6 reasons laptop manufacturers love SSDs

I recently wrote a post about how SSDs are expected to become ubiquitous and cost competitive by 2011. At the end of the post, I mentioned that it is not just a matter of technological development pushing things forward, and that it is also in the interest of laptop manufacturers to sell SSD equipped models as soon as they can. And here is why:

1. Fast read/write speeds: SSDs have started with competitive data rates and as more manufacturers put resources behind them within 2008 we will see them outpacing traditional drives. It is estimated that Intel will offer 200MB/100MB read/write speeds. Numbers will improve with time and competition.
2. Rapidly improving capacities: If you have followed what has happened with camera flash memory, you already know that the price that gets you a certain capacity now, will most likely buy you a lot more -in some cases double the initial capacity- after a few months to a year. With Toshiba to offer 512MB SSDs in 2009, be sure that hard disc capacities will be soon matched, and when the economics allow, exceeded. (continued)

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Qualcomm COO Dr. Sanjay Jha Interview at GigaOM

So far, we have been talking about Intel vs AMD. But maybe it is time to call this battle outmoded as Intel is joining the mobile device arena. And who is it going to meet there? Qualcomm of course!

Unlike other succesful corporations, Qualcomm has kept a lower profile and has since 1985 worked systematically to a dominant position with mobile manufacturers. Now Intel’s Atom will probably force it to come out of its relatively low profile stance.

COO Dr. Sanjay Jha was interviewed by Stacey Higginbotham at GigaOM. Here is the things that I found important and I would like to comment on:

5 reasons we need mobile websites

In a recent post I have listed five reasons light mobile versions of websites are necessary for current and near future mobile devices. Of course hardware and software change so rapidly that I am going to play it safe and state that everything is possible. For this reason, here is five reasons that for our mobile devices we need light versions of classic websites:

5 reasons mobile websites are not necessary

Amid the Atom news frenzy from Intel in Shangai this week and the release of mobile device software like Google’s Android OS and the Skyfire browser for Windows Mobile, it is evident that probably very soon we will all have some form of web browser on our mobile devices.

After reading an interesting post at UMPCportal, I have to admit that the question whether mobile devices will handle the web in its full PC-like form or a lighter mobile version is a crucial one. If you think about it, we talk about two completely different levels of complexity. I will not pretend to be an expert that knows what will happen, but here is five reasons that the mobile experience will be identical or near-identical to what we now have on our PC:

Cellphones become electronic airline boarding passes

Modern cellphones sport an outstanding array of functions that could not even be imagined a decade ago. Now their use is extended beyond voice and data to special two dimensional barcodes that can replace paper boarding passes. Continental Airlines is currently offering that functionality to its US customers and is a step ahead of electronic ticket booths that eventually print out a paper boarding pass.

The shape of things to come in Barcelona Mobile World Congress 2008

The Barcelona Mobile World Congress of 2008 is finishing tomorrow, and those that are following events even superficially must have already got the message. Smartphones and mobile operating systems are all the rage, and later in 2008 we are going to see some really cool new models. Here is some facts from the event worth mentioning:

• Microsoft is getting ready for the upcoming mobile battle with Google. It has even gone as far as talking with Nokia about integrating Windows Mobile in some of its phones. It has not worked out so far but who knows…
• Android is coming later this year and prototype demos are springing up with OS features trickling out.
• Microsoft and Sony-Ericsson have reached agreement to combine their OS and hardware in new products. Sony-Ericsson is also participating in Symbian, so I am not sure how well this will go down with Nokia…

In tech there is more beyond China and India

In the technology, telecommunications and internet sectors no doubt China and India see the emergence of numerous middle classes that no sane international business can overlook. While their huge populations understandably attract most headlines, there is a group of countries (Brazil, Indonesia, Russia & Turkey) that follow closely but more quietly as they do not appear in the news so often. They are much smaller than China and India but have large enough populations to justify large investment projects and high expectations. Saturated markets in Europe, North America and Japan already start to bring significant investment and news elsewhere.

Vodafone has reasons to be optimistic as the latest results a few days ago point to both India and Turkey as great markets with 40% growth rates that balance the low 2% of Europe. And this with a Vodafone entrance to the Turkish market that is very recent. Japan’s DoCoMo plans an international expansion to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and New Zealand. Russian telecoms and IT sectors are set to grow next year by 20% a number unthinkable a decade earlier, and Brazil is jumping on the 3G bandwagon.

Softbank in Japan putting a stop to 2G

Japan  is probably the most progressive mobile telephone market. Softbank mobile sees signs that 2G is reaching the end of its life so will stop taking 2G orders from the end of march 2008. 2G support is correctly going to continue but customers will be encouraged to switch to 3G. This is a very healthy sign and it would be great to see similar moves from more mobile operators in all countries. When you think about it, everybody benefits:

• The mobile company can eventually do away with older generation equipment in base stations that is still supporting 2G to free up space and concentrate on more modern services.

Interview of Peter Chou of HTC at Engadget

Engadget has taken a very interesting interview of Peter Chou the CEO of HTC. So far, HTC is the best ambassador of Windows Mobile in the mobile telephone market but is also preparing for two years now to adopt the use of Google’s Android for some of its models. The mobile telephone market is definitely hotting up with Symbian and Windows Mobile already established players and Google Android arriving in 2008. The interview also covers lots of issues of the mobile telephone market, like for example the four different bands of 3G currently used worldwide and how difficult it is to make a worldphone. A very interesting read and highly recommended!

Links: Engadget

Google’s new directions, Microsoft’s example

There’s a lot of speculation as to the new directions of expansion that Google is going to take. First of all comes the 700 MHz auction in the US and whether Google will take it seriously or is just testing the water. Then there is the green energy sector that is more of a certainty despite the fact that it is a completely new area for an internet company. So in which direction is Google going to chose to go? In my opinion in the largest possible number of directions, and here is why:

• In just a few years, Google has grown to enormous size with a stock valuation above $500 and enough cash to buy a number of large companies. Investors are used to a company offering enormous performance in the small term and this is not going to change. Something must be done to keep them satisfied and when you have 80% of the online search market sooner or later you have to look elsewhere…
• Google’s dominant market position already has enemies and with time it is going to get worse. Expansion via diversification looks all the more attractive. A recent interview of Microsoft’s Dan’l Lwein a couple of months back at the Gigaom show more or less underlines the fact that a huge company has to investigate all possibilities, in all possible fields. Google is in the same league, it cannot afford to let opportunities go and has to search for them quite actively.