http://www.abiresearch.comhttp://www.abiresearch.comen-usFri, 3 Feb 2012 22:53:27 EST10© 2008 ABI Research.All Rights Reserved.http://www.abiresearch.com/images/unique/rsslogo.gifhttp://www.abiresearch.comhttp://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1719Thu, 2 Feb 2012 03:12:00 EST​The latest dispute between Datawind, the makers of “Aakash” and IIT Rajasthan, a premier educational institution, which was the procurement agency for “Aakash” has come to an end with the Indian government taking matters in its own hands and taking away not only procurement responsibility but also drafting of specifications from IIT and giving it to the department of IT. The procurement responsibility will now be given to public sector undertakings. The main bone of contention between the manufacturer and the institution was the tablet specification. Both the parties had not been able to agree upon a required set of features for Aakash. While the IIT demanded a shockproof and rainproof tablet, Datawind refused to comply with the “milita ... Mobile Devices,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1718Wed, 1 Feb 2012 06:01:00 ESTAs Intel enter the smartphone market with design wins at Motorola, Lenovo and China Unicom for x86 based applications processors they are up against the combined might of ARM licensees already entrenched in the market. Whilst Qualcomm, TI, Broadcom, Nvidia, etc. are relatively small semiconductor suppliers compared with Intel overall their combined might and solid market position make them a formidable force to be reckoned with. This battle is just one exciting development in the mobile device IC market that will make 2012 a very interesting year. More insight here ....Wireless,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1717Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:55:00 EST​CES 2012 was notable for the shift taking place in the home automation booths and displays.  In years past, there was a growing crescendo of home automation activity, as represented by the growing numbers of home automation-specific vendors and the growing size of the floor space devoted specifically to M2M.  The wave seems to have crested: Control4, which had in previous years served as a key anchor-tenant, providing a huge venue for a large number of its key partners, stayed off the show floor this year.  The ZigBee, Z-Wave, and HomePlug Powerline Alliance booths all seemed smaller this year, with fewer companies (and fewer varieties of applications) on display. (Note: I was contacted by the ZigBee Alliance on 2/1/12 in response to this ... Wireless,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1716Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:43:00 EST​If you aren’t yet fully acquainted with the concept of fantasy sports, it may not be entirely your fault. Most of us enthusiasts feel that as a pastime it’s still somewhat too stigmatizing to be announced during a dinner party, or at least before the occasion has progressed to the digestif. (Although calling it “Dungeons and Dragons for jocks”, as some outsiders seem to do, is a little unnecessary.) It is one of those digital sub-cultures that in some form has existed for several decades, but which started to grow seriously only when broadband accesses had become commonplace.  And by now it has grown to an extent that as an industry it generates today about $5 billion in revenue. Surprised? So was I when I read that. Enlightened, I fina ... Wireless,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1715Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:36:00 ESTAt CES, I witnessed some interesting uses of visual augmented reality.  Objects in a camera viewer were animated and overlayed onto the view of a tablet or smartphone.  This type of AR could provide new ways for manufacturing and field services organizations to create and fix products. But it also highlights how digitization of the enterprise also increases the threats.  There is a lot of effort now in digitizing enterprise content to remove updating paper manuals.  This digitization effort will eventually use more augmented reality technologies and applications.  Once digitized, nefarious sorts could alter the digital information - such as install the wrong part in an aircraft engine instead of another - you can imagine the consequences.  ... Wireless,Smart Cards and Embedded Security,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1714Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:18:00 EST​How journalism adapts to the digital era is one of this decade’s big questions. More and more of the content has to be real-time, constantly updated, and at the same time more or less everyone is covering more or less everything so differentiation is increasingly difficult. And yes, the money is tight. With that in mind, let me introduce you to two mobile innovations that could benefit an agile news organization. They won’t singlehandedly rescue a struggling media house, but could well help it doing more for less money. Scoopshot is a photo app to connect media and journalists with the app users who have original photographs about an event of interest. The users can contribute to stories and earn cash, while the media can generate rich ... Wireless,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1713Mon, 9 Jan 2012 07:07:00 EST​Mindspeed’s $76.8m acquisition of baseband chipset maker picoChip is significant and marks the true transition from what could be called as the ‘femtocell-era’ into what is being referred to as the small cell revolution.  