Motorola is best known for its sleek cell phones such as the highly popular Razr but in a couple of weeks time Motorola will take on the likes of Blackberry and Palm in Australia in a battle that International research group IDC say that they will win.
David Richards
Lenova Notebook Batteries Are Duds
Sony’s battery problems cropped up again today as Lenovo and IBM recalled 526,000 Thinkpad notebook batteries made by Sony Energy Devices.
About 168,500 of the battery packs were sold in the U.S. between February 2005 and September 2006 as either an accessory or included with a Thinkpad.The issue is set to hurt Sony’s bottom line to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Lenovo received one confirmed report of a battery overheating and causing a fire that damaged the computer. The incident, which occurred within an airport terminal as the user was boarding an airplane, caused enough smoking and sparking that a fire extinguisher was used to put it out. There was minor property damage and no injuries were reported.
The recalled lithium-ion batteries were sold with or sold separately to be used with the following ThinkPad notebook computers: T Series (T43, T43p, T60); R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e); and X Series (X60, X60s). The CPSC lists the part and model numbers.
Lenovo has set up a Web site to handle returns.
In August Dell and Apple recalled millions of Sony made batteries and earlier this month Toshiba issued a recall for a non-safety related issue.
Viewsonic Grows 46%
Days after announcing a brand new monitor with an iPod docking station for video playback and despite facing fierce competition in the LCD-monitor market, ViewSonic, a “pure” LCD monitor vendor is expected to maintain its global leadership in the stand alone monitor market.
ViewSonic took the fifth position by 5.5% in the global LCD-monitor market during the second quarter of this year, up 46% on-quarter, according to DisplaySearch. Among the top-six players, ViewSonic and Lenovo are the only vendors to enjoy double-digit growth in this period. About 29.8 million LCD monitors were shipped globally last quarter, the research firm added.
The US-based vendor expects to ship 8 million LCD monitors in 2006, according to market sources. HC Ho, ViewSonic president of the global product group and the Asia-Pacific region, said in an interview, in late 2005, that demand for LCD monitors should rise to 115-120 million units in 2006.
In 2005, ViewSonic was ranked eighth, worldwide, shipping 3.5 million LCD monitors annually, the research firm inndicated, adding that the top five vendors were Dell, Samsung Electronics, HP, Acer and LG Electronics.
Rival Sony, a top ten LCD monitor supplier in 2005, now plans to give up its LCD-monitor business in the Japan and North America markets, starting from October, according to sources.
Thanks to new business model
Unlike the LCD-TV industry, where the top five vendors have their own LCD-panel plants to fully support their needs, LCD-monitor vendors do not necessarily have their own panel plants.
LCD monitor vendors such as Dell, Acer, ViewSonic and Lenovo, are gaining control over OEM makers in panel procurement. Through buy-and-sell business models, the vendors handle the purchase of LCD-monitor panels themselves and are able to gain a better quotation from panel makers based on their huge quantity of orders. The vendors then re-sell those panels to OEM contract makers.
Therefore, ViewSonic aims to grow its LCD-monitor shipments significantly in attempt to increase its bargaining power.
In addition, ViewSonic decided to move its Global Products Group, which handles the development and procurement of LCDs, CRTs and projectors to Taiwan from the US in 2005. The move was intended to strengthen the company’s relationship with Taiwan panel makers and solidify its inventory management.
By understanding the panel makers’ roadmap for new products in advance, the company is able to work closely with channel distributors, and ViewSonic is then able to be a leader in the LCD-monitor market. Meanwhile, pricing is another key strategy by which ViewSonic aims to increase its market share.
BenQ To Set Up New Display Division
BenQ will set up a new display business to run its LCD monitor, front projector and LCD TV sectors to integrate internal sources, according to the Chinese-language Commercial Times.
BHu Juo-yao, director of BenQ’s digital TV business division, will be the head of the new display department, the paper said.enQ’s LCD TV and front projector sectors originally belong to its Digital Media Business Group while LCD monitor is under Computing Products Business Group, the paper noted, adding that the Digital Media Business Group will no longer exist after the new business is set up.
GMail From Your Phone
Gmail for Mobile, a downloadable gmail application for java-enabled phones, has been announced by Google Previously, users were only able to access gmail via a mobile browser. But for java-enabled phones, using the Gmail for Mobile application will significantly speed email use.
The application requres a java-enabled phone and a data plan (other mobile devices can still access Gmail through the browser). To download the application, go to gmail.com/app and follow the instructions. You can also get a link to the download URL directly via a text message by going to mobile.google.com and entering your phone number.
I’ve had the chance to test out Gmail for Mobile over the last week on a Sprint Samsung A900M phone. The software was pre-installed by Google, so i can’t speak to the process of installing the application. But logging in and using email was the best email experience outside of a Blackberry I’ve ever had on a mobile device. Specifically, the use of ten hotkeys to compose, send, search, etc. speads things up significantly. A demo of the application is available here.
