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Australians To Buy One Million Tablets In 2011

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Telsyte is predicting that over one million tablet devices will be sold in Australia in 2011 as more content, updated software and better hardware become available.


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The company said that a number of factors including the push for more media tablet apps, rapid cannibalisation of other markets, increase in features, decrease in price and greater familiarity amongst consumers will drive the sales of tablets next year.

Apple is expected to remain the leader in the market with a 60 percent share next year (down from 90 percent in 2010), while Android devices are expected to have 35 percent market share in 2011.

In addition, Telsyte estimates that around 400,000 Australian consumers will be using a media tablet by the end of 2010, with approximately a quarter sharing a device. The company estimates that around 20,000 Australian businesses have purchased at least one media tablet for their organisation.

Telsyte also forecasts the media tablet market to grow from $292 million in 2010 to $1.35bn in 2014.  

Telsyte Research Director, Foad Fadaghi said, “The Australian media tablet market is poised to explode. Media tablets are an industry transforming device with implications for hardware vendors, media organisations, software companies and telecom carriers.”

Cables Laid Out For National Broadband Network

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The government announced that 6000 kilometres of cables will be laid out on mainland Australia that will act as the ‘building blocks’ of the National Broadband Network.


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According to Senator Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, the government has signed an agreement with Nextgen Networks to construct the new broadband backbone infrastructure under the $250 million Regional Backbone Blackspots Program. Nextgen Networks was selected through a competitive tender process.

Nextgen will build backbone transmission links and provide more than 100 access points en-route to six priority blackspot locations:

  • Geraldton, Western Australia.
  • Darwin, Northern Territory.
  • Emerald and Longreach, Queensland.
  • Broken Hill, New South Wales.
  • Victor Harbor, South Australia; and
  • South West Gippsland, Victoria.

“This priority $250 million investment will directly benefit more than 395,000 people in 100 regional locations and create new jobs across five states and the Northern Territory,” says Conroy.

“These regional backbones are the first building blocks of the National Broadband Network on the mainland and will stimulate competition and better broadband services across regional Australia. This is just the beginning and the National Broadband Network will ensure high-speed broadband is also expanded to all homes, schools and workplaces across Australia,” added Conroy.

 

According to the government, these priority locations were chosen following a public consultation process to identify competition and capacity shortfalls.

In addition, Nextgen is also making a substantial investment towards the project and will build, operate and maintain the infrastructure for five years after its completion. Nextgen expects the investment to create more than 1,000 full time equivalent jobs and provide economic stimulus to regional locations during the construction and operation of the networks.

“I want to congratulate Nextgen on its successful tender to deploy nearly 6000km of new backbone broadband infrastructure for regional Australia. The NBN coordinators will work closely with Nextgen, local communities, governments and retail service providers to ensure that they are able to make full use of the new infrastructure,” concluded Conroy.

Foxtel Earnings Rise 21 Per Cent

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Foxtel has announced a 21 per cent uplift in earnings for the six months to 31 December 2009, supported by continued strong subscriber uptake of the FOXTEL iQ, High Definition and Multiroom services.

According to Foxtel, recorded earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) for the 6 months to 31 December 2009 of $238 million, an increase of 21 per cent on the first half of the previous financial year.

Foxtel’s total revenue for the half was $989m, a 9 per cent increase on the $908m revenue generated in the previous corresponding period. Foxtel’s subscription revenue increased from $762m for the half year ended 31 December 2008 to $838m for the 31 December 2009 half year, a 10 per cent uplift.

This result was achieved notwithstanding the additional costs associated with the successful launch of the Foxtel Next Generation services and the accelerated rollout of iQ.

FOXTEL’s direct subscriber base grew to 1,516,0001 at 31 December 2009, an increase of 5 per cent on the prior corresponding period.

Foxtel’s Chief Executive Office and Managing Director, Kim Williams, said, “With the launch of Foxtel Next Generation, Foxtel has never represented a better value source of in-home entertainment. Over the coming year, Foxtel will continue to deliver a range of exciting new and innovative services including the most extensive ever coverage of the Olympic Winter Games in their history with 4 High Definition channels, 4 Standard Definition channels (which will also be available on mobile and broadband) in February.”