2011 was the year when the term ‘small cells’ emerged, mostly seen as an umbrella term under which femtocells, picocells, microcells and even Wi-Fi could be categorized. Small cells were the flavor of Mobile World Congress 2011, and are expected to gain further prominence in 2012. ‘Het Nets’ or heterogeneous networks have become commonplace terms referring to the use of disparate technologies including small cells, compact base stations and traditional macro cells to solve the growing imbalance of network capacity and sm ... Femto and Small Cells,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1712Sun, 8 Jan 2012 23:46:00 ESTThe era of the GSM handset have reached its zenith, as 3G and 4G handset sales have captured more than 50% of the total handset market. Not only that, year-on-year percentage growth for GSM drops to zero in 4Q-2011 and thereafter GSM handsets shipments are anticipated to go into decline. It is very much an historic moment. It means not just mobile phone users in Developed Markets but also Emerging Market end-users are purchasing 3G handsets, 3G smartphones and connecting to the internet. ​Wireless,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1711Thu, 5 Jan 2012 12:39:00 ESTAs I mentioned in a recently-published Insight, 2011 saw a spate of well-documented forays into the home automation/home energy markets by service providers such as telcos, cable operators, security companies and more recently, utilities. However, today’s news that US home improvement giant, Lowe’s, will sell home automation kits from UK-based SaaS provider, AlertMe, shows that retailers are increasingly looking to enter this emerging marketplace. Back in in September of last year, Best Buy launched home energy zones in three of its stores to demonstrate a home energy management technology from GE. The company also sells the Nest Learning Thermostat, which made the headlines the following month. However, the media frenzy that followed the ... Digital Home,Smart Cities and Smart Grids,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1710Wed, 4 Jan 2012 08:37:00 ESTI wanted to take this opportunity to discuss the state of the contactless payment card market in the US and expand upon a recent insight authored by Group Director John Devlin – US Cap on Debit Fees Impacts Both Bank Card and NFC Markets. From the latest market data which we collect from card and IC manufacturers, it has become apparent that 2011 contactless payment card shipments in the US have dramatically dropped when comparing against quarterly shipments achieved in 2010. The drop in shipments has primarily been driven by two overriding factors: ·         The Durbin amendment was passed in July 2011, capping interchange fees. As a result MasterCard and Visa responded, pulling their discretionary discounts allowed on low-value transacti ... Smart Cards and Embedded Security,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1709Wed, 4 Jan 2012 06:15:00 EST​There are many new businesses popping up to facilitate car sharing. Some (e.g. Wheelz, RelayRides, Getaround) are designed to allow existing car owners to rent their own vehicles when they would otherwise be sitting idle.  Some OEMs are also involved in supplying what is effectively a new form of rental fleet. Mercedes-Benz has Car2Go; BMW has DriveNow; VW recently launched Quicar; Ford partnered with Zipcar on university campuses. It seems like the start of a new business model that has the potential to change the nature of vehicle ownership. And all the above examples are reliant on telematics and smartphones to manage use and provide some security. One company that tried to do it the old-fashioned way was HiGear. Sharing the cost of ow ... Telematics,Wireless,Smart Cities and Smart Grids,Location Platform and Enablers,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1708Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:11:00 ESTOn 20th December 2011, Linear Technology Corporation, a leader in high performance analog integrated circuits, announced the acquisition of Dust Networks, Inc., a leading provider of low power wireless sensor network (WSN) technology.  With the growing importance of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications to enable remote data acquisition, low power wireless sensing is an emerging solution for many end-markets, including industrial process control, building automation and data center energy management. Founded in 2002, Dust Networks is a pioneer in the field of wireless sensor networking. Using standards-based network technology, Dust’s broad portfolio includes SmartMesh® IP, SmartMesh Industrial/WirelessHART™ and ZigBee®. It also provide ... Wireless,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1707Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:08:00 ESTGemalto, the world leader in digital security, today announced that it has acquired SensorLogic, a machine-to-machine (M2M) cloud-based platform vendor. Commenting on the transaction, Oliver Piou, Gemalto Chief Executive Officer noted: “With M2M, we continue to replicate our successful business model. Starting from advanced software embedded in a device, we add remote management and then application support to provide superior performance and differentiation to our customers.” Norbert Muhrer, Cinterion’s CEO, added “SensorLogic is a perfect fit for our M2M business. With SensorLogic, we are taking complexity out of M2M deployments thus clearly adding value to our clients”. Founded in 2002, SensorLogic was an early pioneer in delivering a c ... Wireless,Smart Cards and Embedded Security,Smart Cities and Smart Grids,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1706Fri, 30 Dec 2011 22:04:00 ESTIn response to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) mandate on a Home Area Network (HAN) Implementation Plan, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), a major Californian utility, has submitted its implementation plan in early December 2011 for review. The pilot deployment of 500 customers will use software from Silver Spring Networks (SSN) and home energy dashboards from Control4. PG&E’s plan will be rolled out in three phases - Initial Rollout Phase, Early Adopter Phase and Mass Market Phase.   