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Smart Turnaround: Motorola Set to Launch 10 Smartphones in 2009

April 30, 2009

FierceWireless’s recent post proves not to judge a company solely on its devastating revenue and sales reports. According to the post, Motorola has plans to launch up to 10 smartphones in the second half of 2009. A research note by Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Ittai Kidron spurred the rumor, posted on Forbes. “With sentiment at an all-time low and investors’ attention lost, we believe Motorola warrants another look,” wrote Kidron. “Given limited downside to the stock, we’re bullish on Motorola.”

Kidron further wrote that Wall Street had basically written off Moto’s flailing handset division’s recovery odds and underestimated the speed and results of cost-cutting actions. The most exciting news revealed by Kidron is that Moto is amplifying its handset production.

Motorola’s shares have had recent gains, not-withstanding the still lingering foul stench of financial woes including a 70% revenue drop over the past two years and 7,000 job cuts in the past six months.

Looking for a preview? EngadgetMobile.com has the picture, perhaps literally. EngadgetMobile.com has posted a nice touch screen phone carrying the moniker “Touch ZINE HD,” but no confirmations. This unit is rumored to be a gadget-lover’s dream featuring 1080p video playback via HDMI, Android, Tegra, a 5 megapixel Kodak camera with HD video, and 16 GB of storage. Got you drooling yet?

Posted by anne · Filed Under Industry 

Interview: Blue Oceans Distributing, Part 2

April 30, 2009

With the Wireless Association Inventory Wizard you can list your cellular products and services your company’s personal inventory Listing. Your inventory is fully accessible, 24/7, via the trade floor or Wassociation.com members can view your individual inventory page, separate from the competition. We interviewed Wireless Association Verified Member Piotr Babichenko, founder of Blue Oceans Distributing. Here’s what he had to say about the Inventory Wizard:

WA: What is your favorite aspect of the Wireless Association Inventory Wizard?

PB: Ease of use. It is easy to upload and edit my inventory with one click.  It takes 5-10 minutes to update each week.

WA: Do you direct customers to your company’s inventory page?

PB: Yes, I direct them to my website, where they can access my inventory that is listed on the Inventory Wizard. It saves me time, whether I’m driving and I get a call, or busy doing something else, I direct my customers to my website where they can check out my entire inventory. I don’t have to make notes anymore to email someone my inventory list, my customers can download my inventory themselves as an Excel file or as a PDF from the Wizard.

WA: Have you found it easier to keep track of your inventory?

PB: Before, I tried to have my inventory online on my website. I had to pay a website expert to post and update my inventory. Now any employee can update it and they don’t need any special computer training or knowledge. It’s easy to keep current.

WA: How do you find Wassociaton’s Trading floor and Inventory Wizard compared to its competition?

PB: A Wireless Association membership is much more affordable and I get a good an excellent response. Others competitors are too expensive and only offer a trade floor. Wassociation offers many features such as the Inventory Wizard, Verified Seal, a Research Center, Online Directory of distributors around the world, weekly newsletters, discounted members email list and many advertising opportunities. I get more for my money.

Blue Oceans Distributing is a wholesale company located in Boise, Idaho, USA.  The focus of Blue Oceans is to provide original and high quality replica lenses, battery doors, housing, and custom logo services to the wireless wholesale community in the United States and Canada. Blue Oceans warehouses components in their Idaho facility, making it possible to deliver most parts to customers overnight, reducing industry waiting time by approximately 2 weeks.

Blue Oceans Distributing is dedicated to not merely meeting, but exceeding customers’ individual expectations, needs and requirements at their specifications.

“We strive to provide our customers with unparalleled quality and professionalism”
–Piotr Babichenko

Posted by anne · Filed Under Site News 

Focusing on the U.S.: Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot 8 megapixel camera phone in Q2 of 2009

April 21, 2009

Reuters is reporting that, despite the hype about touchscreens, Sony Ericsson is putting its money on the C905 8 megapixel Cyber-shot camera phones. The Cyber-shots feature traditional physical buttons and Jon Mulder, the company’s head of product marketing for North America, is betting that high-end photography will convince consumers to ditch both their old cell phone and digital camera for this two-in-one.

Sony Ericsson has seen strong international sales, but has yet to make inroads in the U.S. market. Mulder estimates that the Cyber-shot, which cost 400 euro ($538.79) in Europe, will cost $199 to $249 in the U.S. after carrier subsidies, typically tying customers to a two-year contract.

Sony Ericsson says there is more consumer interest than ever in high-quality cameras in hand at all times because of the rise of sharing spontaneous photographs through social networking. With Smart Contrast to balance light and color, face detection to help focus and Zenon flash, the C905 gets the picture. The phone also comes equipped with built-in GPS and Google Maps.

The phone could work on either AT&T or T-Mobile USA, but Mulder and Sony Ericsson are not saying which.

