Older, less expensive devices may be a boon to telecommunication cost control, but they frequently cause headaches among enterprise users who require the more advanced functionality of a smartphone. A new microchip, however, could split the difference quite effectively.

Semiconductor manufacturer Broadcom announced today that it was offering a wireless mobile solution that built all of the capabilities of a smartphone into a single chip: The BCM21553 contains all of the hardware necessary to enable manufacturers to combine energy efficiency, low construction costs, and advanced capacity in a single device. The chip will run either Google’s Android OS or Windows Mobile.

The company cites research data showing that more than 350 petabytes of data will be sent and received via smartphones this year alone as evidence that wireless mobile solutions are needed without delay.

Some experts have said that, given the rapid rise in smartphone use – which could well be accelerated by chips like the BCM21553 – wireless networks could begin to sag under the strain, as AT&T has already begun to do in some areas.

It’s, well, incredible: Pictures of the upcoming HTC Incredible smartphone were leaked to gadget website Pocketnow, along with limited details about the device’s hardware and software.

Pocketnow says that the Incredible – which will run on Google’s Android enterprise mobility platform – is powered by some of the same hardware that runs Google’s own Nexus One smartphone. The 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and possible AMOLED screen – producing what the website’s tipster called a "very vibrant" display – would place the device solidly in the top tier of cell phone hardware.

One of the leaked pictures seemed to show that the device was running version 2.1 of Android, which is the same as on the Nexus One. The Incredible is of similar design, as well, though it appears to lack the trackball that features on the other device, instead sporting an optical mouse pointer.

Other experts added their own details, like ZDNet’s Andrew Nusca, who said that a rumor was going around that the Incredible would be available on Verizon’s wireless network.

Telecommunication cost allocation decision makers read the news that T-Mobile USA could see an IPO or spin off in the near future with considerable interest, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reports that "T-Mobile’s parent, German giant Deutsche Telekom AG, has recently held discussions with a number of banks, including Deutsche Bank AG, about underwriting an IPO for the unit, according to people familiar with the matter."

Another possibility, according to the Journal report, is that the company could be spun off into its own separate corporation, complete with its own balance sheet and managerial independence from the parent company. T-Mobile USA could also be purchased by a competitor, but the Journal describes this possibility as "less likely."

Experts say that T-Mobile has long been mired in fourth place among the major U.S. wireless network providers, and the company’s services have – deservedly or undeservedly – acquired the reputation for being unreliable and spotty compared to its bigger competitors. The network did score a relatively significant coup with the announcement last month that it was the exclusive U.S. network provider for Google’s Nexus One smartphone.

Despite a lackluster launch that was plagued by technical issues and network problems, Google’s smartphone management solution to the Nexus One’s vices could see the device’s sales numbers skyrocket, experts say.

Analysis firm Flurry reports that the Nexus One’s debut week saw just 20,000 of the devices sold, and 80,000 in its first month. This stacks up poorly against the 600,000 units that Apple’s iPhone moved in its first month on sale, and even worse against the 1.6 million iPhone 3G(S)s sold in a single week of release this summer.

The Wall Street Journal reports that "the early hype around the Nexus was quickly overshadowed by a series of reports about connectivity snafus, customer service shortcomings and eye-opening ‘recovery’ fees. Those concerns might have prompted some potential buyers to wait until Google and its partners sort out any issues."

Experts say, however, that a recent update that added multitouch support for the device and fixed many of the network connectivity problems could be a turning point.

The nonprofit foundation that controls it announced that Symbian, the mobile phone OS that powers roughly half of the world’s smartphones, is set to open its code to developers four months ahead of schedule.

The full Symbian 3 enterprise mobility platform will be made available under several open-source licenses, according to ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes. The code itself is currently available for download via the Symbian Foundation’s wiki, he reports.

Symbian Foundation executive director Lee Williams told the Guardian newspaper that "the development community is now empowered to shape the future of the mobile industry, and rapid innovation on a global scale will be the result," adding that, under the original release schedule, Symbian might not have been made open-source for several more years.

Among tech pundits, the move is widely seen as one of desperation, as Symbian’s formerly dominant market share is slashed by newcomers like Android and the iPhone OS. Network World’s Brad Reed says that "Android is projected to become the second-most used mobile operating system behind Symbian by the end of 2012."

The world’s second most prolific cell phone maker has clearly decided which part of the global market it wants to focus on in 2010: Samsung told a press conference in South Korea this week that it would aim to triple its six million smartphones sold in 2009 for the new year.

According to Bloomberg News, Samsung’s mobile communication boss J.K. Shin told the press conference that "we expect our shipment growth to be more than double that of the industry. We plan to differentiate ourselves by providing smartphones that support various operating systems and applications."

