabs over a quarter of the mobile PC business in Q4 2011 (including iPads), HP tops with laptops

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:45 AM PST

Just what is a "mobile PC" these days? According to market research firm NPD, that category now includes both tablets and laptops -- and by that definition, Apple is unsurprisingly way ahead of its competitors. Based on its preliminary numbers, Apple shipped 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011 (nearly 80 percent of which were iPads), which was enough to snag a market share of 26.6 percent (and keep it in the top spot for the year). In contrast, the four companies rounding out the top five relied almost entirely on laptops to fill their numbers, with HP coming in at just under a 10 percent market share, followed by Dell, Acer and Lenovo. Looking just at laptops, however, HP comes in first with a 15.5 percent market share, while Apple falls to fifth with just over eight percent. As for tablets, Apple is estimated to have a 59 percent market share for Q4, followed by Amazon at 16.7 percent (based on shipments of 5.3 million), and Samsung, ASUS and Barnes & Noble each in single digits. Additional numbers can be found in the press release after the break and at the source link below.
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Apple Maintains Top Mobile PC Share Position for Q4'11 and Full Year

HP, Dell, Acer and Lenovo Round Out Top Five Spots; Apple Y/Y Shipment Growth Tops 125% for the Quarter and the Year

Santa Clara, Calif., February 23, 2012-Apple shipped nearly 23.4 million mobile PCs in Q4'11, up 128% Y/Y, and over 62.8 million mobile PCs in 2011, up 132% Y/Y, according to preliminary results from the latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report. Nearly 80% of Apple's mobile PC shipments were iPads, more than 18.7 million shipped in the quarter, up 156% Y/Y, and 48.4 million units for the year, up 183% Y/Y.

Overall mobile PC shipments grew 12% Q/Q and 44% Y/Y, reaching 88 million units in Q4'11. This was driven by continuing strong demand for tablets. Tablet PC shipment growth was 42% Q/Q and 210% Y/Y, reaching 31.7 million units in Q4'11. Notebook PC shipments were flat Q/Q but up nearly 11% Y/Y, reaching 56.3 million units. As expected, consumer mobile PC adoption was focused on tablets, holding up demand in notebooks.

"Mobile PC brands read the writing on the wall in the fourth quarter," said Richard Shim, NPD DisplaySearch Senior Analyst. "Consumer demand for notebooks was expected to be weak following modest back-to-school results, especially with the expected launch of Windows 8 on the horizon, and increasing interest in tablet PCs. As a result, brands focused their typical holiday price cuts on tablets to boost demand."

Apple's 26.6% share in Q4'11 is largely due to its dominant position in tablet PCs, which propelled it to nearly three times the shipments of HP. The other brands in the top five market share rankings relied almost exclusively on notebook PC shipments to establish their positions.

HP maintained the top notebook PC ranking with a 15.5% share, although it lost some of its lead as shipments into North America, China, Latin America, and Asia Pacific faltered. Dell and Acer essentially tied for second place with 11.8% each. Dell had strong results in EMEA, while Acer continued to struggle in the notebook PC market. Lenovo continues to build on momentum started early this year with strong growth in China and Asia Pacific with a dip in North America, and maintained its #4 position in notebook PCs, gaining some share in Q4'11. Apple leapfrogged over ASUS and Toshiba to capture #5 with 8.3% market share.

In the tablet PC market, Apple continued its strong growth across all its regions, capturing 59.1% share in Q4'11. Newcomers Amazon and Barnes and Noble firmly planted their flags in the market, at #2 and #5, respectively-Amazon with 16.7% share and Barnes and Noble with 3.5%. Both brands focused on North America in their market entries. Samsung improved in all its key markets, particularly EMEA, helping it to reach .67% market share. ASUS continued its strong results in North America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific as it took 4.6% share in Q4'11.

The NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report covers the entire range of mobile PC products shipped worldwide and regionally. With analysis of global and regional brands, the Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report provides an objective, expert view of the market with insight into historical shipments, revenues, forecasts and more. For more information about the report, please contact Charles Camaroto at 1.888.436.7673 or 1.516.625.2452, e-mail contact@displaysearch.com or contact your regional NPD DisplaySearch office in China, Japan, Korea or Taiwan or more information.

About NPD DisplaySearch
Since 1996, NPD DisplaySearch has been recognized as a leading global market research and consulting firm specializing in the display supply chain, as well as the emerging photovoltaic/solar cell industries. NPD DisplaySearch provides trend information, forecasts and analyses developed by a global team of experienced analysts with extensive industry knowledge. In collaboration with The NPD Group, its parent company, DisplaySearch uniquely offers a true end-to-end view of the display supply chain from materials and components to shipments of electronic devices with displays to sales of major consumer and commercial channels. For more information on DisplaySearch analysts, reports and industry events, visit us at http://www.displaysearch.com/. Read our blog at http://www.displaysearchblog.com/ and follow us on Twitter at @DisplaySearch.

About The NPD Group, Inc.
The NPD Group is the leading provider of reliable and comprehensive consumer and retail information for a wide range of industries. Today, more than 1,800 manufacturers, retailers, and service companies rely on NPD to help them drive critical business decisions at the global, national, and local market levels. NPD helps our clients to identify new business opportunities and guide product development, marketing, sales, merchandising, and other functions. Information is available for the following industry sectors: automotive, beauty, commercial technology, consumer technology, entertainment, fashion, food and beverage, foodservice, home, office supplies, software, sports, toys, and wireless. For more information, contact us or visit http://www.npd.com/ and http://www.npdgroupblog.com/. Follow us on Twitter at @npdtech and @npdgroup.

Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 1PM EST!

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:40 AM PST

It's a special Thursday afternoon edition of the Engadget Mobile Podcast! We'll all be en route to Barcelona tomorrow, so we've bumped it up a day early to help you get even more excited about Mobile World Congress. So join Myriam, Brad and Joseph as we all talk ourselves silly about things present and very near future on today's podcast, live at 1PM EST!

February 23, 2012 1:00 PM EST




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Hauppauge Broadway review

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 07:00 AM PST

New ways to watch TV, we're always looking for 'em. New products for you to buy, companies are always trying to make 'em. The two aspirations converge with Hauppauge's latest product, Broadway. The idea here isn't exactly novel, but with few exceptions Sling Media has been left to dominate the placeshifting category. The Broadway picks up where Sling kicked off, adding WiFi and more interestingly, shedding the need for costly clients, instead using a built-in web server to access the live video streams. Interesting idea, sure, but is it actually useful and worth the $199 it demands? We hope to reveal just that, after you click through of course.
Hauppauge Broadway review (hardware)

Hardware
At less than two pounds and with two antennas in tow, the Broadway looks like a WiFi router, but with a handful of inputs on the back instead of the usual array of network jacks. In addition to the standard-def video and analog audio sockets, there's an RF coax input and an IR output. There are also two USB ports on the front and back for "future applications" -- make of that what you will. The single Ethernet jack can be used if you have a wired network, or simply for the purposes of the initial setup if you wish to use the antennas to connect to your 802.11g/n wireless network.

What's missing is HD analog video inputs or an HDMI-in socket. There are also no outputs, which means you can't use this in a man-in-the middle configuration like with a Slingbox. There's an IR port that can be used to control something like a set-top box, but that use case seems secondary here. The feel of the hardware is not one we'd describe as premium, per se, but we won't hold that against the Broadway, as it's really meant to be hidden away or mounted on a wall. The external power supply is pretty run-of-the-mill. There's also a power button up front, but we're not sure why you might turn this off in the first place.

Setup
For most people, installing the Broadway will be as simple as plugging in a coax cable, power, network connection and pointing your browser to http://distan.tv where the magic of network discovery takes care of the rest. During the initial software setup you can change the default password ("admin") and pin of ("0000') to credentials that are more difficult to guess. You'll also be asked to specify the TV provider, as well as the source of the video you'll be streaming. Afterward, you can set the desired quality level to one that your network can accommodate both locally and via the internet.

One area where the setup falls short is helping you configure your router to expose your streams to the internet. Where another company might have leaned on UPnP to automatically poke the required holes in your firewall, the quick start guide simply tells you which port you'll need to forward. This isn't really that difficult and something many home theater enthusiasts have already had to master. We were thankful we were able to change the default listing port from 80 to anything we wanted, which provides some security through obscurity, as well as allowing us to get around Verizon's draconian inbound blocking of the internet's favorite web port. Finally, we registered with Hauppauge's distant.tv and were provided with a complex-looking shortcut we can save and share for easy access locally or abroad.

Software
We use the term "software" loosely here as there's nothing to install on your computer, phone or tablet. (There is the optional TVCenter for the PC, though.) Instead, you'll use your favorite web browser to stream live TV on your local network or over the internet. Yours truly didn't have a problem navigating our way around a custom list of favorite channels on our computer, phone or tablet. The interface is innocuous enough and fairly simple, but beyond setting a list of favorite channels there isn't much to it. You can use either H.264 or Flash to stream, which ensures you can watch live TV on almost any device. Oddly, though one of our channels showed up with the corresponding logo, the rest didn't. And while you can filter out the channels you don't want, they show up with just the call letters, not the network (WEDU, for example, instead of PBS), so if you're used to the channel numbers you'll need to learn the call letters.

Annoying, that, but what's really missing is program information. A simple list of shows that are on right now would go a long way, and with PSIP information being accurate most of the time we see no reason Hauppauge should leave this out. Hauppauge tells us an update coming in March will add free program data via PSIP, as well as the ability to record to USB-attached storage -- we assume this will also make it possible to search for shows instead of just channel call letters.

Once you find something to watch you can view it in a window or at full-screen, but there's no breakout option, and takes close to ten seconds to change channels. On iOS devices, the basic included video player lets you pause, but the rewind buttons don't work. Only one person can watch at a time, and if a second viewer tries to connect, the whole stream simply fails without explanation. (For such situations, you can set a pin to prevent unauthorized interlopers from viewing.) Speaking of the stream, the quality is really good, even over 3G, and in many cases it's better than we've come to expect from our Slingbox. Still, it wasn't as resilient when the throughput dropped.
Hauppauge Broadway review (software)


Wrap-up
If you've been looking for a way to watch live TV on the go and the Slingbox's per-client cost rubs you the wrong way, this might just be the streamer you're looking for. Being limited to just ATSC or ClearQAM is probably the key drawback preventing the Broadway from being a runaway success. Still, limited use cases and value proposition aside, the Broadway just works, and offers some unique features and functionality that should be greatly appreciated among the niche it's designed to serve.

CineSquid suction tripod system looks to add car-mounted footage to your video repertoire

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 06:49 AM PST

You may recall Cinetics from the outfit's Kickstarter campaign to fund its CineSkates rolling tripod. Well the same folks are at it again -- only this time suction cups are the videography weapon of choice. The company has launched CineSquid, a suction mount solution reminiscent of its elder sibling. Soon, you'll be able to capture exterior shots via DSLR from your Jeep while heading down the Blue Ridge Parkway. Packaged with a tripod and ball head, the system will set you back $235 with the first hundred pre-orders shipping March 24th. What's that? You already splurged on the CineSkates? No worries. For $120, the set of suction cups can be yours that'll play nice with your previous Cinetics purchase. If you're in need of a little more convincing, take a look at the video demo just beyond the break.

Show full PR text
Cinetics Launches CineSquid Suction Cup Camera Mount System

Company behind wildly popular CineSkates Kickstarter campaign launches new suction cup mount ideal for DSLR, GoPro or iPhone

Austin, TX (PRWEB) February 22, 2012

Cinetics™ is launching a super strong, versatile suction cup camera mount system, CineSquid™, which allows filmmakers to capture previously unthinkable shots by attaching their camera to smooth surfaces, from any angle. Cinetics has already built a huge following of filmmaker enthusiasts with the launch of CineSkates, an innovative camera tripod dolly, which became the second most funded Kickstarter project, exceeding its funding goal by 2,400 percent. In fact, the impetus for the CineSquid suction cup mount came from this very community as the No. 1 requested component.

"By growing our product line, Cinetics continues to work toward our goal of helping filmmakers create captivating video through controlled camera movement," explains Cinetics founder, Justin Jensen. "We're encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive support from our community of users to create a simple, interchangeable system that replaces their bulky gear."

