Nokia strengthens basic range with 15 euro phone

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Nokia launched a 15-euro ($20) phone to shore up its position in the basic handset market, where it has lost share while it focused on developing expensive smartphones.

It also unveiled a 65-euro phone with some Internet access and lower-priced versions of its Lumia smartphones, filling the gaps in its product line-up between its high-end Lumia devices that run Microsoft software and mid-tier Asha feature phones.

The Finnish company hopes the new phones will increase sales in emerging markets and help it regain its once-solid footing at the cheaper end of the market, where it makes the bulk of its handset revenue. Sales of basic phones fell over 20 percent in 2012 to 9.4 billion euros.

"That is a key part of our approach to competition, particularly in a country like China," said Chief Executive Stephen Elop at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

"There's a very large number of inexpensive and largely undifferentiated devices. We believe we have to offer differentiation at each price point."

The entry-level Nokia 105, its lowest priced ever device with a color screen, was aimed at first-time buyers in markets such as South America, Africa, Russia and Asia-Pacific, he said.

The phone shows Nokia, once the undisputed leader in the mobile phone industry, trying to fend off growing competition at the low end from Asian rivals such as Huawei and ZTE.

IDC research director Francisco Jeronimo said it would probably be the cheapest phone available in the world from a major brand when it goes on sale later this quarter.

"The pressure is now on the Chinese vendors. Why will any consumer in the world buy a cheap Chinese phone when they can have the same price with better quality from a well known brand?" he said.

LOWER LUMIA ENTRY POINT

The Finnish phonemaker also lowered the entry point of its Lumia smartphones with a new model, the Lumia 520, priced at 139 euros ($180).

Most other Lumia phones cost over $200, and the top-of-the-range 920 can retail at over $600 without a carrier contract in the United States and some European markets.

The 920 model was launched last November and has won plaudits from industry analysts for features such as photography and mapping. Sales, however, have been dwarfed by devices from the likes of Samsung running Google's Android and Apple's iPhone.

Nokia's market share in smartphones has fallen to around 5 percent, while Apple and Samsung together control over half the market.

A new lower entry point for the Lumia 520 would enable Nokia to better compete with some mid-tier Android devices, analysts said.

Feature phones, in the middle market between high-end smartphones and cheaper basic phones, are seen increasingly crucial even though many consumers in developed markets are moving on to smartphones.

"In short, Nokia can still cash the feature phone market with around 5 percent margins even though it is shrinking," said Inderes analyst Mikael Rautanen.

IDC's Jeronimo said the new products, which included the Lumia 720 smartphone with the same camera lens as the 920, gave Nokia a comprehensive range, leaving little excuse for poor sales.

"If Nokia does not improve its market performance with these devices, then they will never do without a radical change in its portfolio strategy," he said.

Huawei reveals 'fastest smartphone in the world'

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Huawei, a Chinese company that recently became the world's third-largest maker of smartphones, calls its new flagship product "the fastest smartphone in the world" and wants to use it to expand global awareness of its brand.

Parts of the presentation of the phone at a press conference Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, suggest that the company has some way to go in polishing its pitch for a global audience.

Richard Yu, head of Huawei's consumer business group said the new phone can be programmed to display more than 100 different "themes," or looks. This is important because "ladies like flowers, colorful things," Yu said.

Yu also said Huawei is learning from Apple how to make Google's Android software easier to use, a lawsuit-friendly utterance considering that Apple is on a global campaign to sue makers of Android phones for copying from the iPhone.

The new phone, the Ascend P2, will have a 4.7 inch screen. Yu said it will be available in the April to June time frame for about $525 without a contract. It's the "fastest" because it supports faster download speeds than other phones. However, today's wireless networks aren't equipped to supply those speeds.

Huawei Technologies Ltd. was the world's third largest seller of smartphones, after Samsung and Apple, in the fourth quarter of last year, according to research firm IDC. That's despite selling very few phones in the U.S., where the big phone companies mostly ignore it. It has a much better position in Europe, where cellphone companies have embraced its network equipment, and France's Orange is committed to selling the phone.