 

“The Delhi Commonwealth Games will be presented in October with 6 HD and Standard Definition channels (again providing full availability on mobile and broadband). A dynamic new broadband service with delivery of an extensive range of the best entertainment will be launched in the second half of 2010 as one of many exciting initiatives this year,” added Williams

In line with this, Telstra has also announced that its Pay TV bundling revenue increased by $14 million or 6.0 per cent due to increased FOXTEL pay TV bundled revenue with its AUSTAR agreement ceasing in fiscal 2009.

“Growth this half has been driven by campaigns including the introduction of 12 month contracts and strong introductory offers, strong sales of platinum packages and an 18.1 percentage point increase in FOXTEL iQ1 penetration,” added Telstra.

New 11-inch Netbook From Pioneer Computers

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Pioneer Computers has launched an 11-inch notebook that is styled after the Apple Macbook Air.


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The DreamBook Lite A11 Ultra Slim has an RRP starting at $599 and uses an Intel Atom N270 processor (1.66Ghz) and GMA950 for its graphics card, can have up to 2GB of RAM, and supports 2.5-inch SATA hard drives.

Other specifications include an 11.1-inch TFT LCD screen (1366×768), supports a 4-in-1 Card Reader, speaker and headphone out jacks, three USB ports, and a 3-cell Lithium-Ion battery pack (rated at 2200mAh).

The unit can also be customised to have Bluetooth, wireless broadband (3G Module), 1.3-megapixel camera, and a 6-cell battery (rated at 4400mAh).

The unit has a dimension of 274 x 192.5 x 28mm and weighs 1.23kg.

See: www.pioneercomputers.com.au for more information.

Fastest Gaming Notebook Processors Revealed

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Intel has launched its i7 Mobile Processors that claim to boost the overall performance of gaming notebooks.

According to the company, the Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor and Intel Core i7 Mobile Processor Extreme Edition in addition to the new Intel PM55 Express Chipset, provide the best laptop experience for intense gaming, digital media, photos, music, business applications and other multi-threaded software that hungers for faster processing speed. The chips also boost overall performance when using several of these applications simultaneously. 

Intel Architecture Group’s Executive Vice President and General Manager, Dadi Perlmutter said, “With intelligent features like Intel Turbo Boost Technology, Intel Hyper-Threading Technology and a host of others, Intel has revolutionised the laptop PC processor, delivering performance when you need it, energy efficiency when you don’t. For the first time, mobile users can choose a laptop that delivers Internet-server like speed, right in their laps for the most demanding tasks, from intense gaming to digital video editing and social media applications.”

Intel Core i7 mobile processors offer Intel Turbo Boost Technology, which can accelerate the processor clock speed up to 75 per cent to match workloads, as well as better performance on highly threaded applications with the power of Intel Hyper-Threading Technology.

 

The new Intel Core i7 mobile processors also include two-channel DDR3 1333 MHz memory support and full 1 x16 or 2 x8 PCI Express 2.0 graphics. Whether users are editing a video, composing a song, playing a video game or updating their online status, Intel Core i7 mobile processors adapt to provide the right processing power for the task, with more performance and flexibility to match their on-the-go needs.

Laptops with Intel Core i7 mobile processor Extreme Edition support Intel Extreme Memory Profiles (Intel XMP) and Intel Extreme Tuning Utility, the ultimate tuning utility making it possible to overclock and fine tune your laptop for incredible performance and battery life optimisations. In addition, the Intel PM55 Express Chipset enables high-end workstation and gaming laptops to support features such as Intel Matrix Storage Technology, Intel High-Definition Audio, and increased I/O interfaces.

Leading OEMs including Asus, Dell, HP and Toshiba began shipping laptops today based on Intel Core i7 mobile processors, with additional systems from OEMs available in the coming months. 1ku pricing for the Intel Core i7-920XM, Intel Core i7-820QM and Intel Core i7-720QM mobile processors is US$1,054, US$546 and US$364, respectively.