I still want to use Gmail to access other email accounts – something that they don’t yet support, but Gmail for Mobile is a great way to access your gmail account via a mobile device. Good stuff from Google.
Google
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 6:00 am and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Sony Memory Being Probed
Sony is in trouble again. Only weeks after the biggest recall of notebook batteries the US Justice Department has started probing Sony’s random access memory operation.
Acer To Enter Phone Market
Acer are looking to enter the mobile phone market with a SmartPhone.
The move could come early in 2007, company chairman JT Wang said at an investors conference in Taiwan. The smartphone, which is outsourced to Compal Communications, will be marketed as a BlackBerry handset for the SOHO and small- and medium-size enterprise (SME) sector, Wang said, without elaborating further.
Wang said that Acer posted a gross margin of 10.4% and an operating margin of 2.2% for the three quarters of this year, beating analysts’ forecast of an operating margin of below 2%.
For the US market, Acer’s revenues are expected to reached US$1.7-2.0 billion this year with an operating margin of 1.3-1.5%, Wang said, predicting that Acer’s US revenues are likely to top US$2.3-2.5 billion in 2007.
In response to market rumors saying that Acer is interested in acquiring US-based notebook vendor Gateway, Wang said that the deal could be too expensive for Acer because the value of Gateway’s intangible assets could top as much as NT$10-15 billion (US$300-450 million).
Sony Finally Comes Clean On Problem Batteries
For weeks Sony who claim that they are a “responsible” Company have tried to hide the fact that their very own Vaio notebooks could well burst into flames because of faulty batteries. Now they have come clean and admitted that more than 90,000 notebooks could well explode into flames.
As every other vendor was coughing up to the problem Sony refused point blank to admit that their own notebooks were being manufactured with the very same batteries that other vendors had recalled.
Repeated requests both verbally and written by SHN to Sony both in Australia and Japan resulted in them refusing point to answer two questions. Why are Sony’s own notebooks not being recalled? And, are Sony using different batteries in their notebboks than what is being sold to OEM vendors like Dell, Apple, Toshiba etc.
Now Sony Electronics has finally recalled its own problem-prone notebook batteries with the Company announcing that they are recalling about 90,000 Vaio notebook batteries.
A Sony spokesman said that the company is now gather the information required regarding which additional Vaio notebook battery packs would be recalled and the company would likely release the information by late this week or early next week. Sony continued to point out that these recalls are being done voluntarily to give consumers peace of mind and that only the earlier Dell and Apple cases involved situations where the batteries overheated and caused damage. This is despite the fact that a Lenova notebook exploded in LA.
Compounding Sony’s situation are the published reports that three computer vendors may seek extra financial compensation from Sony in response to their having to recall thousands of Sony-made notebook computer batteries.
Toshiba, Fujitsu and Hitachi reportedly have all expressed interest in obtaining from Sony money above and beyond that which Sony has already agreed to pay to cover the recall costs.
“We are studying various possibilities, but nothing has been decided at this moment. We will first of all carry out the battery exchange program, for the confidence of customers using our PCs,” Toshiba said in a written statement.
The other two companies have not returned calls. Sony has not received word from any other company on this topic, the spokesman said. A total of about 7 million Sony-made batteries have been recalled worldwide since the first incidents cropped up in August.
Why Choice Is Now Irrelevant
COMMENT: A cheap publicity stunt coupled with questionable methodology has left the Australian Consumer Association exposed as they desperately try to re invent themselves in light of online competition.
This month the Australian Consumer Association laid on an all singing all dancing stunt called the Shonky Awards with hosts Roy Slaven and H.G. Nelson. The primary objective according to Choice as they now want to be called, was to reveal the shonkiest products sold in Australia. A victim of this stunt was the now famous Apple iPod. According to Choice they had received several complaints about iPods having cracked screens, faulty batteries and problems with sound production as well as difficulties when it came to getting them repaired.
The emphasis being on the words, several complaints, not hundreds or thousands but several that Choice alleges had made calls to their complaints hotline. The fact is that tens of thousands of iPods have been sold in Australia via major chains like Harvey Norman, JB Hi Fi and the Apple reseller channel and very few have been returned to either Apple or the retailers with problems. And wehen they have Apple have fixed the problem to the extent that when it was revealed that the Nano iPod scratched easily Apple sent consumers who complained a brand new product. The real facts are that the return rate on iPods is below 0.5% compared to the industry average of 2% for CE products and if Choice had checked they would have discovered that the iPod stacked up pretty well compared to a lot of low cost CE products.
What the Australian Consumer Association engaged in was a cheap nasty publicity stunt to get publicity for Choice which is confronted with the possibility that the Internet and the tens of thousands of free product or service reviews is set to hurt their business model.
By choosing the Apple iPod they knew that they would get wall to wall publicity. They chose a high profile product from a high profile Company and slam dunked it. They failed to reveal to Apple the alleged complainants or take steps to resolve any of the issues with Apple according to Apple Marketing Director Rob Small.