Expanding on the unique Cinetics Connect platform, developed to make CineSkates possible, the new CineSquid system combines powerful suction cup technology with the flexible GorillaPod Focus™ Tripod and BallHead X™ to create a portable and modular system that filmmakers can take anywhere. Different from other suction cup mounts on the market, the flexible tripod attaches to contoured, multi-level surfaces, and users can even manipulate the camera frame once the suction cups are mounted. The triple suction cup design ensures CineSquid will not lose its grip.

With CineSquid, even amateur filmmakers can capture stunning, Hollywood-style camera shots, including:

High-speed chase or automobile cruising scenes
Aerial views from the belly of an airplane up to 200mph
Scenic or landscape shots from a boat, train or any moving vehicle
Time-lapse video with a rock-solid connection to any smooth surface

The CineSquid System, which includes the tripod and ballhead, is available now at cinetics.com for $235. To get the full system, CineSkates owners only need the CineSquid suction cups sold separately for $120, an advantage of the modular Cinetics Connect platform. The first 100 CineSquid orders will receive early shipping in March. The next wave will begin shipping in April.

In addition, there is a week left to enter the CineSkates Showdown Video Contest. The winning videos will be featured in future Cinetics videos, and the winners will each receive the new CineSquid component along with a GoPro® HD HERO2 Camera.

CineSquid is the first of many projects the Cinetics team will be releasing this year. The Cinetics team will be at South-by-Southwest (SXSW) tradeshow booth #647 demoing CineSkates, CineSquid and new products. Follow @cinetx for more details closer to the event. For more information about CineSkates, please visit the company website at cinetics.com.

Windows support will last forever (almost), thank you Microsoft!

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 06:34 AM PST

Just when you needed one more reason to carry on loving Windows Vista, Microsoft has gone and increased its customer support period. An extension has also been granted to Windows 7, which will get a full ten years of support instead of the usual five. There's been no announcement or fanfare, except for a brief communication from Microsoft Japan that sets out the new end dates. XP's support will stop in 2014, Vista's will shut down in 2017 and Windows 7's will come to a close in post-apocalyptic 2020, at which point call center staff will no doubt throw a party on Europa.

[Happy elderly couple photo via Shutterstock.]

Microsoft adds new feature to Bing, wants you to stay Linked (video)

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 06:19 AM PST

Looks like Microsoft isn't done flipping the switch on fresh bits within its beloved search engine. The new feature, dubbed Linked Pages, can "decide how you look to your first crush" by allowing you to select which results are actually related to you. If you're bent on making it easier for people to stalk you, then all you need to do is pop in your Facebook credentials and allow the Bing app to do its magic once it's accessed your account. The Redmond folks say you'll be able to link anything from a blog, personal site, organizations or your friends (just make sure to ask first). Unfortunately those of you outside of the States looking to Bing yourself are out of luck for now. In the meantime, head past the break to check out a full-on tutorial courtesy of The Bing Team.

<a data-cke-saved-href='http://video.msn.com?vid=649129a0-2e8a-40c8-87cc-4c3b003a7dbf&mkt=en-us&from=sp^en-us&src=FLPl:embed::uuids' href='http://video.msn.com?vid=649129a0-2e8a-40c8-87cc-4c3b003a7dbf&mkt=en-us&from=sp^en-us&src=FLPl:embed::uuids' target='_new' title='Make a Good Search Impression with Bing’s Linked Pages' >Video: Make a Good Search Impression with Bing’s Linked Pages</a>

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Samsung Zipel oven takes instructions from your Android phone

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 05:59 AM PST

Smart ovens have long been a promise of appliance-makers, but they haven't exactly caught on with the general public just yet. Samsung's now making another push to change that, however, rolling out its new Zipel oven in Korea. In addition to some decidedly modern styling, that standout feature here is some built-in WiFi that lets the oven communicate with your Android-based smartphone, which can be used to dial the oven in just right for 160 different dishes. The oven itself is also an infrared oven, which promises more versatility than a conventional oven, and it packs a number of "smart" features into the oven itself, including the ability to display the number of calories of a particular dish. Unfortunately, there's no indication of a price just yet, or a release outside of Korea.

Samsung Rugby Smart officially coming to AT&T March 4 for $100

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 05:42 AM PST

It was only a matter of time, we suppose. After having seen the Samsung Rugby Smart poke its head out from time to time, Samsung's new rugged smartphone is officially hitting AT&T stores on March 4th. Much like the Pantech Element, the Rugby Smart will be "waterproof," meaning it can be submerged for up to 30 minutes in one meter of water. The phone itself is built to mil-spec 810F standards, so it's going to handle most extreme conditions pretty well. So let's list off the specs we've heard so far: it will launch with Android 2.3 -- shocker, we know -- as well as a 3.7-inch WVGA Super AMOLED panel, 4GB of internal storage, 1,650mAh battery and a 1.3MP front-facing shooter for video chat along with a 5MP rear facing autofocus camera with LED flash and 720p video capture. The Smart will also be 12.19mm thick (also not a surprise, given its rugged nature) and weigh 4.2 ounces. We don't know what CPU's inside yet, but we'll update as soon as we find out. To check out all the extreme details, head to the videos and press release under the break.





Show full PR text
SAMSUNG & AT&T DELIVER BRAINS AND BRAWN

Waterproof and Dustproof Samsung Rugby® Smart Available Starting March 4

DALLAS, February 23, 2012 -

Key Facts

· On March 4, AT&T* will begin selling the Samsung Rugby® Smart in company-owned retail stores and online. The smartphone will be sold for $99.99 with a two-year commitment and monthly minimum data plan.

· Samsung Rugby® Smart is dustproof, can be submerged in up to 1m of water for 30 minutes, and can withstand extreme temperatures.**

· Runs on Android™ 2.3 with 4G capabilities and boasts a virtual QWERTY keyboard, 3.7-inch Super AMOLED™ touchscreen display, 5MP camera and an integrated flashlight.

Samsung Rugby® Smart

The Samsung Rugby® Smart is a rugged, dustproof device designed to handle the elements with water resistance (submergible up to 1m for 30 minutes) and built to mil-std 810f military spec standards**.The Android 2.3 smartphone features a 3.7-inch WVGA Super AMOLED touchscreen display and a 5MP camera with HD video recording***. It also supports 4G service, Wi-Fi®, corporate email and the full line of media including location, music and social networking services. From the work site to the camp site and beyond, Rugby Smart fulfills all your smartphone needs with the physical strength to handle whatever life throws at it.

Specifications

· Technology: GSM, EDGE, UMTS, HSPA+

· Operating System: Android 2.3

· Display: 3.7-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display

· External Memory: Supports up to 32GB via microSD™

· Internal Memory: 4GB

· Dimensions: 122.4mm x 65.9mm x 12.19mm

· Weight: 4.2 oz

· Camera: 5MP rear facing with flash and auto focus with HD 720p video capture; 1.3 MP front facing camera;

· Battery: 1650 mAh LiIon Poly

· Talk Time: Up to 8 hours

· Standby Time: Up to 16 days



Quotes

"The Samsung Rugby Smart is perfect for active customers who need another level of durability with their smartphone," said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Devices, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. "It is water and dustproof and has all the features of a leading smartphone."


"We continue to bring the highest quality devices – the Rugby Smart is the ultimate smartphone to withstand extreme conditions," said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Mobile. "AT&T customers are now able to stay connected with a durable smartphone while experiencing even the roughest environment."

White House gets behind online 'bill of rights,' companies to adopt 'do not track'

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 05:32 AM PST

President Obama is throwing his weight behind a consumer bill of rights that includes protections against online companies in particular, and aims to safeguard customer privacy. While the plan doesn't come prepackaged with a new set of laws for companies to abide by, the Commerce Department is working to develop enforceable policies with help from the concerned parties. The bedrock of the new bill of rights is that consumers should have control over the kind of data companies collect and what they do with it. Internet firms would have to be transparent about what information is gathered and how it's used. There is also a call for limitations on the use of certain personal data. As part of the push a number of major players in the field, including Google, have agreed to include a "Do Not Track" button in their browsers and to honor the system -- the latter being a tiny detail that has made implementations of the feature ineffective until now. Hit up the source links for a few more details.

HTC Ville to run on a dual-core Snapdragon S4?

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 05:14 AM PST

Well looky here. A phone bearing the alluring name of "HTC VLE_U" just cropped up on NenaMark2 with a healthy 57.50 average frame rate. More interesting than the score, however, is the reference to a Qualcomm Adreno 225 GPU, which -- assuming this is legit -- strongly implies the presence of a powerful Snapdragon S4 sitting in the Ville's engine compartment. This tallies with earlier hints of the Ville carrying a 1.5GHz dual-core processor along with a (roughly) qHD display, and it also lines up with another MSM8960 benchmark from a reference handset spotted a few weeks ago. By extension, all the Tegra 3 smoke that's been billowing out of HTC recently must come from an entirely different fire -- namely the Endeavor or One X. Either way, it's certainly nice to see HTC hotting up.

NEC jumps the gun, debuts its MWC smartphone lineup ahead of Barcelona

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 04:56 AM PST

2012 may prove to be a very good year for NEC, which has launched two smartphones and a tablet in the past month alone. Having not missed a beat, the Japanese firm has gone ahead and revealed its lineup for Mobile World Congress a full week ahead of the show in Barcelona. Rather than actual shipping models, you can think of each of these as prototypes for the carriers, where the only fixed specification is the screen size. Most interesting among the bunch is without a doubt the "Best Cloud UX Device," which offers two 4.3-inch displays that open and close like a book -- a hell of a lot better than Kyocera's attempt, if you ask us. Also among the mix will be a 5-inch "Large Screen in One Hand" model, along with another 4.3-inch "Stylish" unit. Unlike previous products, the latest trio fully embrace the design philosophy of Ice Cream Sandwich and eschew the dedicated navigation buttons from bygone days.

Hands-on with Immersion HD Integrator hi-fi haptics

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 04:30 AM PST

It was just over a year ago when we met with the folks from Immersion, and they showed us a prototype handset packing its HD haptics technology. Since that time, the piezoelectric actuator that makes the tactile magic possible has gone into mass production, and the first commercial device packing such hi-fi haptics, the Pantech Element, hit store shelves. Immersion's got greater aspirations for its tactile tech, however, and its new HD Integrator platform aims to put high fidelity haptics in every handset. We got to sample the HD haptics goods once again and chat with Immersion about the new platform and its technology, so head on past the break to see what the company has in store.


For those who aren't familiar, here's a quick refresher on Immersion's HD haptic technology. As opposed to regular haptics, HD haptics are higher fidelity, respond faster to user input, and are able to provide dynamic feedback that can change in intensity and location (as opposed to a static, reactive 'buzz' indicating a button press). The HD Integrator is a tool for OEMs to incorporate HD haptics into a device's UI and leverage that technology in a variety of ways. Aside from the fairly obvious uses like simulating gunfire in games, gadgets packing piezo actuators and Immersion's software can also benefit from an enhanced overall user experience.

We got to sample some apps optimized with HD haptics, and once again, we were impressed with the precision of the feedback and its usefulness in conveying information. In a simulated social networking app, we could swipe through pictures and the force feedback changed from light clicks to longer rumbles according to how many comments were on each one. Similarly, while rolling through emails in another app, regular emails whizzed by with small snicks, while starred items triggered bigger, bolder feedback. Each of these showcased the potential for haptic feedback to provide users information in a contextually useful and unobtrusive fashion. Plus, Immersion assured us that such feedback can be customized in its intensity and feel in addition to when it is triggered. Other demonstrations of the technology were more frivolous, but nonetheless impressive in their effect -- one app simulated a rubber or metal ball rolling around in a box, and we could actually feel the difference between the two types of balls based upon the feedback alone. After our short time using the sample apps, it seems like the potential for such tactile indicators to be used in new and creative ways is almost limitless. However, Immersion's only showing off what its platform can do, it'll be up to the OEMs to find new uses for the technology to maximize its potential.

So, all this enhanced tactility is much appreciated, but when will we find Immersion's tech in gadgets other than the aforementioned Pantech tablet? Well, the company couldn't say exactly, but there are multiple OEMs making devices using the HD Integrator, and we can expect to see them later this year. When we asked what OS these mystery mobiles would run, we were told that, while HD haptics can work on any platform, the technology is currently an Android-only affair. Aside from the UX benefits, Immersion's pitching the HD Integrator as a means for manufacturers to differentiate among a sea of similar slabs -- there's only so many ways to package a screen, but a company can create a custom haptics theme to give its devices a unique feel. We must say, we're hoping that HD haptic tech starts showing up in more devices, as it's a compelling addition to the user experience. And, we're quite interested in seeing (feeling?) what OEMs can do with the technology going forward.