In the U.S., a congressional panel recommended in October that phone carriers avoid doing business with Huawei or its smaller Chinese rival, ZTE Corp., for fear that its network equipment could contain "back doors" that enable access to communications from outside. The Chinese government rejected the report as false and an effort to block Chinese companies from the U.S. market.

Meanwhile, a report by a private U.S. cybersecurity firm concluded recently that a special unit of China's military is responsible for sustained cyberespionage against U.S. companies and government agencies. China has denied involvement in the attacks in which massive amounts of data and corporate trade secrets, likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars, were stolen.

"It has not been an easy journey for us," Huawei's global brand director, Amy Lou, said Sunday of the company's quest to become globally recognized and trusted. She called the company "a great consumer brand in the making."

The world's largest cellphone trade show, Mobile World Congress, opens Monday in Barcelona.

DNP Samsung Series 7 Chronos trickles into US stores

After whetting our appetite at CES, Samsung's updated Series 7 Chronos is slowly squeaking its way into US retailers. Spotted at Best Buy for $1,200, this 21mm dynamo packs a 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 3635QM CPU and an AMD Radeon HD 8870M GPU along with a 15.6-inch touchscreen. While this lean, mean, Windows 8machine's streamlined design and spec sheet are impressive, such adornment comes at a price. Absent from the Chronos' fine engineering is room for an optical drive, so DVD and Blu-ray enthusiasts be warned. However, should this caveat not apply to you, then by all means you have our blessings to check out Sammy's new up and comer.

ASUS Transformer Book Windows 8 hybrid goes up for preorder with unofficial pricing

Despite being announced long before the budget-minded VivoTab Smart, ASUS' higher-end Windows 8 laptop / tablet hybrid known as the Transformer Book has yet to make its way to store shelves -- or receive official pricing, for that matter. Nonetheless, those intent on throwing one of the machines into their satchel can snag the Transformer Book on pre-order, which is available through MacMall for $1,479.99. The 13.3-inch system sports a 1,920 x 1,080 display, and in this particular configuration, you'll fetch a dual-core 1.9GHz Core i7-3517U CPU with Intel HD Graphics 4000, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive that's augmented by a 128GB SSD. This price includes the keyboard dock, but it's worth reiterating that you might pay more than necessary to snag the system on pre-order. If you're on the fence, be sure to revisit our hands-on from last summer's Computex.

Google's flagship Chromebook might be a solid piece of hardware, but its prohibitive $1,299-1,449 sticker price left us aching for the ability to dual-boot a more robust operating system. Lucky for us that Google's Benson Leung has a knack for Linux -- he's already patching the Linux kernel to support Pixel's hardware. Just hours after the notebook's reveal, Leung updated the Linux kernel mailing list with patches supporting the Pixel's touchpad, touchscreen and ambient light sensor. A small step, to be sure, but one that could eventually help the community build a Linux distro that can make the most out of Google's premium hardware.