Choice is 50 years old and where in the past consumers and organisations paid to get a print edition of their reports on products and services they are doing that less today due to the advent of the Internet and the easy access to thousands of free reviews by both professional reviewers and consumers.
What this publicity stunt was all about was the fact that the Australian Consumers’ Association is dumping its brand to align under the banner of its magazine, Choice in the hope that it will appeal to a younger audience. They have also bought on board Indira Naidoo as a PR front person. The former SBS news reader is paid to plead and plead she does despite the beat up’s that Choice is churning out.
The magazine and website has around 200,000 subscribers but the problem is that as they move online they are going to have to rely on consumers paying either $29.00 a month to get access to their content or $116.00 a year as Choice does not take advertising either online or in print.
This is a big ask as consumers now have an abundance of free online reviews from many well respected magazines such as SmartHouse, Home Cinema Choice, Hi Fi Choice or overseas organisations that are reviewing the same products as Choice.
This month Choice launched a new advertising campaign by ad agency Oil aimed at driving traffic to their website and their “Shonky” PR stunt was an orchestrated part of a new marketing initative aimed at generating publicity for Choice.
To take on Apple in the way that they did was a very low blow from an organisation whose credibility is well and truly on the line. In the CE market there are many dodgy products which Choice could have targeted. But they didn’t because the mass media would not have given an unknown brand as much publicity as they got choosing the Apple iPod.
What the stunt has revealed is that the Australian Consumer Association is not a trusted organisation that consumers can have faith in. Their testing methodology has to be questioned andby taking a very small number of consumer complaints for a product that is sold in the tens of thousands and blowing it up into a story that was blasted across TV and radio networks was shameless grandstanding from an organisation that is fast becoming irrelevant in today’s online society.
Apple iPhone Confirmed 10 Million in Production
A Taiwanese source has confirmed that an Apple iPhone is now in production and that more than 10 million will be available by January when Apple Apple Computer CEO Steve Jobs will formally launch the new iPhone at Macworld in January in San Francisco.
Hon Hai Precision who make phones notebooks and devices for several manufacturers including Motorola, Apple, Cisco, Dell, Nokia, and Sony is a highly succesful Company that in the last quarter reported US$456.75 million in after-tax earnings. During the past few months sources say, HHP has built several versions of the new phone before the final design was signed off for production.
A foreign institutional investor estimated that Hon Hai would see sales grow 55% year-on-year in 2006 and the annual growth rate to reach 44% in 2007, because it expects to see considerable orders for phones and notebook PCs from Sony of Japan and Apple Computer of the U.S., as well as orders for cellphones from Motorola of the U.S. and Nokia of Finland.
UBS analyst Benjamin Reitzes wrote in a research note recently “This data point is in line with our expectations that a cell phone could be discussed in January at Macworld with limited sales by February and broader distribution in spring 2007,”
The analyst said the number of cell phones under contract exceeds estimates for 2007 and that those phones would make a “significant and incremental” contribution to Apple’s earnings. However, analysts have noted that an iPhone could cannibalize iPod sales. But the move can’t be resisted. Music is increasingly moving onto cell phones.
‘They can’t compete against the subsidized phones.’ -Derrick Wood, Pacific Growth Equities
Makers of smart phones that sport Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 are turning Windows Media into one option to turn a PDA-style phone into a music player. Meanwhile, Motorola is aligned with Apple for iTunes on cell phones. Microsoft and Nokia, among others, are eyeing new handsets.
“I think over the long term mobile music is gong to be huge,” Pacific Growth Equities analyst Derrick Wood said. “And that is playing and consuming music over your phone.”
Apple shares rose $0.23 to $85.23 in recent trading. Apple’s Outlook
For Apple, however, the business of cell phones couldn’t be any further from its own. Apple’s hardware sells for a premium because of the Mac maker’s attention to detail. That approach has yielded elegantly crafted products that have won over geeky zealots.
But the business of cell phones is littered with free phones and rebates. Cell phone makers are able to offer flashy phones with lots of bells and whistles largely because the hardware is subsidized by carrier contracts. These phones would compete against an iPhone.
“They can’t compete against the subsidized phones,” Mr. Wood said of Apple. Still, a snazzy iPhone at Macworld could be just the thing for Apple to brush back rivals.
Microsoft began selling its Zune digital media player Tuesday, putting its first product into the market that squarely targets the iPod crowd (see Zune Players Enter iPod Market). The software behemoth has previously said that a phone version of its music player was possible (see Microsoft: Zune Phone?). Nokia is in, too. In September the Finnish handset maker made a big push into music-playing cell phones with its Nseries.
Along with an expanded line of music phones packing cameras, the handset maker has taken the fully integrated approach made popular by iPod with iTunes, offering its own digital music service, dubbed Music Recommenders.