The first “Initial Rollout Phase” will use 500 HAN devices provided to 500 volunteer and employee customers starting on March 1, 2012. If this first phase gains sufficient customer and vendor support through assessment of the customer ... Digital Home,Wireless,Smart Cities and Smart Grids,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1705Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:21:00 EST​It’s been another good year for Software as a Service (SaaS) provider, iControl Networks, which has continued to add to an already an impressive list of home automation deployment partners.  This unusually extensive blog post follows on from my soon-to-be published Insight reviewing the major developments in the market for home automation as a service and summarises some of the key goings on with iControl's partners during the year. One of the company’s earliest and perhaps most notable deployment partners is ADT Security Services, the largest security provider in North America. Whilst the company selected iControl technology for its Pulse product back in 2009, the service wasn’t launched until October 2010. Since then, details of take ra ... Digital Home,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1704Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:41:00 EST​We recently published an Insight on the introduction of new technology from Broadcom that allows 100 Mbps communication in a vehicle over an unshielded twisted-pair cable. While the cost savings and improved design flexibility make this a worthwhile technology, the real benefit is the opportunity to overhaul the complete electronic architecture. As electric vehicles come to market from many different OEMs, there is a combination of new companies and traditional automotive names looking to capture a share. Telematics is playing a prominent role in helping to overcome the buyer's fear of range anxiety with the shift to a new energy source via an infrastructure that is only just being rolled out. However the massive increase in on-board auto ... Telematics,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1703Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:54:00 EST​In a press release GM announced details about what new telematics technologies will be showcased and discussed by OnStar and Cadillac at CES 2012:   ·         Cadillac CUE  information and entertainment system including  research methods behind the creation of CUE ·         OnStar 4G LTE cloud technology -  cooperation with Verizon Wireless on content streaming including rear seat infotainment and video chat ·         OnStar FMV aftermarket rearview mirror – new features ·         OnStar RemoteLink and home energy management   A press conference will also be held.   The 4G LTE concept clearly points to GM’s ambitions to extend its traditional safety and security telematics offer to advanced infotainment based on high speed cloud services ... Telematics,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1702Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:49:00 ESTAT&T announced yesterday that they have dropped their bid to acquire T-Mobile USA and will take a $4 billion write down due to the breakdown of this deal. The US government has been against the deal from the very beginning citing competitive threats and over-consolidation of the US market if the deal had gone through making AT&T and Verizon wireless behemoths. While the US government is justified in preventing monopolistic control in a hyper competitive US cellular market, the deal is bound to have major implications on how AT&T and T-Mobile remain competitive from a network standpoint. Verizon has recently acquired AWS spectrum from cable companies at a cost of $4 billion, while Sprint can use spectrum from Clearwire and poss ... Wireless,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1701Fri, 9 Dec 2011 13:58:00 EST  According to MocoNews: “By the summer of 2012, the majority of the televisions you see in stores will have Google (NSDQ: GOOG) TV embedded in it,” Schmidt said on stage at the Le Web conference."   Connected TV’s will represent around 35-40% of total TV shipments, by mid-2012.  They tend to be offered on units in the $400 price-range, and up.  So, right off-the bat, we think Mr. Schmidt misspoke.  We believe Mr. Schmidt meant to say:  By the summer of 2012, the majority of connected TVs you see in stores will have Google TV embedded in it.   So, in terms of connected TV (Smart TV) penetration, we expect Google TV on Sony, Samsung and LG TVs early next year.  Together, these account for roughly 40% of US shipments.  If you add in Viz ... Digital Home,http://www.abiresearch.com/research_blog/1700Wed, 7 Dec 2011 12:16:00 ESTSo it is being reported this week that Verizon Wireless is blocking Google Wallet​ from being pre-installed on Nexus smartphones on its network, and also from being downloaded by its subscribers from the Android Market. All I can really say is, "Why is anyone surprised by this?"  Verizon is investing heavily in its own mobile payment platform, Isis, with its MNO partners at AT&T and T-Mobile.  Why would it promote a rival service ahead of its own launch?  Yes, you can argue that by enabling Google Wallet, Verizon will be promoting the wider awareness and usage of NFC and contactless payments.  But when have MNOs ever looked at it like that?  Anywhere? Possibly sensing a backlash from the media and possibly also end-users, Ver ...