Show full PR text
Immersion Launches HD Integrator to Deliver New Haptic Experiences to Mobile Users

HD haptics to communicate new information and drive multi-modal experiences; demonstrations on display during GSMA Mobile World Congress

SAN JOSE, Calif., February 23, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Immersion Corporation (Nasdaq:IMMR), a leading developer and licensor of touch feedback technology, today announced HD Integrator, a new OEM build-time tool for Android mobile devices. HD Integrator allows OEMs to use high fidelity haptics to provide meaningful information and communicate more clearly with users via the sense of touch. Demonstrations of HD Integrator will be on display at the GSMA Mobile World Congress, Feb. 27-March 1 at the App Planet Hall, stand number 7C56.

Immersion's original Integrator product, launched in February 2011, gave OEMs the ability to automatically apply haptic effects throughout the Android UI to provide a more consistent and customized experience. HD Integrator extends the original Integrator platform to tap the specialized capabilities of high fidelity actuators.

"With HD Integrator, OEMs can easily incorporate dynamic HD haptics throughout the Android UI, resulting in a more responsive and higher quality haptic experience," said Dennis Sheehan, vice president of marketing for Immersion. "In addition, HD Integrator harnesses the capabilities of high fidelity actuators to serve as a communication channel to the user, an engaging entertainment platform, and a point of distinction."

Enabling New Experiences through HD Haptics

"Haptics are traditionally used for reactive interactions, where users press a virtual button and receive touch confirmation. HD Integrator gives OEMs the opportunity to associate haptic effects with new types of information, such as the amount of force and speed a user uses in a phone gesture, application information such as tags, metadata and audio tracks, or data from embedded GPS and accelerometers," explained Chris Ullrich, vice president of user experience at Immersion. "The intelligence and responsiveness of HD haptics creates an environment where haptics can augment the mobile experience by communicating this information to the user."

Immersion embarked on a series of research & design studies to create the new experiences enabled through HD Integrator. Studying how users build mental models based on expectations from the physical world about how things should look, sound and feel, Immersion identified how haptics helps users anticipate device behavior, providing reassurance and a more intuitive interface. Immersion identified three new and revolutionary core experiences enabled with HD Integrator.

• Ambient Awareness: With HD Integrator, haptics can dynamically inform and influence behavior. For example, using metadata to tag a post within a social network with a specific feel, the user receives tactile information indicating relative importance which suggests viewing the post.
• Heightened Realism: The speed, responsiveness, and broad range of effect capabilities substantially improve UX by seamlessly connecting the audio, visual and touch feedback. HD Integrator offers a wide range of nuanced effects, and the ability to incorporate simultaneous effects, simulating real world experiences in video content, apps, gaming and music.
• Distinct Experience: As OEMs increasingly look to the user interface and software to create a distinct identity for its brand, haptics will play a more important part in the branded user experience. Nuanced effects allow OEMs to create a haptic personality for their device. An OEM could define their brand through a metallic, heavy touch experience versus a soft and springy feel.


Solution Details

HD Integrator works exclusively with Immersion's TouchSense 5000 software on Android devices to exploit the unique capabilities of high fidelity actuators that are being adopted in mobile devices today. These actuators deliver virtually instant response times and a broad frequency range of sensations, allowing for subtle and nuanced effects and distinct, seamless experiences. Key HD Integrator features include:

Dynamic Effects: Today's mobile UIs take full advantage of the sensing and processing capabilities of the handsets to create dynamic and animated UIs. Immersion's HD Integrator enables support for various elements throughout Android:

• Expanded Effect Libraries: With HD Integrator, a branded UI can feel metallic, soft or springy; the user can feel the difference between subtle or strong cue.
• Gesture Support: Gestures can be performed both on screen and/or with the phone itself -- HD Integrator supports both. Using the touchscreen interface as well as the accelerometer, gesturing can be enhanced with touch feedback.
• Animation Support: UIs dynamically change based on content and user input. HD Integrator delivers continuous effects that transform animations into multi-modal experiences.

HD Reverb: HD Reverb translates audio into high fidelity haptic effects, enhancing a wide range of mobile content with specialized haptics available only with HD technology. HD Integrator provides the ability to automatically apply haptics to audio-enabled content and tools to tailor the Reverb experience based on the content or application.

Layered Haptics: HD Integrator can layer haptics to deliver simultaneous effects that are distinguishable. Particularly applicable in video and gaming applications, a user can feel an explosion and gunfire happening in their hands at the same time, enhancing the action on the screen.

Android 4.0 Integration: Android 4.0 offers new features, such as an animated UI and bundled applications. HD Integrator rapidly integrates dynamic effects throughout the Android 4.0 UI, creating a more engaging haptic experience that is deeply integrated into the OS. This integration includes:

• Theme Support: To enable user, OEM and carrier customizations of the overall feeling of the OS and apps that use the Android widget SDK
• Bundled Apps: Integration of HD effects into the home screen, People, Camera and Gallery

Early evaluation software is available to select device manufacturers today, while a full version of HD Integrator is expected to be broadly available for OEM evaluation in mid-2012. For more information, visit http://www.immersion.com/HDIntegrator

ViewSonic ViewPad G70 with ICS launching at MWC?

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 04:15 AM PST

Word on the street is ViewSonic's getting ready to unveil a fresh, ICS-equipped 7-inch tablet at MWC (along with everyone else). The ViewPad G70, which would be a follow-up to that budget-friendly E70 we showed you at CES, is rumored to carry a slightly heavier $350 price tag than its sibling. While the slate's best feature could be Google's 4.0 treat, ViewSonic's also purportedly hoping you'll be enchanted by some more humdrum specs, including a 1024 x 600 display, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage and a 3G radio. We'll know more once Mobile World Congress gets rolling, and you know we'll be taking it for a spin as soon as we get a chance.

AT&T announces home automation platform, eco-ratings for consumer devices

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 04:00 AM PST

AT&T announces home automation platform, eco-ratings for consumer devicesToday, AT&T revealed that it's working on a new home monitoring and automation platform known as Digital Life. While it'll be marketed toward service providers, the IP-based system will allow business and residential users alike to remotely monitor cameras, lighting, thermostats, motion detectors, window and door sensors, along with a litany of other devices. It'll be demonstrated next week in Barcelona as part of the GSM Association's Connected Home experience. As you'd expect, we'll be there to bring you a peek of AT&T's handiwork.

The company has also announced that, later this year, customers will find eco-rating labels on AT&T-branded mobile devices. With this initiative, shoppers may evaluate criteria such as a product's energy efficiency, the percentage of recycled materials used in manufacture, and the inclusion of metals such as lead, cadmium and mercury. These factors and more will be presented as a composite score that evaluates the sustainability attributes of each device -- think of it as an easy way to get your green in gear. You'll find the PR for both announcements after the break.
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AT&T targets international service providers with platform for Remote Monitoring and Automation

DALLAS, FEBRUARY 23, 2012 - Conserving energy, checking on the welfare of loved ones, or maximizing home security can be as easy as pressing a key on your smartphone or tapping the screen of your tablet. AT&T has designed a new platform to offer these types of connections to service providers around the globe.

AT&T today announced its plans to launch AT&T Digital LifeTM, an IP-based remote monitoring and automation platform to equip global service providers with the capabilities to offer their subscribers customizable, web-based home automation, energy and security services. The platform, a complete end-to-end solution, will enable providers to deploy devices like wireless sensors and cameras that will communicate with a control center inside the home, and their end users will control the devices through a web-based user interface.

"We've built a robust platform that equips international service providers with the foundation needed to build a digital life solution for their customers," said Kevin Petersen, senior vice president, Emerging Devices, AT&T Business Solutions. "The platform is flexible, intuitive and scalable, equipping service providers a path in to a market of significant growth opportunity. With Digital Life, qualified providers will have the ability to arm their subscribers with technology to stay connected to what matters most to them in a simple, convenient, secure, and customizable way."

AT&T Digital Life offers several benefits to international service providers, including lowering entry costs into a market and the potential to generate new revenue streams and reduce churn.
The platform offers a customizable experience that enables service providers to develop a unique graphic user interface and extend branding to devices. Service providers will have the opportunity to build solutions for customers based on specific needs.

Digital Life is wirelessly enabled and features a system designed for multi-country use, supporting multiple segments – consumer, small business and healthcare – and carrying a wide range of certified devices, including motion detectors, connected cameras, security keypads, window and door sensors, lighting and thermostat controls, smoke detectors, and water sensors, among other devices, identified and offered by participating providers.

The AT&T platform is expected to be available to qualified providers later this year. It has been designed for self installation in the home or office.

AT&T will begin demoing the remote monitoring and home automation platform capabilities on Feb. 27 at the GSMA Connected House at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

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NEW AT&T eco-rating SYSTEM TO HELP CONSUMERS LEARN ABOUT environmental FEATURES of mobile devices

Wireless Shoppers Soon to Have Information on Device Materials, Energy Efficiency
and Other Sustainability Attributes

DALLAS, February 23, 2012 - People eager to check out the newest, fastest and coolest mobile handset devices will soon be able to learn about its environmental features too.

That's because a new eco-rating system is planned for launch later this year by AT&T*, which developed the system in collaboration with BSR, a global business network and consultancy focused on sustainability. Consumers will find AT&T eco-ratings on simple, easy-to-read-and-understand labels appearing on AT&T-branded mobile devices, once they are implemented in a few months.

The new system, which sets an example for industry-wide sustainability efforts, is a direct response to customer wants and needs. According to a Deloitte study* on consumer trends in the purchase of sustainable products, 54 percent of surveyed shoppers consider sustainability to be one of their decision making factors.

AT&T's eco-rating system will cover attributes such as: environmentally preferable materials, energy efficiency, responsible end-of-life treatment and environmentally-responsible manufacturing. In assigning ratings, device manufacturers will submit an assessment of each device to determine how many of 15 key criteria are met. These criteria cover everything from the percentage of recycled metals used in the device, to restriction of compounds such as lead, cadmium, mercury, nickel and antimony trioxide/antimony compounds. The overall rating represents the composite score of these environmental attributes.

AT&T plans to add the ratings icon to in-store collateral later this year. Consumers will also be able to visit a website to obtain detailed information about how AT&T and BSR devised the ratings, learn more about what makes up the overall sustainability scale for mobile devices and see available products.

AT&T plans to evolve the rating system as technological innovations, industry norms and sustainability needs change.

"Increasingly, consumers are mindful of a product's impact on the environment. We are excited to work with leading third-party organizations like BSR and our suppliers to help make it easier for our customers to learn about the environmental impact of products they plan to purchase," said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president, Devices, AT&T Mobility. "Our new eco-rating system will make it easier for our customers to make more informed purchasing decisions."

"At BSR, we work hand-in-hand with companies looking to develop innovative business strategies to help create a more just and sustainable world," said Vijay Kanal, BSR's Director, Information and Communications Technology Practice. "This eco-rating system, which we worked with AT&T to develop, should not only have broad consumer impact, it should help accelerate the integration of sustainable business practices across the entire mobile device industry."

AT&T is committed to integrating sustainable business practices across its business and was recently added to Corporate Responsibility Magazine's 12th Annual 100 Best Corporate Citizens List. AT&T was also included in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index (DJSI). Visit www.att.com/csr to learn more about sustainability at AT&T. Also visit www.att.com/csr to download the 2010 AT&T Sustainability Report. To watch a video about the rating system, please click here.

ASUS Transformer TF101 finally receives ICS update, Taiwan takes the first bite (update: US tomorrow!)

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:42 AM PST

Shortly after amending the Eee Pad Transformer Prime's locked bootloader fiasco, ASUS has just announced that the original WiFi Transformer's much anticipated Ice Cream Sandwich update is now slowly rolling out, with Taiwan being the first region to receive the home-baked Android dessert over the air. The 3G Transformer and folks around the rest of the world are told that they'll get their share soon after, which should be no later than March if ASUS's promise is still valid. Meanwhile, Hasbro remains the only Transformer fan who's still not happy about this.

Update: ASUS's Twitter account mentioned that the US should start receiving the update tomorrow! Thanks @areddy78!