The South Korean company shipped 227 million total phones in 2009, Bloomberg News says, and plans to boost its total sales to 270 million, a nearly 20 percent increase. That agency also reported that Samsung’s rival LG was eyeing an overall sales increase similar to that expected by its larger rival.

Experts say that Samsung will manufacture smartphones using a variety of wireless application platforms, including Android, Symbian, and its own proprietary OS, Bada, according to CNBC.

Not Your Mother’s Kitchen: MOM’s Kitchen New Online Enterprise Community (February 3, 2010)
From Mobile Enterprise Magazine

Though Apple continued to be the world’s most profitable maker of wireless technology solutions, the company lost market share in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Apple might be encountering the same phenomenon that affected cell phone manufacturer Motorola, when sales of its initially popular Razr flip phones declined sharply after "two years of selling the same device with the same look," writes Wall Street Journal reporter Niraj Sheth, citing an analyst with ABI Research.

However, writes Ars Technica, "to say that Apple did poorly during the quarter would be inaccurate – instead, while Apple did well, the overall smartphone market did better. Coincidentally Apple’s last drop in smartphone market share occurred in the fourth quarter of 2008, leading us to believe the drop may be related to the holiday season and customers giving less-expensive smartphones a shot in a poor economy."

Analysts are still unsure how the recent release of the iPad tablet PC will affect sales of smartphones in particular and of the iPhone in general.

Though rumors about the device have been percolating for some time, the Sony Ericsson Aspen has finally been released, adding another entry to the list of GreenHeart smartphones manufactured by the company.

While analysts say that the device itself is nothing particularly groundbreaking – it doesn’t feature the outsized screen or blazingly fast processor used in many of today’s elite devices – version 6.5.3 of Windows Mobile adds several new features, according to Information Week, including smoother touchscreen gesture support and native support for capacitive technology.

Tech news website eWeek says that the Aspen is aimed primarily at green enterprise workers and those who place a high premium on texting functions. The device’s energy saving options give it an impressive battery life, topping out the 8-10 hour-mark of use time.

Experts say that, although the Aspen is undoubtedly well-suited to the niche market toward which it is geared, smartphone makers in general are awaiting the release of Windows Mobile 7 before putting high-end hardware on the line with a Microsoft OS.

Google announced upgrades to their Nexus One smartphone that should correct the two major problems that reviewers had with the device at its release: Network connectivity has been improved and multitouch support has been added.

The omission of multitouch from the Nexus One at the device’s original release puzzled some reviewers, who pointed out that the functionality had been a part of Android 2.0 since the Droid. The device’s blazing performance and sleek styling wowed those same reviewers, but the general consensus was that the lack of multitouch and spotty 3G connectivity to T-Mobile’s cellular network prevented the Nexus One from being an iPhone killer.

However, the update – which, in addition to the critical multitouch and 3G fixes, adds support for Google Goggles and version 3.4 of Google Maps – was released so quickly after the Nexus One’s problems became apparent that the smartphone may yet be able to do what no other device could – rival the iPhone as king of the cell phones.

Citrix kick-started the convergence of mobile devices and cloud computing today with the announcement that it had, with Open Kernel Labs, co-authored a specification that would provide for full client streaming of desktop capabilities to smartphones.

The companies announced, in the preamble to their technical specification, that "when users work from their local client device, all of the programs, applications, processes, and data are kept and run centrally in the data center. This enables users to access their desktops on any capable device, such as a traditional desktop computer, laptop, thin client, or smartphone."

Citrix vice president of community and solutions development Chris Fleck told PC World that "we see extending the enterprise virtualization platform out to mobile devices." The magazine also reports that the system would be based on a virtual desktop, so that instead of a mobile worker carrying a laptop, he or she would be able to simply dock his or her smartphone and enjoy the full functionality of a desktop PC.

Gadget website Slashgear says that, while the applications for the business community were obvious, the utility to the general public remained to be seen.

A preliminary listing of events by Microsoft at the upcoming Energize IT conference in Canada includes a reference to a "Windows Phone 7" that many tech pundits have interpreted as all but confirmation of the rumors that the Redmond-based software giant is planning to release its own enterprise wireless solution.

Some of the rumors, reports tech news site i4u, say that the purported device will feature a user interface similar to that of its Zune media player and a processor speed of around 1 GHz. "It sounds (from these rumors) like Redmond is trying to compete with the iPhone’s flash by pushing out the fastest, most advanced device they can possibly manage," i4u writes.

Tech blog Electronista speculates that not only will Microsoft launch its own smartphone – possibly even before the Energize IT event, at the Mobile World Congress set for this month – the company will also release the long-awaited new version of its Windows Mobile enterprise mobility platform.

Given the similarities to the recent furor over Apple’s iPad, it seems likely that Microsoft will release something of note at the Mobile World Congress, according to tech analysts.