Telstra Has Fastest Mobile Broadband Claims IDC

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International Data Corporation has found that Telstra currently has the fastest mobile broadband in Australia.
They have also reported that mobile broadband networks have improved average download speeds by 68 percent since 2008 to 2,941 Kbps.

The research company said that they “tested the download and upload speeds, as well as latency on all four mobile broadband networks, conducting 2,000 independent tests, over a nine month period, predominantly focusing on metropolitan areas.”

Telstra ranked first out of the four mobile broadband networks, with Optus only trailing by 4 per cent after ‘demonstrating a strong improvement in performance across all metrics assessed, having improved 20 percent from 2008’.

The report also revealed that upload speeds were faster in 2009 due to the availability of HSUPA-enabled modems.

“The average upload speed measured in 2009 was 1,238Kbps – this is 169 percent higher than the 2008 average of only 460Kbps. Meanwhile, average latency fell by an average of 71 percent, from 447ms in 2008 down to 129ms in 2009,” continued IDC.

IDC Australia’s Market Analyst, Telecommunications, Mark Novosel said, “IDC’s research tests showed that Telstra scored more highly than its competitors, with average download speeds nearly 60 percent faster than its nearest rival and no network fallback to 2G encountered. The user experience on Telstra was often similar to a good quality residential fixed broadband connection.”

“Optus’ performance soared in 2009, scoring similarly to Telstra, although slightly more network fallback was experienced. However, performance was fairly consistent and well above both of VHA’s networks. Optus now provides a viable alternative to Telstra for anyone willing to sacrifice some coverage and speed, in favour of cost savings,” added Novosel.

Video Streaming Chews Biggest Mobile Bandwidth

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Allot Communications reported that mobile data bandwidth usage increased by 68 percent during the first half of 2010. This is due to users streaming videos and checking social netowrking sites on their mobile phones.
According to its MobileTrends Global Mobile Broadband Traffic Report, video streaming applications continue to dominate the global mobile bandwidth scene and remain the largest consumer of bandwidth with a 35 percent share.  Web browsing had a 29 percent share in mobile data usage while P2P and HTTP download represented 31 percent of global mobile bandwidth.

In addition, video streaming is the single largest growing application type with a 92 percent increase, due in part to the ever-rising popularity of YouTube.  The report also found that Twitter grew its bandwidth usage by 310 percent while Facebook increased its dominance with a 200 percent rise.

VoIP and IM applications grew significantly during this period becoming the second fastest growing traffic-type. Skype has continued to dominate this segment increasing its share of the global VoIP bandwidth from 77 percent in H2, 2009 to 83 percent in H1, 2010, leaving competitors like Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger and Windows Live Messenger behind.

 

However, Yahoo Messenger is still the most popular IM application, accounting for 29 percent of global IM bandwidth, even if its bandwidth share has reduced since the second half of 2009.

Allot Communications’ President and CEO, Rami Hadar said,  “The results of our latest MobileTrends Report reinforces that mobile broadband operators continue to face growing challenges as subscribers demand real-time content through an array of smartphones and Internet devices.”

“The findings also clearly demonstrate the close ties between mobile broadband and social networking. Whether it’s YouTube, Twitter or Facebook, social networking via mobile devices is becoming a ‘must have’ for subscribers and we expect that this is just the beginning,” added Hadar.

The Allot MobileTrends Report data was collected from January 1 to June 30, 2010 from leading mobile operators worldwide with a combined user base of 190 million subscribers. Allot gathered the data using the long term reporting capabilities of Allot NetXplorer, Allot’s centralized management and reporting system. The length of the collection period allows accurate identification of usage trends and patterns, reducing the influence of temporary events in the monitored networks.

New Powermat Charges Three Devices Wirelessly

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The new Powermat that allows a user to charge up to three gadgets wirelessly is set to hit Australia next month.

Powermat Blackberry Bundle for $199

From April 15, users can purchase four different variations of the Powermat (Starter Kit, iPhone bundle, Blackberry Bold 9000 bundle, and iPod/iPhone bundle) for $199 from Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, David Jones and Myer.

In a press conference held this morning, National Marketing Manager for Powermat, Mike Morgan said that they want to provide a product that simplifies the way we charge devices.