Google adds Esperanto as its 64th machine translatable language

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:29 AM PST

Esperanto isn't just something Microsoft uses to tease Google for abandoning video codecs, it's a legitimate, manufactured language. Created in the late 1800's by Dr. Ludwig L. Zamenhof, Esperanto was designed to be an easy to learn language that would help folks from all over the world understand each other. Seeing as how Google Translate shares similar goals, the Mountain View firm felt Zamenhof's homemade tongue would be the perfect fit for its machine translation service. Despite a rather small sample size of pre-existing translated material to feed the Google language machine, the firm says Google Translate handled Esperanto surprisingly well -- partially crediting the language's learner friendly construction for the service's success. Sure, it may not be the most useful addition Google Translate's ever seen, but hey, it gets us one step closer to watching cult classics like Incubus without the subtitles. What's that, you haven't heard of William Shatner's pre-Star Trek, all Esperanto romp? Crack open your machine translator and head past the break, then.

Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 12-65 hits North America in March for $11,350

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:19 AM PST

Have you been shoring up funds since you first heard about the Bang & Olufsen BeoVision 12-65 last month? We sure hope so. The company has announced that its 65-inch full HD and 3D compatible plasma TV will hit showrooms in the Canada, Mexico and the US in a matter of days. Featuring an integrated center speaker and a NeoPDP panel, the BeoVision display will carry a hefty price tag of $11,350. If money really is no object, you can spring for the $19,749 package that includes the B&O's BeoSystem 3 'stage manager' for your living room. The 12-65 arrives stateside in March, so you've got a short time to finish getting your finances in order. But for now, hit the eyes-on gallery below for another look before committing.
Bang & Olufsen debuts BeoVision 12-65 plasma TV, BeoLab 12 speakers (eyes-on)
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Bang & Olufsen Announces U.S. Arrival of its New, Ultra Slim 65 Inch 3D Plasma TV
Offering the finest in flat, cinematic entertainment and new technical adaptation features

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Bang & Olufsen, the global leader in luxury, custom-made audio and video products, announces the arrival of its new ultra flat 3D 65-inch plasma solution (with integrated center channel and 7.1 surround sound) this week in all Bang & Olufsen showrooms in the United States, Canada and Mexico. BeoVision 12 was previewed at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in January and will now enter the global marketplace. Under the new BeoVision 12, Bang & Olufsen will set new standards for the cinematic experience, as it presents an advanced plasma solution with very thin design and new adaption features such as automatic picture control and color management technologies to ensure, a rich and true-to-life viewing experience.

Designed by David Lewis Designers, BeoVision 12-65 offers a completely new design expression, which has a very thin and light appearance that truly innovates the heavier plasma concepts on the market today. Besides using an ultra slim NeoPDP panel with the latest and greatest in plasma technology, BeoVision 12 also features two aluminum profiles that bend inward in a V-shape – one in black and one in natural high-gloss polished aluminum – which create an optical illusion giving the TV a thin, light and extremely elegant visual expression.

The actual frame is an extremely thin (almost foil-like) black aluminum sheet of only a few millimeters thickness that gives an impression of one uninterrupted glass surface with no visible joints.

Dedicated center sound is integrated
The integrated center speaker is placed below the screen and consists of five custom-made speaker units covered by a soft curved natural anodized aluminum grill with an intricate organic shaped hole pattern. Attention to detail is a must in this TV concept. Even the hole pattern in front of the speaker units is made according to special acoustic specifications. The front plate of the integrated center speaker is placed as a small protrusion adding a few extra mm to the thickness in the lower part of the TV, (2 and 5/8 inches in total depth) while maintaining a certain lightness in the overall design.

"The arrival of the BeoVision 12 solidifies our commitment to the premium segment of wide-screen home cinema solutions," states Zean Nielsen, President of Bang & Olufsen America, Inc. "Furthermore, it strengthens our 3D large screen TV portfolio and complements our home integration and personalized installation services."

The center channel performance of the integrated loudspeaker matches the powerful BeoLab 5 loudspeakers in a surround sound setup. Additionally, with the TVs sophisticated Digital Signal Processing, our acoustic engineers have lifted up the center channel speaker so you will experience that speech is coming out from somewhere mid-screen, not below the TV. This gives you a more natural sound experience (especially when needed in watching news or broadcasts with a lot of speech.)

Since the amount of space is limited in this speaker design, highly sophisticated and powerful amplifiers are needed. Bang & Olufsen's patented ICEpower technology is used for the BeoVision 12 speaker design. It contains 4 x 80 watt ICEpower amplifiers for the midrange and 1 x 40 watts for the treble.

The highly sophisticated video engine, handling all sound processing and picture technologies, includes as standard a full 7.1 surround sound module, which allows you to connect a vast number of speakers, almost any sound configuration you may want is possible.

The latest plasma technology
The TV comes with the latest in plasma technology offering an even greater experience in both 2D and 3D. The panel is a NeoPDP panel, which includes new phosphors with a very short retention time, which allows for an improved 3D performance and a much better motion performance in a 2D viewing situation.

BeoVision 12-65 also comes with Automatic Color Management to compensate for the effects of aging that is common for the plasma technology. For BeoVision 12-65, the robotic arm featuring a camera is located underneath the screen, hidden behind the loudspeaker grill.

The best viewing experience in any light conditions
Bang & Olufsen's Automatic Picture Control feature senses the level of ambient light from the room and dynamically alters the picture adjustments accordingly, so that the picture quality is maintained day and night.

Automatic Picture Control makes sure you get just the right balance of light from the screen when you watch TV in either bright or dark surroundings. The light sensor is placed in the upper right hand corner and is designed, so it picks up the lighting conditions of the room in a 360 degree angle. This is to achieve a measurement of the light conditions of the room, which is similar to what the human eyes see.

The entire TV is offered in one placement alternative only, directly on the wall. The design of the wall bracket is quite unique as it is partly integrated in the rear cabinet, which means it hardly adds to the thickness of the TV at all.

BeoVision 12 is sold exclusively through authorized Bang & Olufsen dealers and will begin to arrive in Bang & Olufsen showrooms in March 2012. Recommended consumer price for BeoVision 12 is $11,350. However, BeoVision 12 will be positioned in the Bang & Olufsen showrooms to include the BeoSystem 3, which will in total retail at $19,749.00

DESIGNER
David Lewis Designers

DIMENSIONS
161 x 96.4 x 6.4 cm/60 kg

(W x H x D)/WEIGHT 63.4 x 38 x 2.84/132.3 lbs

COLOR(S)
Cabinet: Dark gray

Frame: Silver/black

POWER CONSUMPTION
EU (230V) Typical (IEC 62087:2.ed): 290/Standby: 0.3 W
US (110V) Typical: 310 W/Standby: 0.5 W

SCREEN TYPE
65" 16:9 Plasma display panel

RESOLUTION
1,920 x 1,080 pixels (Full HD)

3D FUNCTION
Requires active shutter glasses

LOUDSPEAKER
Integrated center speaker for surround sound setup

POWER AMPLIFIERS
5x Class D, ICEpower

PLASMA CONNECTIONPicture: 1 x HDMI
Control and Automatic Color Management:
1x RS 232C (RJ45)

IR and Auto Contrast:
1 x RJ45

Sound (center channel):
1 x Power Link (RJ45)
Wall bracket

Shanghai court rejects Proview injunction, okays the sale of Apple iPads

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 03:03 AM PST

The legal tussle between Apple and Proview over the iPad has swung in Cupertino's direction. According to Chinese news outlet Xinmin, a Shanghai court has rebuffed Proview's demand for an injunction halting the sale of the Apple tablet due to licensing issues. The Pudong New Area People's Court made the decision yesterday, stating that while the Guangdong court case has yet to make a final decision on who owns the "iPad" trademark, there wasn't enough evidence on Proview's side to honor an injunction.

For those who've just caught up with the story, here's a quick overview: starting in 2000, Proview's Taiwan branch registered the "iPad" trademark in several countries, with the Shenzhen branch doing the same in China. Apple then bought worldwide rights from Proview Taiwan, which would have included China. Proview Shenzhen, who has gone into debt restructuring since 2010, is now saying that it never authorized its Taiwan counterpart to do so, but Apple claims that it has Proview Shenzhen's signatures on the paperwork. It looks like eventually it's going to get easier to grab that iPad in China, though if Apple's appeal case in the Guangdong court fails, then Proview could easily strike again with more ammo.

Samsung may cough up millions over kaput TVs

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 02:28 AM PST

A class action lawsuit filed by owners of faulty Sammy TVs has finally reached a settlement. The manufacturer has promised to foot the bill for new repairs, reimburse for previous repairs and hand out up to $300 to customers who no longer possess their broken TVs but can prove they once did. The fault can affects any of the models listed above -- possibly up to seven million sets in total -- and centers on an errant capacitor in the power circuit that stops the TV turning on, makes it slow to turn on, produces a "clicking sound" or makes it cycle on and off. If you think you're affected then check the source link for details on what to do next. Curious to know how much the lawyers got? A cool half-million for their troubles, which means they'll be upgrading to OLED.

Update: A Samsung spokesperson offered up the following response,

Approximately 1 percent of Samsung televisions sold in the U.S. from 2006 to 2008 have experienced some performance issues caused by a component called a capacitor. Since originally confirming this issue in early 2010, Samsung has voluntarily provided free repairs for U.S. customers with affected televisions. Recently, a nationwide class settlement covering all affected televisions in the U.S. was reached in Russell, et al. v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., a lawsuit filed in the District Court of Oklahoma County in the U.S.

Sony outs 350Mbps TransferJet chip for smartphones, tries not to stare at Toshiba

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 02:01 AM PST

Sony outs 350Mbps TransferJet chipWith Toshiba's toes having already crossed the 560Mbps wireless transfer speed barrier, Sony is instead forced to emphasize that its new TransferJet chip has "industry-leading short-range sensitivity." Crucially though, the miniaturised 6mm x 6mm device also boasts lower consumption compared to Sony's previous offerings, making it suitable for smartphones and tablets rather than just cameras or laptops. The product should start appearing in devices some time after August and will sell to OEMs for ¥500 ($6) -- which means it doesn't beat Toshiba on price either.

Panasonic: Eluga means 'Elegant, user-orientated gateway,' not a cry of distress

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 01:33 AM PST

No, it's not the noise people make when they've eaten too much caviar. Panasonic's revealed the reasoning behind calling its long-heralded smartphone Eluga -- apparently it stands for "ELegant, User-orientated GatewAy." The company's also revealed a few more specs and tidbits following on from yesterday's rather sketchy announcement. You'll find an 8-megapixel camera sitting flush to that 7.8mm body, NFC and an "eco mode" that will shut down non-essential features when you're nursing your nearly-empty battery. That 1.0GHz TI OMAP processor we revealed to you yesterday will be joined by 8GB storage, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR. You'll buy the phone with Gingerbread 2.3.5 installed, with ICS promised to arrive "from June," by which point you'll have probably learned how to pronounce the name without looking ill.
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Panasonic Launches ELUGA

Stylish and slim Android smartphone in Europe. Back with a splash: Panasonic dives into Europe with a slim, stylish and waterproof smartphone

Panasonic Europe has unveiled its new smartphone – the ELUGA – an ultra-slim, high specification waterproof smartphone for the style conscious.

The ELUGA – whose name stems from the phrase 'elegant user-oriented gateway' – weighs in at just 103g, making it one of the lightest Android™ smartphone in Europe. As well as being waterproof, the ELUGA packs one of the largest screen ratio on the market – with a display comprising 66% of the phone's body, thanks to its super-thin frame.

With a 7.8mm profile along the entire length of the phone, the ultra-slim D shape is designed not to ruin the line of clothes – even the ELUGA's high quality 8MP camera lens lies flat against the phone's chassis.

The phone specifications include :
● An ultra-slim D shaped design, with a slender 123x62.0x7.8mm frame.
● International standard IP57 water and dustproofing. Protected for up to a depth of 1 metre for up to 30 minutes in water, and protected against dust (75 micrometers or less in diameter/no harmful deposit) if left near or in it for eight hours or less.
● Near-field communication (NFC) technology, meaning the phone is ready for 'no touch' interactions, including contactless payments.
● A 4.3 inch, 960x540, capacitive OLED QHD screen with one of the largest display area ratio on the market.
● Swipe and Share, letting users wirelessly 'throw' pictures from their phone to a TV or cloud service, or stream movies from their phone to a TV. The VieraRemote app also enables the phone to be used as a remote control for other electronic devices in the home (such as a Viera TV, DIGA Blu-ray player and recorder, home cinema system, or digital still camera).
● An 8MP autofocus camera, with 8GB of integrated memory.
● A 1GHz dual-core processor ( OMAP4430 ), with Android Gingerbread (version 2.3.5) on-board, to be upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich from summer 2012.

