The Samsung Stratosphere II has quietly gone on sale in the US without much fanfare. The phone is available on Verizon on a two year contract for $129.99.
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The Samsung Stratosphere II has a 4-inch, 800 x 480 resolution Super AMOLED display, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 8GB memory with microSD card slot, 5 megapixel rear camera with 720p video recording, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera, LTE connectivity, 1,800mAh battery and a 5-line slide-out QWERTY keypad. The phone runs on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Samsung's TouchWiz interface.
With shares in Research In Motion shooting up and analysts talking positively about its forthcoming BlackBerry 10 offerings, there seems to be something of a buzz building around RIM's next-generation smartphone platform.
Of course, Research In Motion still has to deliver the goods come January, but the fact that shares in the company have been performing remarkably well lately – combined with and thanks in part to a number of analysts talking up the company’s next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform – will surely be helping executives at the Canadian company sleep better at night.
According to a Reuters report, shares in the BlackBerry maker rose to their highest level in six months on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday, ending the day at C$12. Furthermore, RIM’s stock jumped 17.3 percent on Thursday, marking its biggest gain in percentage terms in over three years. The US market was closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.
Enthusiasm
The enthusiasm for RIM stock came as Kris Thompson, an analyst for National Bank, upped his price target on RIM shares from $12 to $15. This came in the wake of Jefferies & Co analyst Peter Misek – a man who in the past has been critical of RIM – saying in a note to clients earlier this week that “preliminary results from our quarterly handset survey indicate developed market carriers have a much more positive view of BB10 than we expected.”
Thompson, meanwhile, said he had taken note of the “positive sentiment building in the industry” around BB10, adding that he now believes the Ontario-based mobile maker will ship around 35.5 million devices in fiscal 2014, an increase of four million on an earlier estimate.
In recent weeks RIM announced that its new BB10 platform had passed a “critical milestone” with news that it had entered lab testing with more than 50 carriers worldwide. The company also said BB10 had received important security clearance allowing the new handsets, when they become available early next year, to be used by government agencies in the US and Canada.
Buzz
The apparent buzz building around the launch of BB10 is undoubtedly welcome news for RIM. While some of this positivity is of course thanks to the calculated efforts of the company’s PR machine, the fact that analysts are coming out and whistling a happier tune is also a promising sign.
At the same time, however, all the extra expectation serves to pile on the pressure – let’s just hope it’s not setting itself up for a fall of Felix Baumgartner proportions (though you can bet it wouldn’t mind landing back on its feet with the finesse and confidence of the Austrian daredevil skydiver).
We all know that RIM desperately needs its new platform to succeed. Once the market leader in the smartphone business, in recent years consumers have switched to rival devices such as Apple’s iPhone and handsets powered by Google’s Android operating system.
The Canadian mobile maker was accused of resting on its laurels, of failing to innovate, and as a result fell out of favor with consumers and business users alike.
The recently leaked press image of the HTC Deluxe left us wanting for more and now we're getting treated to three new official photos of the monstrous smartphone.
The photos doesn't say too much about the smartphone, but confirm that it will be availble in black, brown and white. The source also claims that the smartphone will go by as HTC Deluxe DLX.
The HTC Deluxe DLX is the international version of the US-bound HTC DROID DNA and Japan-only J Butterfly and just like its brethren sports a 5-inch Super LCD3 full HD display. It's powered by 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon Krait processor and 2GB of RAM.
HTC Deluxe photos
It's still unknown when the HTC Deluxe will debut, but events such as CES and MWC 2013 make for an educated guess. At this point, pricing is still a mystery, but the source of the images says that we should expect more information on the HTC Deluxe on December 6.
While waiting, make sure to check out our extensive review of its US twin - the HTC DROID DNA.
Apple's stores are leading the retail industry in revenue per square foot, and none of its competitors seem to be able to crack the code.
Apple’s retail stores are practically holy sites to company’s legions of dedicated fans, but as it turns out, they’re also the envy of the retail world. According to the latest figures from RetailSails, Apple’s stores lead the retail industry in terms of the money they generate per square foot. And for the first time, Apple is in the top 10 for highest overall sales per store.