“The Powermat uses magnetic induction technology that is able to charge devices at a very fast rate. It uses energy, not electricity to charge the device, which means that you won’t get electrocuted when you touch it or if it gets wet. This product is also 5-star energy compliant and intelligent enough to switch off when the battery is full,” said Morgan.

The Smart RFID technology on the Powermat allows a ‘conversation’ between the mat and the battery. It is then able to ‘transfer the exact amount power needed to charge your device and automatically switches off as soon as it is fully charged.’

During the hands-on demonstration, we were able to charge an iPhone, a Nintendo DS Lite, and an iPod on the mat at the same time. The Powermat is dependent on a proprietary receiver, so you cannot just put a device on top of it expecting it to charge. As soon as you put the device on the Powermat, it will give you a charging activation/deactivation visual and audio confirmation.

 

While the Powermat is able to charge three devices at any given time, you will only have the opportunity to charge one device out of the box.

  • The ‘Starter Kit’ comes with the Home & Office Powermat and a Universal Powercube charging adapter with 9 different tips (mini-USB, LG, Samsung, microUSB, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi, PSP, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson);
  • The Powermat iPhone bundles the Powermat with an iPhone skin;
  • The Powermat Blackberry includes the Powermat and Blackberry Bold 9000 door receiver; and
  • The Powermat iPod/iPhone bundle for all Apple iPod and iPhone users combines the Powermat and universal iPod/iPhone dock.

In order for you to charge more than one device wirelessly, you would need to purchase extra receivers for $49.95, bringing the total amount spent close to $300.

Some of the receivers that will be sold on launch include: iPhone 3G and iPod Touch, Apple Universal dock, Blackberry Bold 9000, BlackBerry Curve 8900, BlackBerry Pearl 8110, BlackBerry Curve 8300, Universal Powercube (with 8 interchangeable lens), and Nintendo DS Wrap options for charging Nintendo DS Lite or DSi.

Ink Efficient, Everyday Printers From Epson

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Epson aims to provide extra quality, value, and choice for consumers with the debut of two multifunction printers (CX8300 and CX7300) and a single function printer (C90).


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The Epson Stylus CX8300
The Epson Stylus CX7300 is an all-in-one printer for the home or small office, while the Stylus CX8300 has a 2.5 inch LCD viewer for PC-free printing, scanning and copying convenience. Both printers provide flexibility with photo and document printing, along with scanning and copying.

The Stylus C90 on the other hand, is a cost efficient printer that is great for printing everyday documents such as flyers and colourful school projects, printing off web pages or producing your own glossy photos at home with outstanding results, the company claims.

All three printers feature Epson’s improved DuraBrite Ultra ink producing glossier photos and sharper text printing with quality results. DuraBrite Ultra ink is resistant to smudging, fading and water and has up to 120 years light fastness. These three printers also use individual ink cartridges, with the Stylus C90 giving consumers the choice of standard or low cost individual colour ink cartridges with a starting RRP $8.99.

 

Standard in all three printers is Epson PhotoEnhance which produces the optimum print every time by automatically adjusting the colour balance to allow for the different requirements of landscapes or people. It also includes advanced face detection which automatically distinguishes people from scenery and corrects the colour balance to ensure beautiful, natural skin tones, the company says.

For extra productivity the Stylus CX8300 and Stylus CX7300 have print speeds of up to 32ppm and borderless 4×6 inch photos can be reproduced in as little as 26 seconds. Copying photos and documents with the Stylus CX8300 and CX7300 is as easy as one touch with fit-to-page copying.

The Epson Stylus CX7300 and Stylus CX8300 are capable of PC-free printing, scanning and copying, and come with PictBridge and card slots compatible with many memory card types, making it easy to print brilliant photos without a computer. In addition, the Stylus CX8300 also has a 2.5 inch tilting LCD viewer for added ease of use with simple, intuitive menus offering easy viewing and printing of photos without a computer.

Included with all these new printers is a USB cable for immediate out-of box use making for a more convenient experience.

RRP:

Epson Stylus CX8300: $199
Epson Stylus CX7300: $149
Epson Stylus C90: $79

See: www.epson.com.au