The ELUGA will also feature 'eco mode', Panasonic's unique power-saving technology which provides significant environmental benefit by shutting down non-essential features when the phone is running low on battery power.

Toshiya Matsumura, General Manager, Head of Mobile Communications, Panasonic System Communications Europe, said: "Despite the unprecedented increase in the number of smartphone devices appearing over the last few years, we don't believe anyone has yet managed to truly bridge the gap between style and substance. With the launch of the ELUGA, we're aiming to prove it is possible to deliver style, function, form, and the very best underlying technology, all in a competitively-priced package."

Star Wars 3D getting the Blu-ray treatment for spring?

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 01:04 AM PST

Star Wars 3D getting the Blu-ray treatment for spring

Just finished your deliciously digital Blu-ray collection of the Star Wars saga? Thought that was the end of it? C'mon. Following the three-dimensional release of Episode 1 in theaters, Pocket-lint's heard from sources at a recent Panasonic event that the "start" of the saga will be arriving on 3D Blu-ray faster than you might think -- this spring, likely as a replacement for its Avatar pack-in exclusive. Panasonic's got a history of Star Wars tie-ins, so we're putting whatever money we have left for additional Jedi media on it making an appearance over the next few months.

Qualcomm Atheros flaunts 802.11ac WiFi module for Snapdragon S4

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 12:14 AM PST

The 802.11ac WiFi standard may sound like an alphabetical step backwards, but for high-bandwidth tasks like 1080p streaming it promises to wipe the face off 802.11n. Qualcomm Atheros wants its share of the billion unit pie and has just launched a series of products to flesh out its 802.11ac ecosystem. Top billing goes to the WCN3680 WiFi/BlueTooth/FM combo module, which plugs into the new Snapdragon S4 (MSM8960) and offers speeds of up to 433Mbps to complement that blistering CPU performance. Since the S4 already includes built-in b/g/n WiFi (not to mention its 3G/4G/LTE baseband), manufacturers who choose to add the 802.11ac component will achieve full WiFi cross-compatibility and make many consumers happy in the process. Meanwhile, you'll also find similar multilingual abilities in QA's other 5G WiFi modules for PCs, laptops, routers and enterprise, which are all detailed in the PR after the break. Rest assured that we'll bring you more hands-on impressions of the latest Snapdragon just as soon as things kick off at MWC -- and hopefully in the form of a finished, market-ready tablet or handset.
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Qualcomm Atheros Launches 802.11ac Product Ecosystem to Provide
End-to-End, Gigabit-Capable Wi-Fi Performance

― Employs Mobile Platform to Propagate Clients,
Accelerate Adoption of New-Generation Wi-Fi ―

SAN JOSE, C alif. ― February 23, 2012 ― Qualcomm Atheros Inc., the networking and connectivity subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM), announced today the launch of its 802.11ac Wi-Fi® ecosystem. With the growing number of devices and bandwidth-intensive multimedia applications placing greater demands on wireless networks, 802.11ac―the newest chapter in the Wi-Fi technology evolution―expands performance and coverage to enable HD video-grade connectivity across increasingly crowded networks. Qualcomm's portfolio of 802.11ac products target mobile, home and office networking, including smartphones, tablets, PCs, laptops, televisions, home routers, gateways and enterprise access points. Qualcomm is introducing its multi-channel portfolio to enable end-to-end 802.11ac performance benefits to speed adoption of the new Gigabit-capable Wi-Fi networking technology.

"Qualcomm Atheros is enabling a client-to-infrastructure 802.11ac ecosystem by combining its Wi-Fi expertise across virtually all segments with Qualcomm's position in mobile channels," said Craig Barratt, president, Qualcomm Atheros. "By enabling client devices, such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks, with easy migration from 802.11n to 802.11ac, Qualcomm Atheros is paving the way for rapid adoption of products based on the new Wi-Fi standard. This should provide for a smooth, full-scale transition to Gigabit-capable Wi-Fi networking within the next two years."

Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac for Mobile

A key catalyst driving the ecosystem, the WCN3680 is a mobile 1x1 802.11ac combo Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM chip that is the connectivity companion to the Qualcomm 28nm Snapdragon™ family of processors, and will be integrated with the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 processor featuring a dual-core Krait CPU and the S4 APQ8064 processor featuring a quad-core Krait CPU. Targeted at mobile consumer electronic devices like smartphones and tablets, the WCN3680 chip has high throughput for fast data transfer and low power consumption, enabling longer battery life and superior performance for demanding applications. The Snapdragon S4 processor class supports a wide range of leading operating systems, provides data rates up to 433 Mbps, and is pin-compatible with Qualcomm Atheros' 802.11n mobile solution, the WCN3660, to provide customers with a simple upgrade path to 802.11ac performance.

"We are thrilled to be the industry's first company with a mobile 802.11ac combo chip. The WCN3680 is an important development for the wireless industry," said Barratt. "Qualcomm Atheros is improving the way new Wi-Fi technologies are propagated and expanding on the strength of Qualcomm's mobile footprint to enable 802.11ac more quickly for everyone."

Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac for Computing

To address the broad and growing array of connectivity needs for computing, Qualcomm is offering a rich family of solutions, including 1-, 2- and 3-stream 802.11ac solutions that can achieve up to 1.3 Gbps wireless data rates:
 WCN3680 1-stream 802.11ac with integrated Bluetooth and FM paired with the Snapdragon S4 MSM8960 offers the benefits of high-performance WAN and LAN connectivity for multimedia and gaming on smartphones, tablets and PCs;
 WCN3680 paired with the Snapdragon S4 APQ8064 for non-WAN, advanced multimedia and gaming on tablets and PCs;
 Standalone QCA9860 (3-stream) and QCA9862 (2-stream) 802.11ac/a/b/g/n and Bluetooth combo chips support up to 1.3 Gbps PHY rates and feature a system-on-chip architecture to optimize CPU utilization for support of three times faster transfer rates and extended battery life versus legacy Wi-Fi.

The Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac chips for computing are highly integrated to enable the smallest, thinnest notebooks with support for leading operating systems. The chips also support Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi Display for full peer-to-peer functionality.

Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac for Consumer Electronics

The Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac solution ecosystem provides consumer electronics customers with 1-, 2- and 3-stream dual-band 802.11ac performance options that can achieve up to 1.3 Gbps wireless data rates. For utilization in televisions, gaming systems and streaming media devices, the Qualcomm Atheros chips for consumer electronics optimize video delivery within the evolving home network. The chips can be paired with the Qualcomm Snapdragon media processor to provide enhanced smart television performance options; standalone options can be paired with optional television system-on-chip/media processors. The high level of integration allows for thin designs, including 4mm OLED panels. The 802.11ac chips for consumer electronics include:

QCA9860, 3-stream dual-band 802.11ac/a/b/g/n with Bluetooth 4.0/LE
QCA9862, 2-stream dual-band 802.11ac/a/b/g/n with Bluetooth 4.0/LE

Qualcomm Atheros 802.11ac for Home and Enterprise Networking

To complete its end-to-end Gigabit wireless ecosystem, Qualcomm Atheros is also launching 2- and 3-stream, dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi to PCIe single-chip radios for home and enterprise network access equipment. These new chips achieve up to 1.3 Gbps wireless data rates and target next-generation dual-band, dual-concurrent (DBDC) wireless access points, routers and gateways. A new, highly efficient architecture reduces overall system cost, processing requirements and power consumption, while nearly tripling wireless performance, to enable broad adoption. A high level of integration reduces external components compared to the previous generation of 3x3 802.11n solutions, to enhance reliability and simplify end product design and manufacturing. The Qualcomm Atheros solutions for retail, carrier and enterprise networking customers include:

QCA9880 3x3 and QCA9882 2x2 chips for 802.11ac/a/b/g/n home networking
QCA9890 3x3 and QCA9892 2x2 chips for 802.11ac/a/b/g/n enterprise networking, with enhanced in-building location and spectral sensing capabilities

Qualcomm Atheros is sampling its 802.11ac chips to customers in the second quarter of 2012 and will demonstrate the WCN3680 capabilities at Mobile World Congress in Qualcomm's exhibit, Booth #8B53, Hall 8, February 27 to March 1 in Barcelona.

Harris new rugged tablet brings Honeycomb to your local combat-zone

Posted: 23 Feb 2012 12:02 AM PST

Harris makes the tough tech you'd expect to see census takers (leave it), NFL stadiums and public buses toting around. It's introducing a new 7-inch Android tablet that's so hard-as-nails it would make a Galaxy Tab go home and call its mother. The Harris RF-3590 packs a 1024 x 600 multitouch display, a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, 2GB of LPDDR2 RAM, 2 and 8-megapixel front and rear-facing cameras and comes running Honeycomb. There's plenty of connection options with the usual WiFi, GPS and Bluetooth supplanted by a cellular connection, Ethernet, HDMI, SD and USB holes. It'll come with a 64GB SSD as standard but you can upgrade it to 128GB if you've got the moolah. Designed for soldiers in the battlefield, when stealth isn't necessary you can even activate voice control and bark your orders into the pair of microphones included. There's no word on pricing or availability, presumably because if you want to pick one of these up, you probably need to be called "General," and not just because you're good at Starcraft.

[Thanks, Mike]
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Harris Corporation Introduces Ruggedized Tablet for Defense and Public Safety Mission-Critical Communications

Introducing ruggedized, military-grade tablet, a new, lightweight device for delivering mission-critical information and applications to the field.
Device delivers "smartphone-like" user experience to warfighters and first responders with challenging requirements for secure real-time information and networking connectivity.
Extends Harris' leadership in providing mission-critical communications capabilities, such as voice, video and data, to personnel who protect, defend and serve.

MELBOURNE, FL/ROCHESTER, NY, February 20, 2011 - Harris Corporation (NYSE:HRS), an international communications and information technology company, has introduced the Harris Ruggedized Tablet, a secure, portable device that delivers a "smartphone-like" experience to military personnel and first responders who require secure real-time information at their fingertips to execute their missions.

The new Harris RF-3590 is a 7-inch ruggedized Android™ tablet that provides high-performance application and computing capability at the tactical edge. Highlights include:

Integrates seamlessly to the most advanced military and public safety communications platforms, including Harris Falcon III® wideband tactical radio networks and 3G and 4G LTE Solutions;
Delivers targeted suites of mission-critical software applications to users on the battlefield and in first responder roles;
Supports emerging requirements for video, monitoring position locations, accessing secure databases and other crucial intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance tasks;
Rated as a ruggedized device to provide reliable operation in heat, cold and other extreme environments.

Harris has received initial orders for test and evaluation purposes and is optimistic the product will be well received.

"The new Harris tablet builds on our leadership in mission-critical communications to provide a powerful device for processing mission-critical information," said Dana Mehnert, group president, Harris RF Communications. "This tablet was fully designed for the tactical and public safety environment with optimized features for reading in sunlight and size, weight and power. As an Android device, the tablet also is fully upgradeable for emerging applications."

For the warfighter, the RF-3590 leverages the military's emerging wideband tactical radio networks and enables real-time sharing of mission-critical information across the battlespace. Harris is the leading provider of wideband communications through its Falcon III AN/PRC-117G manpack and Falcon III AN/PRC-152A handheld radios. The new Harris tablet extends this proven capability to the network edge, putting a rugged, Android-based device with extensive interface capability in the hands of users on the frontlines. The Harris tablet is also designed to integrate with the Harris Falcon Networking System, an end-to-end system for connecting individual warfighters to the tactical cloud.

For the first responder, the RF-3590 provides a unique ruggedized device capable of delivering on-scene, real-time critical data to law enforcement, fire service or federal agency users who are connected via both public and private cellular networks. Leveraging Harris' deep understanding of public safety communications, the RF-3590 delivers mission critical voice, data, and video to first responders, using built-in 3G or 4G technology via an integrated network module.

In addition to serving as a network peripheral, the RF-3590 also offers stand-alone computing power. It comes with built-in cameras, an accelerometer, digital compass, pressure and temperature gauges, gyroscope, proximity/ambient light sensors and more. Harris' RF-3590 includes standard USB and Ethernet data interfaces and expansion capabilities. The RF-3590 is built around a dual-core 1.5 GHz processor and supports up to 128 GB of internal non-volatile memory.