Posted by anne · Filed Under Industry 

Interview: Blue Oceans Distributing, Part 1

April 21, 2009

You can reduce exposure to fraud for your company and customers with our 4-Step Verification Process. By taking this first step you make the wireless industry a safer and more secure place to do business by displaying the Wireless Association Verified Seal. We interviewed Wireless Association Verified Member Piotr Babichenko, founder of Blue Oceans Distributing. Here’s what he had to say about the value of the Verification Service:

WA: What have you found is the most valuable part of being a Wireless Association Verified Member?

PB: I believe that the Online Directory and Research Center are very valuable tools.  Often, sometimes 3 to 4 times a day, I will receive emails from people who are interested in my product containing no phone numbers and no company contact information. With the Directory and Research Center I can locate all the detailed contact information I need.  I can search for contacts by email address or last name, then I can pull up their complete contact information in the Directory.  I also find the Inventory Wizard to be very helpful.   I can post my entire inventory online and customers can view it 24/7 even when I am not available. Often they call me and ask me question about a product I have posted on the Inventory Wizard, helping me move product that I otherwise would not have time to sell. When I am not in the office, I can easily direct clients to my website www.blueod.com and tell them to click on the inventory link, and that link is integrated with the Wireless Association Inventory Wizard. My entire inventory is available all the time.

WA: Have you found being a Wassociation Verified Member makes it easier to do business?

PB: Defiantly. When I send bulk emails I include the Wireless Association Verified Seal and a link to my entire inventory. Customers who don’t know me or are outside the U.S. can easily view my verified information. They can call Wireless Association to verify my company and I receive instant credibility.

WA: Did you find it easy to become a Verified Member?

PB: Yes, it took me about 15 minutes to fill out the application. I received a verified seal about 2 days after Wireless Association finished their verification process on my company. The verification process is very thorough and that gives me confidence.

WA: Do you feel safer doing business with other Verified Members?

PB: Yes. When I see another company displaying their Verified Seal I know that company is in good standing in the wireless community, even if I have never heard of that company. For a company to keep their Wireless Association Verified seal they have to continue to do good business, and that gives me confidence to do business with them.

WA: What is your favorite Wassocation Premium Membership Benefit?

PB: I have several features that I use everyday, but I would have to say that the Inventory Wizard is probably my favorite. I don’t need to know any programming to get my inventory online and make it available 24/7 for my customers. With every email I send out I include a link to my online inventory. Often I don’t advertise some items because I wrongly assume that no one needs them, however often customers call me and tell me they saw an item on my Inventory Wizard that I thought no one wanted and want to know the price. I would say 10% of my sales are from the Inventory Wizard. Customers buy what they need. I don’t always know what that is, that is where the Inventory Wizard really helps me out.

WA: What suggestions do you have for improving the Verification Service?

PB: The Verification works. It would be nice if all wholesalers saw the value in bringing stability to the wireless wholesale market and would become verified. Our industry doesn’t have regulation and businesses can still pass bad checks or commit other fraud. I believe that the verification seal will slowly push out the bad companies and make our industry safer.

Blue Oceans Distributing is a wholesale company located in Boise, Idaho, USA.  The focus of Blue Oceans is to provide original and high quality replica lenses, battery doors, housing, and custom logo services to the wireless wholesale community in the United States and Canada. Blue Oceans warehouses components in their Idaho facility, making it possible to deliver most parts to customers overnight, reducing industry waiting time by approximately 2 weeks.

Blue Oceans Distributing is dedicated to not merely meeting, but exceeding customers’ individual expectations, needs and requirements at their specifications.

“We strive to provide our customers with unparalleled quality and professionalism”
–Piotr Babichenko

Posted by anne · Filed Under Site News 

Three New Androids: Taiwanese HTC Taking the Lead

April 14, 2009

Confirmed on a recent FierceWireless post was the rumor that Taiwanese company HTC will launch more than three smartphones based on Google’s Android platform with rumors of launching up to 20 smartphones worldwide throughout 2009. HTC CEO Peter Chou confirmed the announcement at the Merrill Lynch technology conference in Taipei, Taiwan and plans to maintain the 10% to 20% revenue growth forecast for 2009 with major inroads in the Chinese market.

“This is an important year for our entry into China, especially with China’s release of [third generation mobile phone] licenses,” said Chou. “We hope to have a breakthrough in China this year after entering the Europe and U.S. markets.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, last year G1 phone sales exceeded their target of 1 million units.Research firm Gartner reported, in Q4 of 2008, world-wide smartphone sales grew 3.7% from 2007 to 38.1 million units.

HTC is the world’s largest maker of phones using Microsoft Corp.’s operating system. The new smartphones would maintain HTC’s lead in the Android market. HTC launched the T-Mobile G1, is planning a second generation version, and presented the Magic, set to arrive the Q2 this year with Vodafone.

