Worth Noting

 

The following are recent events that are of interest:

• The IEEE and the Wi-Fi Alliance are developing the 802.11v standard, which could help corporations understand Wi-Fi usage on campus. The proposed standard, which is expected to be completed in mid-2010, creates an interface that allows Wi-Fi networks to be managed down to the client device and leverage existing infrastructure and Wi-Fi standards to help companies understand what kind of devices are being connected to the net-work and where. The proposed 802.11v standard will include provisions such as smooth client transitions between access points that will help ease congestion during peak usage times as well as increase performance of mission critical applications such as VoIP. The proposed standard is also expected to facilitate high level wireless client tracking and help save power.
• There is further evidence mounting that Motorola may be pulling back to its heartlands in the Americas, and giving up on being a global handset maker. The troubled firm has reportedly laid off 1,000 staff in its R&D facility in China, until recently one of its key hopes for growth and turnaround. Motorola has already indicated it will virtually pull out of Western Europe. Last year, Motorola cut 600 jobs from its offices in China. It was once market leader in the country, but lost that position to Nokia.
• The top three essential features for US Smartphone buyers are ease of use, brand and embedded content, according to a new study conducted by mobile applications portal GetJar. About 20% of US users named the interface as the single most important feature, while price and memory size emerged as the fourth and fifth key criteria. Also, 60% found embedded content “extremely important”. This figure rose to 69% when the survey was extended across 130 countries, while the number one purchasing consideration across the globe was brand rather than user interface. Worldwide, 71% said they planned to buy a new phone this year. Only 4% ranked touch screens as the most important Smartphone feature.
• A legal precedent was set this week when an Orange UK customer, Tom Prescott, successfully sued the cellco for failing to provide coverage either at his house or at his place of work. Prescott was forced to resort to the law after all else failed and the carrier refused to cancel his 18-month contract.
• Worldwide semiconductor revenue will decline by nearly 20% in 2009 to $199.2bn, ac-cording to In-Stat, and will not recover to 2007 levels until at least 2012, though the upturn will start in the second half of 2009.
• The top five handset manufacturers are among a group of 17 companies that have pledged their support for development of a universal mobile phone charger that will work with the majority of new handsets by 2012. The ‘Universal Charging Solution’ initiative, announced by the GSM Association at MWC, aims to reduce the number of chargers manufactured each year by 50%, and achieve a 50% reduction in standby energy consumption. It will use Micro-USB as a common universal charging interface.