High resolution images are available at: Harris Ruggedized Tablet and Harris Ruggedized Tablet in Action.

Harris RF Communications is the leading global supplier of secure radio communications and embedded high-grade encryption solutions for military, government and commercial organizations. The company's Falcon® family of software-defined tactical radio systems encompasses manpack, handheld and vehicular applications. Falcon III is the next generation of radios supporting the U.S. military's Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) requirements, as well as network-centric operations worldwide. Harris RF Communications is also a leading supplier of assured communications® systems and equipment for public safety, utility and transportation markets - with products ranging from the most advanced IP voice and data networks to portable and mobile single- and multiband radios.

Apache outs version 2.4 of its HTTP server six years after last full release

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 10:58 PM PST

Apache outs version 2.4 of its HTTP server six years after last full releaseIt's been half a dozen years since Apache last released a new version of its venerable HTTP server, but the day has finally come for version 2.4 to be unveiled to the world. Granted, the old Apache was doing fine -- it's been the most prolific web server in the world since the mid nineties -- but a bit of freshening up couldn't hurt, right? Among the many changes are reduced memory usage, improved performance and efficiency, and more finely-tuned caching support for high-traffic sites. If you want to know more, check out the source link below for an overview and full feature list. Well, what are you waiting for, Tanto... jump on it!

T-Mobile lost more customers in Q4, will launch LTE in 2013 with AWS spectrum from AT&T

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 10:18 PM PST

In T-Mobile USA's first earnings report since the proposed merger with AT&T fell through in December, it noted a loss of 802,000 customers in Q4 (being the only carrier not to have the iPhone is a lonely, lonely circumstance). But there is some good news -- thanks to the AWS spectrum it's receiving due to the termination of said deal, it plans to launch LTE services in 2013. Additionally, it plans to spend $4 billion rolling out HSPA+3G/4G services on the 1900 MHz band which should mean high speed data access (in some areas) for previously unsupported devices like the iPhone 4/4S. Also, since both T-Mobile and AT&T use AWS spectrum for LTE, we could see existing (and future) unlocked devices that are compatible with both networks. For now, T-Mobile is focusing on the new devices it's delivering like the just-announced Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G, and its addition of 276,000 prepaid customers. Check out the full report with all the details and dollar amounts after the break.
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T-MOBILE USA REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER 2011 OPERATING RESULTS

Bellevue, Wash. - Feb. 22, 2012
2012-02-23 02:07:24
Strong adjusted OIBDA and prepaid performance; contract business negatively impacted in the fourth quarter of 2011 by iPhone 4S launches by three nationwide competitors

Adjusted OIBDA increased by 4.3% year-on-year to $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, adjusted OIBDA margin improved 2 percentage points year-on-year to 31% in the fourth quarter of 2011

Branded contract losses improved through the third quarter of 2011, however the launch of the iPhone 4S reversed this trend to a branded contract customer loss of 706,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011

Strong branded prepaid additions of 220,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011, primarily due to continued success of unlimited Monthly 4G prepaid plans

Service revenues down 2.7% year-on-year to $4.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, due to branded contract customer losses and revenue effects from the shift to unlimited Value plans
Branded contract ARPU increased $2 year-on-year to $58 in the fourth quarter of 2011, mainly driven by an increase in data ARPU

Branded Data ARPU increased $2.70 year-on-year to $16.50 in the fourth quarter of 2011
T-Mobile USA is reinvigorating its challenger strategy, which includes a major network modernization plan to launch LTE in 2013

On December 20, 2011 T-Mobile USA's proposed sale to AT&T, Inc. was terminated; due to the termination of the sale near year-end, T-Mobile USA's annual impairment assessment of indefinite-lived assets is still ongoing


T-Mobile USA, Inc. ("T-Mobile USA") today reported fourth quarter 2011 results and provided an update on its annual assessment of indefinite-lived assets recorded in its financial statements. In the fourth quarter of 2011, T-Mobile USA reported service revenues of $4.57 billion, down from $4.69 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, and adjusted OIBDA of $1.40 billion, up from $1.34 billion reported in the fourth quarter of 2010. Blended ARPU in the fourth quarter of 2011 was $46, consistent with the fourth quarter of 2010. Additionally, net customer losses were 526,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 23,000 net customer losses in the fourth quarter of 2010.

"In 2011, T-Mobile USA showed solid financial performance with a remarkable adjusted OIBDA turn-around in the second half of the year, despite nine challenging months during the pending acquisition. We further increased our 4G data speed to 42 Mbps, expanded our sales channels, launched 25 new 4G handsets and significantly improved our operational efficiency. As a result, adjusted OIBDA rose again year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2011 and branded data ARPU grew 20 percent year-on-year as smartphone adoption accelerated," said Philipp Humm CEO and President of T-Mobile USA. "However, not carrying the iPhone led to a significant increase in contract deactivations in the fourth quarter of 2011. In 2012 and 2013, T-Mobile USA will invest to get the business back to growth, including an incremental $1.4 billion investment in its network modernization initiative, which will total a $4 billion investment over time."

"Though we are not satisfied with the contract customer losses and the decreased total revenues, the quarterly margin improvement year-on-year was impressive. The spectrum gained through the break-up fee empowers T-Mobile USA to start LTE-based services in key US markets and strengthens its competitiveness," said René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom.

Total Customers
T-Mobile USA served 33.2 million customers (as defined in Note 1 to the Selected Data, below) at the end of fourth quarter 2011, compared to 33.7 million customers at both the end of third quarter 2011 and the end of fourth quarter 2010.
Fourth quarter 2011 net customer losses of 526,000, compared to net customer additions of 126,000 in the third quarter of 2011, and net customer losses of 23,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010.
The sequential and year-on-year increase in customer losses is a result of intense competitive pressure from the launch of the iPhone 4S by three nationwide competitors in the fourth quarter of 2011. In addition, higher connected device deactivations contributed significantly to the net customer loss in the fourth quarter of 2011, including a nearly 265,000 deactivation related to one customer with a yearly service revenue impact of less than $1 million.

Contract Customers
Contract net customer losses, including connected devices (as defined in Note 1 to the Selected Data, below), were 802,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to 186,000 net contract customer losses in the third quarter of 2011 and 251,000 net contract customer losses in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Branded contract net customer losses, excluding connected devices, were 706,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011, a decline of 317,000 net branded contract customer losses from 389,000 in the third quarter of 2011. Net branded contract customer losses were 364,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sequentially, the decline in branded net contract customers was driven primarily by higher branded contract deactivations as a result of the launch of the iPhone 4S by three nationwide competitors in mid-October.

The year-over-year change in branded contract gross customer additions resulted in part from competitive pressures and the implementation of strengthened credit standards as part of T-Mobile USA's focus on improving the overall quality of its contract customer base.
Connected device net customer losses were 95,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to net customer additions of 204,000 in the third quarter of 2011 and net customer additions of 113,000 in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The sequential and year-over-year change was driven by higher connected device customer deactivations during the fourth quarter of 2011. Connected device customers, which have significantly lower ARPUs (averaging less than $2) than other contract customers, totaled 2.4 million at December 31, 2011.

Prepaid Customers
Prepaid net customer additions, including MVNO customers (as defined in Note 1 to the Selected Data, below), were 276,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from 312,000 net prepaid customer additions in the third quarter of 2011, and up from 229,000 net prepaid customer additions in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Branded prepaid net customer additions, excluding MVNO customers, were 220,000 in the fourth quarter of 2011, down 34,000 from third quarter 2011 branded prepaid net customer additions of 254,000, and improved by 365,000 from 145,000 net branded prepaid customer losses in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sequentially, branded prepaid net customers declined due to churn from prepaid customers as a result of competitive offers introduced by T-Mobile USA's competitors during the quarter.
The year-on-year growth in branded prepaid net customer additions was due primarily to growth in customer adoption of T-Mobile USA's unlimited Monthly 4G prepaid plans.
MVNO customers increased slightly in the fourth quarter of 2011, totaling 3.6 million as of December 31, 2011. Compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, MVNO net customer additions decreased due to fewer MVNO gross customer additions.

Churn
Blended churn (as defined in Note 3 to the Selected Data, below), reflecting both contract and prepaid customers, increased to 4.0% in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 3.5% in the third quarter of 2011 and 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The sequential and year-on-year increase in blended churn was primarily driven by higher churn from branded contract and connected device customers.

Churn from branded customers was 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 3.2% in the third quarter of 2011, and 3.4% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The sequential and year-on-year increase was primarily due to higher churn of branded contract customers as a result of competitive market conditions and all of T-Mobile's primary nationwide competitors offering the iPhone 4S in the fourth quarter of 2011. The year-on-year increase was partially offset by an improvement in prepaid branded churn as a result of unlimited Monthly 4G prepaid plans introduced in 2011.

Contract churn, including connected devices, was 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 2.4% in the third quarter of 2011 and 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Sequentially and year-on-year contract churn was negatively impacted by competitors' launches of the iPhone 4S, which is not offered by T-Mobile USA.

To address contract churn, T-Mobile USA continued to focus on loyalty efforts during the quarter, including a strong focus on re-contracting its most loyal customers.
Prepaid churn, including MVNO, decreased to 6.8% in the fourth quarter of 2011, from 7.2% in the third quarter of 2011 and 7.5% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

The sequential decrease in prepaid churn was driven primarily by fewer MVNO deactivations.
The year-on-year decrease in prepaid churn was driven primarily by the success of unlimited Monthly 4G prepaid plans introduced in 2011.

Adjusted OIBDA

T-Mobile USA reported Adjusted OIBDA (as defined in Note 8 to the Selected Data, below) of $1.40 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to $1.45 billion in the third quarter of 2011 and $1.34 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Adjusted OIBDA margin (as defined in Note 9 to the Selected Data, below) was 31% in the fourth quarter of 2011, consistent with the third quarter of 2011 and up from 29% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Year-on-year OIBDA margin improved primarily due to the reductions in equipment subsidies in connection with the new unlimited Value plans.

T-Mobile USA is currently performing its annual assessment of the indefinite-lived assets recorded in its financial statements. T-Mobile USA anticipates that it will record a material non-cash impairment charge related to its indefinite-lived assets for the fourth quarter of 2011. Any such charge would have no affect on either the Company's current cash balance or future cash flows. T-Mobile USA expects to include full financial statement results for the fourth quarter of 2011 in the earnings release for the first quarter of 2012 as a comparative period.
Adjusted OIBDA in the fourth quarter of 2011 and the third quarter of 2011 excludes AT&T transaction-related costs of $123 million and $51 million, respectively, primarily consisting of employee-related retention benefit expenses.

Sequentially, adjusted OIBDA decreased as a result of lower service revenues driven by branded customer losses and higher customer acquisition expenses. This was offset by lower network operating expenses. Third quarter of 2011 adjusted OIBDA had also benefitted by $29 million in connection with the discontinued retail partnership with RadioShack.

Year-on-year, adjusted OIBDA increased as a result of reduced losses from equipment subsidies due to the launch of the unlimited Value plans and continued cost management programs. Fourth quarter 2011 operating expenses, excluding the cost of equipment sales, remained consistent sequentially and year-on-year as cost savings programs in 2011 helped control expense growth.

Revenue
Service revenues (as defined in Note 4 to the Selected Data, below) were $4.57 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from $4.67 billion in the third quarter of 2011 and $4.69 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sequentially and year-on-year, quarterly service revenues decreased primarily due to contract customer losses, which were partially offset by the increased adoption of data plans in the contract and prepaid customer base. Additionally, year-on-year service revenues were positively impacted by growth in revenues from providing handset insurance services to customers, which were insourced in the fourth quarter of 2010 and reconnection fees, which were introduced in the third quarter of 2011.

Service and Sales revenues (as defined in Note 13 to the Selected Data, below) were $5.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from $5.2 billion in the third quarter of 2011 and $5.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Service and Sales revenues decreased slightly from the third quarter of 2011 primarily due to contract customer losses as described above, partially offset by increased 3G/4G smartphone sales volumes. The number of 3G/4G smartphones sold in the fourth quarter of 2011 increased to 2.6 million from 1.8 million in the third quarter of 2011 and 2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. 3G/4G smartphones also accounted for a record 92% of equipment sales in the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to 77% in both the third quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2010.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, Service and Sales revenues decreased by 3.6% as fewer branded contract gross additions were partially offset by handset sales in connection with the introduction of T-Mobile USA's new unlimited Value plans.

