·         Wireless Related

Verizon LTE Gets Friendly

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=189697

Verizon Wireless says it's ready to start friendly user trials of deployed LTE markets in the US this summer but isn't saying yet exactly when the new technology will go commercial this year. Speaking at a press roundtable this morning, Verizon Wireless CTO Tony Melone said the operator is "close to wrapping up" initial trials of LTE in Boston and Seattle. "Next up is friendly user trials in a handful of markets in the summer time-frame."

Qualcomm Snags First Femto Wins

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=189633#msgs

Qualcomm revealed today that it has racked up the first customer wins for its femtocell chipset, as it announced a development agreement with ZTE Corp. Qualcomm's Femtocells Station Modem chipset is configurable to either CDMA or UMTS 3G standards. Initial samples will be available soon, and commercial samples will be available at the end of this year.

Data Overtakes Voice

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=189610

Mobile data surpassed voice as the principal traffic on wireless networks worldwide in December 2009 for the first time ever, Ericsson reported. The Swedish infrastructure provider says -- based from its own monitoring of global wireless networks -- the crossover point occurred at approximately 140,000 Terabytes per month in both voice and data traffic. This represents massive data growth in recent years, with Ericsson noting that data traffic globally grew 280 percent during each of the last two years, and predicting it will double annually over the next five years.

Telcordia Gets Personal With Policy

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=189634

Telcordia Technologies Inc. is trying to convince wireless service providers to think about using policy to give customers more control and to make services more personalized, and not just as a way to prioritize traffic and make networks more efficient. Policy management tools are becoming increasingly important to operators' Service Provider Information Technology (SPIT) strategies, with mobile operators in particular looking to manage their customers' consumption of data services with a combination of deep packet inspection (DPI) and policy control solutions. Now Telcordia is promoting an expanded use for policy control capabilities. Instead of just trying to stuff the unlimited capacity genie back into the bottle, wireless operators should create incentives for customers to pay for the next generation of services in new, more rational ways, says Pat McCarthy, Telcordia's vice president of global marketing.

Telcos to Consumers: Help Yourself

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=189430

Telecom service providers are investing heavily in self-service programs that enable consumers to place orders, pay bills, troubleshoot basic problems, and comment or complain. The motivation for self-service programs is universal: They represent a way to cut costs by limiting human customer service, while also streamlining cumbersome processes to allegedly improve the level of service.

ARM, Renault, MontaVista join in-vehicle alliance

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224000333

ARM Holdings plc, Renault and MontaVista Software have joined GENIVI, an automotive electronics industry alliance that is seeking to drive adoption of an open-source car infotainment platform. MontaVista joined GENIVI as a core member in June, 2009 and now the three companies have all been elected to take seats on the board of directors of the organization. At its formation in March 2009 the alliance included auto makers BMW, General Motors and PSA Peugeot Citroen, parts suppliers Magneti Marelli and Visteon Corp. along with Intel Corp. and Wind River. Since then the organization has grown to more than 60 members, spanning the automotive ecosystem across all major geographies, including five OEMs, key first tier suppliers, and the majority of semiconductor providers to the in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) market.

·         Terminal Related

Samsung Intros LTE Phone

http://www.informationweek.com/news/mobility/smart_phones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224200357&subSection=News

Samsung unveiled the SCH-r900 Long Term Evolution phone, scheduled to be the first LTE phone available in the United States, at the CTIA Wireless show. Samsung also announced that its handset will be offered by prepaid provider MetroPCS. Not only did the Samsung handset upstage Sprint's EVO, which captured a lot of buzz earlier at CTIA, but it also places the SCH-r900 and MetroPCS ahead of Verizon Wireless, which plans to offer LTE handsets for its nationwide 4G network next year.

SanDisk Intros 32GB Phone Memory Card

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/reviews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224200116&subSection=News

SanDisk has introduced a 32-GB removable flash memory card for mobile phones. The product is available starting Tuesday on U.S. and European Web sites. Worldwide availability in stores is scheduled for next month. The microSDHC comes with a five-year limited warranty and carries a manufacturer suggested retail price of $200.

Nokia Snaps Up Microbrowser Maven  

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=189818&

Nokia is continuing to build out its mobile multimedia portfolio, announcing the acquisition Friday of Novarra Inc. , which is best known for its microbrowser work for mainstream handsets. Nokia says it will use the Novarra browsing and transcoding technology to roll out more Internet services to its lower-end Series 40 range of handsets. The company claims that Series 40 phones are the most popular handset platform in the world. These low- to mid-tier devices, however, offer less in the way of Internet browsing and multimedia services than many smartphones.

500 Million Wi-Fi Phones To Ship In 2014

http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/smartphones/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224200080&subSection=News

Shunned not long ago by carriers and device providers alike, Wi-Fi-capable mobile phones are becoming so popular that the Wi-Fi Alliance, the wireless technology's trade association, is predicting 500 million Wi-Fi handsets will be shipped in 2014.

·         Mobile Internet Related

Apple Seeks Patent For Mobile Social Networking

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/linux/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224000275&subSection=News

Apple is seeking a patent for technology that would make it possible for users of the iPhone or other mobile devices to form an ad hoc social network to communicate and share information during tradeshows, concerts, rallies or other event. The patent application describes a service called iGroups that would enable people to share geographic location data in order to connect using an iPhone or other mobile device. People who agree to join the network would be able to broadcast information in real-time through text and instant messaging and also share files, such as pictures or video.

Android Builds Extend Corona SDK Beyond iPhone

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/open_source/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224200081&subSection=News

Developers will soon have another option to create mobile applications that run on multiple platforms. Ansca Mobile on Monday revealed that the forthcoming 1.2 version of its Corona SDK will allow users to create Android apps in addition to iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps. "It's my distinct pleasure to confirm that, yes, indeed, actually we are actively working on an Android version of Corona (code-named Overdrive)," said Ansca director of engineering Eric Herrmann in a blog post. "We've been working on it for quite some time, and it's looking really good." A teaser video posted to YouTube shows the Core Damage app -- created in Corona -- running on both an iPhone and an Android-based Nexus One.

Yahoo Unveils iPhone Search Apps

http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/linux/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224200201&subSection=News

Yahoo has launched an iPhone application that allows searches for a restaurant by sketching an area on a map. The Web portal unveiled "Sketch-a-Search" at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas, Nev. The application, which works only in the United States, was made available for free Tuesday on Apple's App Store.

Microsoft Builds A Better Bing

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=224200307&subSection=News

Microsoft kicked off the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York with news that it's planning to release a number of enhancements to its Bing search service in the coming weeks. "Today at SES New York we shared with attendees our plans to begin testing some new Bing features as we start to move into the next wave of innovation which we will be rolling out later this spring and summer," wrote Microsoft group product manager Todd Schwartz, in a blog post Thursday.

·         Broadband

Startups Chase 100G

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=189732

100-Gbit/s startups are on the prowl, according to sources at OFC/NFOEC. And a lot of the established optical players are baffled by it, judging from interviews at the show. After all, the optical networking market is still considered to be overcrowded, especially on the components side. But 100-Gbit/s long-haul networking brings up technological challenges some engineers and investors see as a good entry point. Startups in this area might be hoping to get acquired by a component, module, or systems company that falls off the 100-Gbit/s pace.