infinix smartphones , joypads hits kingdom

Infinix Mobility Co. Ltd launched on Sunday its 3G Android smartphones and joypads in partnership with Redington and Qualcomm in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia targeting the young generations. 

Souq.com will be the key retail partners with Infinix Mobility and very soon it will be available in mobile phone stores.

At a jam-packed event at the Marriott Jeddah attended by senior executives of both Infinix and Redington as well as retailers and distributors,  company officials expressed high optimism that the new smartphone brand will capture at least 5 percent of the Saudi Android phone market next year due to “good quality and better prices” of Infinix models vis-à-vis the same models of others existing known brands.

Peter Zhou, Infinix Mobility regional manager for Middle East and Africa told the Saudi Gazette their prices are at least 60 percent lower than other brands.

Eng. Yasser M. Zaidan, CEO, Tawzih, told the Saudi Gazette that Infinix smartphones’ prices range from SR300-SR1,300.

Zhou and Farrukh Shahab, sales manager-telecom, Redington added that Infinix offers an instant replacement for a smartphone unit that may have some “physical problems”, but not due to human error or misuse.

source: www.saudigazette.com

Qualcomm cooperates with Egyptian mobile operators

Qualcomm, provider of the processors for many notable mobile brands, tablets and smart-devices as well as developer of internet wireless network in Egypt, attended the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) conference to launch their latest project and showcase their support for the Egyptian technology and communication industry.

The Daily News Egypt spoke with Moheb Ramsis Senior Director of Business Development for Qualcomm in North Africa in order  to discuss Qualcomm’s latest projects in Egypt, their cooperation with mobile operators as well as plans for investment in the future.

Our strategy in Egypt is focused on a variety of things. Qualcomm in has a major interest in two particular things. One is the processors and this is the main business for Qualcomm. Many of the mobiles today are using Qualcomm chips.

Secondly we focus on licensing, for the 3G and 4G technology.  We played a key role in the development of the 3G and 4G networks and as a result earn royalties on these licenses. This is a major revenue stream for Qualcomm.

Egypt specifically is a market that is very price and brand sensitive. At the high-tier of smartphones today, most of the big names are using our chips. These include Samsung, LG, HTC and Song. We are focusing on Smartphones and tablets, which are connected to Egyptian 3G networks. Our strategy has two main focuses. The first strategy is concerned with enabling and empowering more entry level Smartphones, using the 3G network. This is done through the marketing of popular brands to the user. In this effort we are attempting to bring Smartphones to the lowest price possible while maintaining quality.

For example Etisalat recently released a tablet which uses a Qualcomm processor and which draws on a “Qualcomm reference design”. Which is the name of our initiative and it basically concerns selling supplier the chips cells and designs which will save the supplier money, time and resources. Allowing manufacturers to develop design and focus more on user interface and differentiating their technologies. This allows manufacturers to develop products of optimal quality and price.

source: www.dailynewsegypt.com

Africans will benefit from global technology

The 2013 AfricaCom conference and technology exhibition in Cape Town, South Africa, focused on new technologies that will drive development in Africa. It equally uncovered new ways of managing customer experience and how they will benefit from the evolving technologies. Emma Okonji writes
Technology companies from across the globe, last week, gathered in Cape Town, South Africa for the 2013 AfricaCom event to discuss new technologies that will speed up development among African countries.

At the conference, which was organised by Informa Telecoms had Nigeria fully represented at the 2013 conference and exhibition, through Information and Communications Technology  (ICT) companies like Etisalat, MTN, Cisco, Qualcomm, Ericsson, among others that have presence and are currently operating in Nigeria.
Paramount among the new technologies that were discussed and exhibited, were the Long Term Evolution (LTE), including evolving technologies that will drive big data penetration, enhance voice telephony, speed up mobile money penetration, as well as enrich customer experience across African countries.
Etisalat Nigeria used the occasion to announce winners of the software application competition it organised in Nigeria. It presented the winners during the AfricaCom Awards Night, which it co-sponsored with other ICT companies like PCCW Global, MTN, Mahindra Comviva, and Orange.
The LTE Technology
Technology has over time, evolved from 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, to the Long Term Evolution technology, otherwise known as 4G LTE technology.
The 4G LTE technology, which is currently being adopted globally, is designed to speed up the broadband technology. The conference advised ICT companies operating in Africa to begin investments in LTE technology, since it is the emerging technology that will drive fast broadband penetration even in remote communities across Africa.