Total revenues, including service, equipment sales, and other revenues were $5.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, consistent with the third quarter of 2011 and down from $5.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2010, total revenues changed due primarily to contract customer losses as described above.

ARPU
Blended Average Revenue Per User ("ARPU" as defined in Note 4 to the Selected Data, below) was $46 in the fourth quarter of 2011, consistent with both the third quarter of 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2010.

Both blended and contract ARPU benefitted from growing handset insurance revenues and from the introduction of reconnection fees.

Contract ARPU, including connected devices, was $53 in the fourth quarter of 2011, consistent with the third quarter of 2011 and up from $52 in the fourth quarter of 2010. Branded contract ARPU, excluding connected devices, was $58 in the fourth quarter of 2011, down from $59 in the third quarter of 2011 and up from $56 in the fourth quarter of 2010.

oYear-on-year, branded contract ARPU increased as data revenue growth more than offset lower voice revenue, which included effects from the shift to unlimited Value plans.
Prepaid ARPU, including MVNO, was $19 in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from $18 in the third quarter of 2011 and consistent with the fourth quarter of 2010. Branded prepaid ARPU, excluding MVNO customers, was $25 in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from $24 in the third quarter of 2011 and consistent with the fourth quarter of 2010.

oQuarter-on-quarter, branded prepaid ARPU increased primarily due to the continued growth in unlimited Monthly 4G prepaid products.

Data service revenues (as defined in Note 4 to the Selected Data, below) were $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 9.9% from the fourth quarter of 2010.

Data service revenues in the fourth quarter of 2011 represented 31% of blended ARPU, or $14.20 per customer, compared to 30% of blended ARPU, or $14.00 per customer in the third quarter of 2011, and 28% of blended ARPU, or $12.80 per customer in the fourth quarter of 2010. Branded data ARPU in the fourth quarter of 2011 amounted to $16.50 per branded customer, compared to $16.00 per branded customer in the third quarter of 2011 and $13.80 per branded customer in the fourth quarter of 2010.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, the increase in the number of customers using smartphones, along with T-Mobile USA's continued upgrade of its 3G and 4G networks helped drive Internet access revenue growth through the increased customer adoption of mobile broadband data plans.
11.0 million customers were using smartphones enabled for the T-Mobile USA 3G/4G network (as defined in Note 12 to the Selected Data, below) such as the Samsung Galaxy S®II, the HTC Sensation™ 4G and the T-Mobile® myTouch™ 4G Slide. This represents a net increase of over 34% or 2.8 million customers using smartphones from the fourth quarter of 2010.

3G/4G smartphone customers now account for 40% of total branded customers, up from 36% in the third quarter of 2011 and 28% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Messaging revenue (as described in Note 5 to the Selected Data, below) continued to be an important component of data service revenues. Messaging accounted for approximately 31% of total data revenues in the fourth quarter of 2011, a decrease compared to 32% in the third quarter of 2011 and 36% in the fourth quarter of 2010 related to a shift in the data revenue mix towards mobile broadband data plans.

CPGA and CCPU
The average cost of acquiring a customer, Cost Per Gross Add ("CPGA" as defined in Note 7 to the Selected Data, below) was $270 in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from $260 in the third quarter of 2011, but down from $290 in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sequentially, CPGA increased in the fourth quarter of 2011 due primarily to a change in the customer mix towards branded customer additions and higher advertising costs.

Year-on-year, CPGA decreased in the fourth quarter of 2011 due primarily to lower handset subsidies as a result of T-Mobile USA's new unlimited Value plans, which do not bundle subsidized handsets as in traditional wireless service contracts.

The average cash cost of serving customers, Cash Cost Per User ("CCPU" as defined in Note 6 to the Selected Data, below), was $23 per customer per month in the fourth quarter of 2011, consistent with the third quarter of 2011 and down from $24 in the fourth quarter of 2010.
Year-on-year, CCPU decreased in the fourth quarter of 2011 due primarily to lower handset upgrade subsidies as a result of T-Mobile USA's new unlimited Value plans.

Capital Expenditures
Cash capital expenditures (as defined in Note 10 to the Selected Data, below) were $2.7 billion in 2011, fairly consistent with $2.8 billion in 2010.

In 2011, cash capital expenditures were driven by the continued build-out of the HSPA+ 21 and HSPA+ 42 networks (as defined in Note 11 to the Selected Data, below).

Cash capital expenditures were $551 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared to $741 million in the third quarter of 2011 and $828 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sequentially and year-on-year, the decrease in cash capital expenditures was a result of lower expenditures related to the buildout of the HSPA+ 42 network.

To further improve the value provided to customers through its 4G mobile broadband network, T-Mobile USA has continued to invest in its HSPA+ 42 network, which reached over 184 million people as of the end of the fourth quarter of 2011, doubling the theoretical speed of its 4G network to 42 Mbps.

T-Mobile USA Recent Highlights
On March 20, 2011, Deutsche Telekom AG and AT&T Inc. entered into a definitive agreement under which AT&T proposed to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telekom in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $39 billion, subject to adjustment in accordance with the agreement. In the third quarter of 2011, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia to block the acquisition. On November 24, 2011, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom withdrew their pending applications at the Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") for the transfer of T-Mobile USA spectrum licenses to AT&T as part of AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile USA. On December 20, 2011, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom jointly announced the termination of the agreement on the sale of T-Mobile USA. As a result, AT&T made a $3.0 billion cash payment to Deutsche Telekom in December 2011. The break-up consideration due to Deutsche Telekom under the terminated Stock Purchase Agreement also included significant Advanced Wireless Services ("AWS") spectrum and a long term agreement on Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems ("UMTS") roaming within the USA. T-Mobile USA incurred transaction-related costs in 2011 that primarily reflect incremental personnel costs as a result of the formerly proposed deal.

T-Mobile USA and AT&T Inc. have jointly filed a request with the FCC for approval of the AWS spectrum transfer noted above, which resulted from the termination of the agreement on the sale of T-Mobile USA. This spectrum will increase T-Mobile USA's average spectrum holdings in the Top 100 markets from approximately 54 to approximately 60 MHz.

T-Mobile USA continues to unveil cutting edge devices including 42 Mbps-capable smartphones such as the T-Mobile® myTouch® Q, the HTC® Amaze™ 4G and the Samsung Galaxy S® II and new 4G tablets such as the T-Mobile® SpringBoard™ with Google™ and the Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1 and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S® Blaze™ 4G.

T-Mobile USA announced it will invest $4 billion in total to strengthen its 4G network by installing new equipment at 37,000 cell sites and deploying HSPA+ in its PCS (1900) spectrum band. This spectrum re-farming effort, combined with the AWS spectrum T-Mobile USA will receive due to the termination of the AT&T transaction (subject to FCC approval), will allow the deployment of long-term evolution (LTE) service on AWS spectrum in 2013. This anticipated network transformation will significantly enhance coverage and performance for customers.

T-Mobile USA is the U.S. wireless operation of Deutsche Telekom AG (OTCQX: DTEGY). In order to provide comparability with the results of other US wireless carriers, all financial amounts are in US dollars and are based on accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP"). T-Mobile USA results are included in the consolidated results of Deutsche Telekom, but differ from the information contained herein as, among other things, Deutsche Telekom reports financial results in Euros and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

This press release includes non-GAAP financial measures. The non-GAAP financial measures should be considered in addition to, but not as a substitute for, the information provided in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations from the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are provided below following Selected Data and the financial statements.

T-Mobile USA Announces Reinvigorated Challenger Strategy
Begins Major Network Transformation in 2012 with LTE Launch Planned for 2013

Bellevue, Wash. - Feb. 23, 2012
2012-02-23 13:32:53

Today, T-Mobile USA, Inc. CEO and President Philipp Humm outlined the company's reinvigorated challenger strategy focused on making amazing 4G services affordable. T-Mobile will invest in strategic initiatives to get the business back to growth. The most significant investment is a $4 billion network modernization and 4G evolution effort, which will improve existing voice and data coverage and pave the way for long term evolution (LTE) service in 2013.1

"We want to be known for delivering the best value in wireless because of the advanced technology we deliver at an affordable price," said Philipp Humm CEO and President of
T-Mobile USA. "Over the next two years, we're prioritizing and investing in initiatives designed to get T-Mobile back to growth in the years ahead - beginning with the transformation of our network."

Additional investment areas core to the company's challenger strategy include aggressively pursuing the B2B segment, expanding the sales force by 1,000; ramping up advertising spending; and attracting new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)Anchor partners with an efficient platform for getting to market. T-Mobile will also continue to remodel its retail stores and expand distribution.

T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray detailed the company's network strategy, which includes installing new equipment at 37,000 cell sites and refarming spectrum to launch LTE in 2013.1 The key catalyst of refarming is the additional spectrum T-Mobile will receive as a result of the termination of the AT&T transaction. Also, other enablers are faster adoption of 3G and 4G services and improved device performance.

T-Mobile will invest a total of $4 billion over time into network modernization and LTE deployment. Over the next two years, this represents approximately $1.4 billion in incremental network investment. T-Mobile expects to reach broad deployment of LTE, with service in the vast majority of the top 50 markets and 20 MHz service in 75 percent of the top 25 markets.

"Today, we operate America's Largest 4G Network delivering a fast and reliable 4G data experience with HSPA+," said Neville Ray, chief technology officer, T-Mobile USA. "Launching LTE next year lets us take advantage of technology infrastructure advancements and benefit from a more mature LTE device ecosystem while continuing to meet the growing demand for data with a powerful 4G experience."

T-Mobile expects to be the first carrier in North America to modernize its 4G network infrastructure with new antenna integrated radios on many of its cell towers, which will deliver higher performance and strengthen coverage.

More than 90 percent of T-Mobile device sales in the fourth quarter were 3G and 4G smartphones. As data usage and smartphone adoption accelerate, fewer customers are utilizing 2G services. This enables T-Mobile to refarm existing spectrum holdings, reducing the amount of 1900 MHz PCS spectrum being used for GSM; to deploy HSPA+ 4G services in the PCS band; and to make room in the AWS band for LTE. In addition to creating capacity for LTE in AWS spectrum, deploying HSPA+ in the PCS band will harmonize T-Mobile's spectrum bands with the U.S. market and international carriers. As the company refarms spectrum, T-Mobile will continue to support its 2G customers.

T-Mobile's 4G HSPA+ network, which currently covers well over 200 million people, will continue to deliver a competitive 4G experience. T-Mobile will continue to expand its HSPA+ 4G footprint and its innovative 4G product and service offerings. For example, the recently announced Samsung Galaxy S® Blaze™ 4G, launching in March, is the newest smartphone in T-Mobile's portfolio to support the faster speeds offered by the HSPA+ 42 network.

Samsung's Galaxy S II celebrates 20 million sold, just in time for MWC

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 09:19 PM PST

After crossing the 10 million units moved threshold back in September, Samsung has joyously announced ahead of MWC 2012 that its Galaxy S II family of phones has sold 20 million since launching in April. According to Samsung, taking just ten months to hit the mark puts it ahead of the original Galaxy S (hovering around 22 million sold) by seven months. The hallmarks of this model -- in its many forms as seen above for AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint -- has been the Super AMOLED Plus screen, slim design and dual core CPUs, all of which made it a record breaker right out of the gate. Samsung's been pretty quiet as Mobile World Congress 2012 approaches, but whenever we see the Galaxy S III, it will certainly have a lot to live up to.

NVIDIA officially brands Tegra 3's five-core quad-core architecture as 4-PLUS-1

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 08:54 PM PST

NVIDIA's cooked up a few ways to describe the Tegra 3's quad-core-with-a-spare architecture, usually by giving the extra Cortex A9 a cute nickname like "ninja," or "companion." Until now, the proper description was "Variable Symmetrical Multiprocessing," or, vSMP for short. Despite how much fun (and technically accurate) some of these descriptions may have been, however, they just aren't marketable. "Our customers wanted a name for it that's unique and descriptive," writes mobile business unit general manager Michael Rayfield, "A name they could put on a box or a store sign that immediately represents its value." That official name is the 4-PLUS-1 quad-core architecture, he says, and you'll probably see it pop up a few times in Barcelona next week if LG's latest offering is any indication. It lacks something in pizzaz, to be sure, but we'll admit that it is at least descriptive of the Tegra 3's technical chops. In related news, NVIDIA promises the Tegra will be less fickle about its new moniker than the symbol formerly known as the artist formerly known as Prince.