Sony previews PlayStation 4 capabilities, design remains a secret

Sony wants you to know that the PlayStation 4 is coming this holiday season, but not what it will look like.The Japanese electronics giant talked about its upcoming console for the first time Wednesday and showed what it can do, without actually revealing the device itself during the two-hour event. Presenters played games that were projected on screens in a converted opera house, but the PlayStations themselves were hidden backstage.
"I don't know that the box is going to be something that's going to have a dramatic impact on people's feelings about the game. It will be a color and a size fairly comparable to previous consoles," said Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, the U.S.-based arm of the PlayStation business.
"There's a big story to tell here, and it's going to take between now and the holiday season to get all the details out there," Tretton said in an interview.
Tretton said the price of the PS4 hasn't been decided yet, but hinted that it wouldn't be as high as the PlayStation 3 was initially. The PS3 debuted in 2006 with two models for $500 and $600. It now sells for about $300.
The PS4 will be jostling for attention this holiday season with Microsoft's successor to the Xbox. Details on that device are expected in June. Xbox 360 came out a year before PS3 and has been more popular, largely because of its robust online service, Xbox Live, which allows people to play games with others online. Having an event this early allows Sony to grab the spotlight for a few months, though the lack of an actual device was noted by many people on Twitter and elsewhere.
Sony did reveal that the insides of the PS4 will essentially be a "supercharged PC," much like an Xbox. That's a big departure from the old and idiosyncratic PlayStation design and should make it easier for developers to create games. Sony Corp. is using processing chips made by Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
"One of the big challenges we faced in the past was that we created great technology that we handed over to the development community, and they had to go through a learning curve before they could harness it. And when they did, we saw some phenomenal games," Tretton said. "We wanted to lower that barrier of entry and really give them the ability to create tremendous gaming experiences from Day One."
The adoption of PC chips also means that the new console won't be able to play games created for any of the three previous PlayStations, even though the PS4 will have a Blu-ray disc drive, just like the PS3. Instead, Sony said gamers will have to stream older games to the PS4 through the Internet.
Other new features revolve around social networking and remote access. With one button, you can broadcast video of your game play so friends can "look over your shoulder virtually," said David Perry, co-founder of the Sony-owned Internet game company Gaikai. With remote play, you can run a game on the PS4 to stream over the Internet to Sony's mobile gaming device, the PlayStation Vita, which debuted last year.
The goal is to make the PS4 so good at figuring out what games and other content you want that it can download it without being asked, so that it's available when you realize you do want it, Sony said.
"Our long-term vision is to reduce download times of digital titles to zero," said Mark Cerny, Sony's lead system architect on the PS4.
The PS4 is arriving amid declines in video game hardware, software and accessory sales. Research firm NPD Group said game sales fell 22 percent to $13.3 billion in 2012. With the launch of the PS4, Sony is looking to attract people who may have shifted their attention to games on Facebook, tablet computers and mobile phones.
Forrester analyst James McQuivey said Sony is missing the point by building what amounts to an upgraded PS3.
"Sony believes the future will be like the past and has built the game console to prove it," he said. "Tablets and smartphones now engage more people in more minutes of gaming than consoles will ever achieve."
Sony showed an updated controller that adds a touchpad and a "share" button. The controller also features a light bar, which means a new PlayStation camera can more easily track the device for motion control.
The bulk of Wednesday's event was devoted to demos of games for the PS4, including a realistic team racing simulator, "Drive Club," super-powered action sequel "Infamous: Second Son," artsy puzzler "The Witness" and several first-person shooter games, including "Killzone: Shadow Fall." Beyond games, the PS4 will let people create animation in 3-D using a Move motion controller - all in real time.
Last fall, Nintendo launched the next generation of gaming consoles with the Wii U, which comes with a tablet-like controller called the GamePad. The controller allows two people playing the same game to have different experiences depending on whether they use the GamePad or a traditional Wii remote, which itself was revolutionary when it came out because of its motion-control features.
Judging by Wednesday's event, Sony seeks to improve but not revolutionize game play. The games were updates to existing ones, with improved graphics.
"At the end of the day, this is a device by gamers for gamers," Tretton said. "The games that people go out and spend billions of dollars on are your traditional shooters."
The original Wii has sold more units since its launch than both its rivals, but it has lost momentum in recent years as the novelty of its motion controller faded. Nintendo said it sold 3.1 million Wii Us by the end of 2012. It was a disappointing start for the first of a new generation of gaming systems.
In some ways, notably its ability to display high-definition games, the Wii U was just catching up to the PS3 and the Xbox 360, the preferred consoles to play popular games such as "Call of Duty."
All three console makers are trying to position their devices as entertainment hubs that can deliver movies, music and social networking as they try to stay relevant in the age of smartphones and tablets. The PlayStation online network will have access to Sony's video and music services, as well as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon, with paid subscriptions to those services. People will also be able to access Facebook.