Posted by anne · Filed Under Industry 

Apple Ripe for the Picking?: AT&T Set to Offer No-contract iPhone, No Activation Either

April 14, 2009

Everyone is pushing inventory, even AT&T. According to The Boy Genius Report, beginning in late March AT&T is set to offer the 8GB and 16GB iPhone 3Gs at a no-commitment price, $599 and $699 respectively.

No more point-of-purchase activation and no contracts required. Boy Genius does mention “one per line” which leads to the assumption that you will need an active AT&T line to purchase the phone (a typical requirement to purchase AT&T phones.)

The question lingers, how many units are they really going to move at nearly $600 to $700?

The next question, will this include iPhones geared up with OS 3.0? With promises of 100 new features and more than 1,000 new APIs Apple iPhone geeks may just have found Nirvana. Fierce Wireless reveals other OS 3.0 additions include: In App Purchase, Peer-to-Peer Connectivity (enabling multi-player mobile games and application communication via Bluetooth), Map Kit (in cooperation with Google Mobile Maps Service), and iPod Library Access (enabling applications direct access to music, podcasts, or audio books.)

Posted by anne · Filed Under Industry 

Movement at Motorola?: Investors Consider Motorola’s Handset Division

April 7, 2009

After months of dreadful news, there might be light at the end of the tunnel according to a recent post from Fierce Wireless. Advent International, a private equity firm, is eyeing the possibility of purchasing and marrying Motorola’s handset division and Nortel’s network assets. Will there be a honeymoon?

Nortel filed for bankruptcy protection in January and is reputed to be in talks with potential buyers for its wireless and enterprise telecom businesses, including rival Nokia Siemens Networks.

Motorola has taken a defensive posture stating it will not spin off its mobile devices, rather, according to Financial Times, co-CEO Greg Brown is looking toward a turnaround in Q2 of 2009.

The initiative isn’t new. Both Nortel and Motorola have toyed with the idea. In 2008 Motorola was reportedly in negotiations with Nortel about an infrastructure merger to create a USD 10bn business.

Advent is approaching other investors to join its consortium, including CVC, who declined.

Posted by anne · Filed Under Industry 

International CTIA Wireless 2009 Survey

April 7, 2009

Set in Fabulous Las Vegas, CTIA called it “The Most Important Global Technology Event of the Year!” and “The convergence of more than 1,000 exhibiting companies, dozens of industries, and over 40,000 prefessionals from 125 countries all working toward the common goal of revolutionizing wireless.” We want to know…

Did you get what you came for?

View Results

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Posted by anne · Filed Under Industry 

Freight Costs Set to Rise?: Freight Companies See Capacity at 1970s Low Levels

April 6, 2009

FleetOwner.com’s recent post reports that freight trucking companies are seeing low 1970s capacity levels and excessive equipment purchases as “incredibly difficult on fleets’ bottom lines.” In fact, FleetOwner.com explains how some carriers did not predict severe recession effects because of cash boosts as diesel prices dropped in Q4 of 2008. What does that mean for Wholesalers?

Mainly it means ground freight providers see raising rates rather than adding capacity will bring greater profits in the shortest amount of time.

Recession conditions will push freight carriers to conduct business differently to survive changing everything from expected business growth, hiring, processes and utilizing technology. Even so, expectations persist that small and medium fleets will go bankrupt in Q1 of 2009, reducing freight options and competition.

This doesn’t mean, though, that freight available is moving to another mode of transportation. The industry predicted a robust move from truck to rail, and so far, there’s no evidence of a move one way or the other.

Posted by anne · Filed Under Industry 

Breaking into North American Market: T-Mobile to Launch Chinese Huawei’s Android Phone in Q3, 2009

April 6, 2009

A recent post by FierceWireless reports Huawei and T-Mobile are teaming up to bring Hauwei’s Android-powered, touchscreen phone to market in the third quarter of 2009. Huawei is developing Symbian handset models supporting HSDPA, EV-DO and TD-SCDMA technologies and is predicting this expansion in both the smartphone market and North America to bring Huawei 29% growth in the next year.

The Chinese equipment maker accounted contract sales in 2008 of $23.3 billion and expects a rise to $30 billion in 2009. FierceWireless declares this bullish 28.8% increase prediction may be based on the fact that China awarded 3G CDMA technology licenses to the country’s largest mobile operators.

Huawei’s Android touchphone was to be unveiled at Mobile World Congress held in February at Barcelona, and the announcements were made, but only a non-working prototype was on display. Engadget.com reveals the phone as “iPhone-esque, and almost seems too button scarce to work with traditional Android interface.” According to Engadget.com, Huawei is developing its own custom interface for the device.

This is T-Mobile’s second attempt to trump the Apple iPhone. The first was the Google Android phone, the T-Mobile G1. What’s all the hype about Android? The T-Mobile G1 features a lovely touchscreen and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Instant access to Google applications including: web search, Gmail, Maps, Talk, YouTube and more. Google boasts real-time syncing so that any contact, email or calendar event input on the phone is automatically backed up on Gmail, and vice-versa.

Posted by anne · Filed Under Industry 

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