ZTE to unleash eight new phones at MWC, hopes multi-core chipsets and LTE push them into third place

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 08:05 PM PST

If the trio of slabs ZTE announced earlier this week weren't enough for you, sit tight, the outfit just announced it's bringing a total of eight new phones to Barcelona next week. The new handsets will reportedly flaunt multi-core processors, LTE radios and the latest versions of the Android and Windows Phone platforms. This announcement both echos and one-ups the recently announced Mimosa X, which gets its dual-core chops from an NVIDIA Tegra 2, but boasts only HSPA+, rather than the promised LTE. ZTE says it hopes the new devices will help it become one of the world's top three handset providers by the year 2015. Seem far off? Don't worry, at least the phones will be here by Monday. Read on for ZTE's official press statement.
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ZTE set to unveil LTE, Windows Phone and multi-core Android devices at MWC 2012


23 February 2012, Shenzhen, China – ZTE Corporation ("ZTE") (H share stock code: 0763.HK / A share stock code: 000063.SZ), a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions, will next week announce a significant extension of its Smart Terminal capabilities – both in its product range and routes to market – including a major new quad-core flagship handset.

ZTE will unveil eight new devices, delivering significant advances in power, high definition multimedia capabilities and design. Based on technology innovations including multi-core chipsets, LTE, 4G radio and the latest Android and Windows Mobile platforms, the new devices form a core component of ZTE's ambition to become a top three handset provider by 2015.

On the infrastructure side, ZTE will be demonstrating a wide range of application scenarios covering LTE/LTE-A, smart networks and cloud computing.

"There is no doubt that this year's Mobile World Congress will again see some exciting device launches. The new devices from ZTE will demonstrate how ZTE is without doubt among an elite group of handset providers as next generation telecommunications networks roll out globally. ZTE returns at least ten percent of its revenues back into R&D to ensure that it sustains its position as a true market innovator – and we're counting down to being able to showcase this to the world's mobile industry next week," said Mr. He Shiyou, Executive Vice President and Head of the Terminals Division at ZTE.

The devices will be officially unveiled in a press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday 27th February at 10:30 CET. The new devices, together with a comprehensive portfolio of ZTE terminals, will be on display at the ZTE booth in Hall 8, stand B145.

LG Optimus 4X HD unveiled: Quad-core Tegra 3, Ice Cream Sandwich, 4.7-inch display

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 07:10 PM PST

If LG failed to impress so far with the Android 2.3 phones it's shown off in the run up to MWC 2012, perhaps the Optimus 4X HD can turn things around. This 4.7-inch beast will hit Europe in the second quarter and is its first to feature a 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 as its benchmark destroying CPU, a 4.7-inch True HD IPS LCD (1280x720) plus what appears to be a lightly customized version of Ice Cream Sandwich. Perhaps the only logical followup to its Optimus 2X that kicked off all the dual-core madness, it also includes a 2,150mAh battery, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Despite that huge screen, at a depth of 8.9mm it's only slightly thicker than the superwide 4x3 Optimus Vu. Just like the Fujitsu prototype we spent some time with at CES, the Tegra 3 features a 4+1 "Companion Core" design, with a fifth low power unit available to take care of more mundane tasks without draining the battery. This is all pretty close to the leaked "X3" specs we'd heard, however there's no mention of NFC or HSPA+ just yet, only DLNA and MHL. Check out the full press release after the break for a few more specs.


Show full PR text
LG'S QUAD-CORE SMARTPHONE MAKES
DEBUT AT 2012 MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS
LG Optimus 4X HD Takes Desktop Performance to the Mobile Space

SEOUL, Feb. 23, 2012 – LG today unveiled its first Quad-Core processor smartphone, LG Optimus 4X HD. Combining NVIDIA's latest 1.5GHz Tegra 3 with True HD IPS display, the LG Optimus 4X HD delivers PC-like performance in the palm of one's hand.

"LG introduced the world's first Dual-Core smartphone exactly one year ago and today we're announcing the next milestone," said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company. "But speed in itself isn't what makes LG Optimus 4X HD unique, it's the benefit we're bringing to customers with the HD multimedia experience in a mobile form factor."

The NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor is the world`s only 4-PLUS-1™ Quad-Core mobile processor designed for high-level multimedia performance but utilizes a fifth battery-saver core to handle less demanding tasks such as active standby and music playback. When running at full speed, the 12-core graphics processing unit (GPU) in Tegra 3 delivers a visually rich experience and console-quality game playability.

Equipped with the True HD IPS display, the Optimus 4X HD guarantees the finest viewing experience with high resolution, clarity and no color or shape distortion. The Optimus 4X HD includes 16 GB internal memory and runs on the latest version of Android OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Besides the smooth and fast performance, the Optimus 4X HD boasts a 8-megapixel BSI (Backside Illumination) Sensor camera with LED flash and advanced multimedia features to enrich the overall multimedia experience.

And LG designers made sure that looks didn't take a back seat to performance. The 8.9mm slim and sleek smartphone features a "prism-edged" design with enhanced materials and finish.

Additional information on the revolutionary new Optimus 4X HD will be available at LG Stand (Hall 8) at MWC 2012 from February 27 to March 1.

Key Specifications:
o Chipset: 1.5GHz Quad-Core processor (NVIDIA Tegra 3)
o Display: 4.7-inch (1280 x 720) True HD IPS
o Memory: 16GB eMMC and 1GB LP DDR2
o Camera: 8.0MP BSI Sensor (Rear) and 1.3MP (Front)
o OS: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
o Battery: 2,150mAh

Facebook PS Vita app hits US PlayStation Store

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 06:43 PM PST

Although the PlayStation Vita's official US launch brought with it the pleasures of LiveTweeting, WiFi-only Netflix access and Flickr's photo-based networking, its Facebook, Foursquare and Skype apps were curiously absent. Today that's partially changed, however, as Sony's announced that the service that Zuckerberg built is now available as a free 12MB download from the PlayStation Store (on the wall of its PlayStation Facebook profile no less). We've gained access to the social network without a hitch, so be sure to let us know how it goes on your side of the screen in the comments. Hopefully it's more pleasing than AR table soccer.
PS Vita Facebook app screenshots (US)


[Thanks, Mauricio]

Netflix locks up Academy Award nominated exclusives from The Weinstein Company

Posted: 22 Feb 2012 06:26 PM PST

If you're looking for more content to watch on Netflix's Watch Instantly streaming service -- especially since all those Starz movies are exiting stage left at month's end -- we have good news, as it just announced a multi-year exclusive deal with The Weinstein Company. The agreement covers foreign language, documentary and "certain other movies" that will be watchable in their pay-TV window only on Netflix, and not HBO or Showtime. That includes such high profile selections as The Artist, which is nominated for 17 Academy Awards this weekend and Best Documentary nominated Undefeated, as well as other flicks like Coriolanus and The Intouchables. Of course, this is still Netflix so while fans of subtitles and exposés may be sated, The Weinstein Company's more mainstream flicks and Dimension Films releases like Scream 4 aren't included, as they're still Showtime exclusives due to the deal it signed with the channel back in '08. Either way, more movies is more movies and you can check out all the details in the press release after the break, hopefully this deal works out better than HD DVD's exclusive Weinstein pact did back in the day.
Show full PR text
Netflix and The Weinstein Company Announce Multi-Year Film Agreement to Include 2012 Academy Award Nominee "The Artist"
US Netflix Members Will Have Exclusive Access To Oscar Best Picture Nominee, "The Artist" As Well As Oscar Documentary (Feature) Nominee "Undefeated" And Other Critically Acclaimed Films From Legendary Producers Bob And Harvey Weinstein

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. and NEW YORK, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) and The Weinstein Company (TWC) today announced a new multi-year licensing agreement that will make foreign language, documentary and certain other movies from The Weinstein Company exclusively available for Netflix members in the U.S. to watch instantly.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101014/SF81638LOGO)

"The Artist," the most honored film of the year with 17 awards for Best Picture and ten Academy Award® nominations, including Best Picture, will make its pay TV debut exclusively on Netflix rather than on traditional premium cable.

Written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius and starring Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, "The Artist" brings to life the dawn of talking pictures in an original and deeply entertaining way. The film's many honors include the Golden Globe for Best Picture/ Comedy or Musical and Best Picture Awards from the Producers Guild of America, British Academy of Film and Television, the London Critics Circle and NY Film Critics Circle. It has garnered numerous prestigious awards for Hazanavicius, Dujardin, Bejo, and composer Ludovic Bource.

Also making its pay TV premiere on Netflix is "Undefeated," nominated for a 2012 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Directed by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin, "Undefeated" follows players on a Memphis, TN inner-city high school football team as it attempts to win its first playoff game in the school's history.

A diverse slate of TWC specialty films will appear exclusively on Netflix within one year of their theatrical release, including the gripping French-language World War II drama "Sarah's Key," starring Academy Award-nominated actress Kristin Scott Thomas; the recent French box office record-breaker "The Intouchables;" the romantic drama "W.E.," directed by Madonna and winner of the Golden Globe for Best Original Song/Motion Picture; the taut Shakespearean adaptation "Coriolanus," directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes; and "Bully," a timely documentary about bullying in America's schools.

Terms of the deal, the first between TWC and the world's leading Internet subscription service for enjoying movies and TV shows, weren't disclosed.

"We couldn't be happier to be working again with Harvey and Bob, who have an unmatched track record of creating critically acclaimed and commercially successful movies," said Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos. "'The Artist' is a symbol of the Weinsteins' triumphant return to the top of the film business. Through deep passion, great taste and phenomenal vision, Harvey and Bob continue to surprise audiences and make history."

"It is a fantastic coup for Netflix to acquire 'The Artist' and the package of additional titles," said TWC Co-Chairman Harvey Weinstein, "With this deal, a company that loves movies, Netflix, joins forces with a company that is built on that same love. It's exciting that we can offer consumers a supremely convenient way to see the kinds of movies that made us want to be in this business in the first place."

About Netflix:

With more than 23 million streaming members in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX) is the world's leading internet subscription service for enjoying films and TV shows. For about US$7.99 a month, Netflix members can instantly watch unlimited films and TV episodes streamed over the internet to PCs, Macs and TVs. Among the large and expanding base of devices streaming from Netflix are the Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PS3 consoles; an array of Blu-ray disc players, internet-connected TVs, home theater systems, digital video recorders and internet video players; Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as Apple TV and Google TV. In all, more than 700 devices that stream from Netflix are available. For additional information, visit www.netflix.com. Follow Netflix on Facebook and Twitter.

About The Weinstein Company:

The Weinstein Company (TWC) is a multimedia production and distribution company launched in October 2005 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, the brothers who founded Miramax Films in 1979. TWC also encompasses Dimension Films, the genre label founded in 1993 by Bob Weinstein, which has released such popular franchises as SCREAM, SPY KIDS and SCARY MOVIE. Together TWC and Dimension Films have released a broad range of mainstream, genre and specialty films that have been commercial and critical successes, including Tom Hooper's THE KING'S SPEECH, winner of four 2011 Academy Awards®, including Best Picture. Since 2005, TWC and Dimension Films have released such film as GRINDHOUSE; I'M NOT THERE; THE GREAT DEBATERS; VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA; THE READER; THE ROAD; HALLOWEEN; THE PAT TILLMAN STORY; PIRANHA 3D; INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS; A SINGLE MAN; BLUE VALENTINE; THE COMPANY MEN; MIRAL; SCRE4M; OUR IDIOT BROTHER; and SARAH'S KEY. Currently in release are recent Golden Globe winners THE ARTIST, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN and THE IRON LADY. Upcoming releases include THE INTOUCHABLES and THE WETTEST COUNTY IN THE WORLD. Recently wrapped is COGAN'S TRADE. TWC is also active in television production, with credits including the Emmy® Award-winning hit reality series "Project Runway," the new VH1 reality series "Mob Wives," and the critically acclaimed HBO comedy/crime series "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency." The company has produced three "Project Runway" spinoffs, "Project Runway All Stars," currently airing; with debuted in 2011; and "Project Runway: Masters," to debut in 2012. The company currently has 17 series in different stages of development, including: "Marco Polo," a scripted historical series about the great explorer; "The Nanny Diaries," based on the hit book; and "The Mad Ones," adapted from the Mafia novel of the same name.

SOURCE Netflix Inc.
at 12:09 PM

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