source:www.thisdaylive.com

Alcatel lucent betting up IP networking and LTE

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) is planning to sell its enterprise segment consisting of switches and communication gear. This is the second time in the span of three years that the company is trying to sell its enterprise unit. In 2011, the company tried to sell its enterprise unit but succeeded in selling call center unit, Genesys, for $1.5 billion. The reason the company wasn't able to sell its enterprise unit was the heavy cost requirement to restructure the unit, as it involves the labor union and associated pension obligations. Apart from pension obligations, the company's service offerings under the enterprise unit are outdated. Alcatel-Lucent's competitors, such as RingCentral and 8x8, provide an upgraded version of cloud based phone services. The company is planning to divest around $1.36 billion worth of assets and dispose non-core assets in order to increase its investment in IP networking. It plans to increase its investment in IP networking and ultra-broadband services to 85% of its total R&D investment by 2015. By 2017 data traffic on metropolitan access and aggregation networks may increase to 75% from the current 57%. The growth in data traffic provides Alcatel-Lucent with a great opportunity. Alcatel-Lucent recently entered into a partnershipwith Qualcomm (QCOM) to develop small cells for ultra-broadband wireless access.

In the third quarter, revenue from IP routing, terrestrial optics, and ultra-broadband access solutions increased 7% to $777.95 million. I expect the revenue from IP networking and ultra-broadband will increase in 2014 due to growing data traffic.

Expanding 4G network

Alcatel-Lucent is also looking to expand its reach in the 4G LTE network. The company signed a deal with YooMee in November to deploy an end-to-end TDD LTE solution including wireless backhaul and evolved packet 

source: seelinglfa.com

MTN steppa-most affordable high performance smartphone ever

MTN plans to shake up the South African smartphone market with its Steppa device, offering a high performance Android phone at well below R1,000.

Mike Fairon, GM of products, services and innovation at MTN, said that the Steppa is not an ultra-low-cost smartphone. It is rather an affordable high performance smartphone with 3G connectivity.

The aim of the Steppa is simple: to introduce as many South Africans as possible to the new data driven mobile environment. MTN described the Steppa as the “most affordable high performance smartphone ever”.

The Steppa will come preinstalled with a range of applications, and will also have a guide to assist newcomers to the world of smartphones.

Fairon said that MTN designed the new Steppa Android phone based on Qualcomm’s Reference Designs (QDR).

MTN assessed what users do on their smartphones, and designed a device which serves these needs. The hardware and software are geared towards giving users a great experience.

The MTN Steppa smartphone sports a 3.5-inch touch screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with 1GHz single-core CPU, and a 2.0 MP AF Camera with Video recorder.

The device runs Android 2.3.5 (Ginger Bread), which has been modified to include various MTN specific enhancements.

source: www. mybroadband .zo

intel expands foundry service for outside chip designers

Intel plans to open up its small semiconductor foundry business to more companies as part of a major strategic overhaul under a new leadership team headed by CEO Brian Krzanich.

"We're going to go much further. If we can utilize our silicon to provide the best computing, we'll do that. People who can use our leading edge and build computing capabilities that are better than anyone else's, those are good candidates for our foundry service," Krzanich was quoted as saying by Reuters during the company's annual Analyst Day on Thursday.

Intel has traditionally utilized its state-of-the-art silicon fabrication facilities to manufacture its own x86-based microprocessors on a near-exclusive basis. But a few years ago, the chip giant started sending signals that it was considering selling its manufacturing services to other chip design firms. Early last year, Intel confirmed that it had been quietly offering semiconductor manufacturing services to third-party customers while bringing its state-of-the-art 22-nanometer fabs online.

This all occurred as the company's erstwhile bitterest rival, Advanced Micro Devices, spun off its own manufacturing assets and Intel found itself struggling to compete in the mobile device market with fabless companies like Qualcomm. At the same time, Intel watched as Samsung supplied Apple with foundry services for the chips in iPhones and iPads, even as the South Korean tech giant managed to also compete directly with Cupertino with Android-based handsets and tablets.