Just how is Apple able to perform so much better than other consumer electronics retailers and world-renowned brands? And more important, why haven’t any of them been able to duplicate Apple’s magic formula yet?
Diamonds are for suckers
According to RetailSails (PDF), Apple Stores generate more revenue per square foot than stores operated by high-end jewelry retailer Tiffany & Company. That would be impressive in its own right – Tiffany & Co. is the leading retail diamond merchant and came in number two in RetailSails’ metrics. But Apple didn’t just beat Tiffany, it trounced the poor jeweler: RetailSails estimates Apple stores pulled in $6,050 per square foot, compared to $3,017 per square foot for Tiffany & Co. Other retailers didn’t even come close. Number three was lululemon athletica, whose stores generated an estimated $1,936 per square foot. Coach and Michael Kors rounded out the top five with $1,871 and $1,431 per square foot, respectively.
“Apple obviously stands out from the crowd, with sales per square foot double that of the number-two chain and more than six times the figure for Best Buy,” said RetailSails founder Josh Ramer, via email. “By combining premium products and revolutionary retail stores, Apple has not only built the most valuable brand in the world, but also an environment that drives shoppers into its stores – 94 million store visitors in just the latest quarter alone, or 19,000 per store per week.”
Adding insult to injury, Apple’s figures are increasing: In 2011, RetailSails estimated Apple’s store revenue at $5,647 per square foot – up seven percent in the last year. And this in a year that marked considerable tumult for Apple’s retail efforts, with the hiring and firing of John Browett as the head of retail operations.
As a rough gauge of success, sales of about $300 per square foot are considered about average for general retailers in the United States by organizations like the International Council of Shopping Centers – jewelers and specialty apparel retailers generally have higher averages. By that measure, one could argue Apple stores are doing twenty times better than the typical shopping mall retailer.
Apple’s retail success doesn’t end there. For the first time, Apple stores have cracked the top ten for highest sales per store, coming in at number nine with an estimated $51,148,000 earned per location in 2012. That’s still far behind the leader, membership warehouse chain Costco, which RetailSails estimates will pull in $137,170,000 per warehouse in 2012. But Apple is the only consumer electronics retailer in the top ten: The rest are warehouse stores (Sam’s Club, Walmart, Pricemart, BJ’s Wholesale), high-end retailers (Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom) or grocery retailers (Fairway Market, Village Super Market).
It should be noted that RetailSails’ numbers are estimates. Retailers aren’t in the habit of publishing their per-store sales figures, so RetailSails often has to comb through details in earnings calls and investor presentations, press releases, regulatory filings, and even rely on sales information published by competitors – then they try to strip out online and direct-to-consumer sales, franchise revenue, licensing, and other revenue streams to come up with per-store numbers. The company’s 2012 metrics cover more than 200 chains in 15 different product segments. Although its charts are disproportionate (the Electronics Stores bar should be more than twice as long as Luxury, Jewelry, & Accessories Stores, for instance), it provides an idea how other segments are faring:
Apple’s strong points
Why are Apple Stores so successful, particularly when compared to other folks trying to sell consumer electronics?
“In 2001, when Steve Jobs and Ron Johnson first decided to open a store to sell Apple products, they didn’t start with a vision to sell stuff,” said Carmine Gallo, keynote speaker and author of The Apple Experience in a telephone interview. “They decided the vision behind the Apple Store would be to enrich lives.”
That approach is borne through in the steps of service Apple outlines for its store employees:
Approach customers with a personalized, warm welcome
Probe politely to understand all the customer’s needs
Present a solution for the customer to take home today
Listen for and resolve any issues or concerns
End with a fond farewell and an invitation to return
It’s easy to notice the clever little acronym, but it’s more important to see what word isn’t mentioned: sell. Apple emphasizes the experience of visiting an Apple store, using Apple products, and letting users see how those products fit into their lives rather than focusing on making as many sales as possible. To that end, Apple store employees are hired more for their personalities than their sales or technical backgrounds, and – unlike many other retailers – they’re not paid on commission. If a staff member at a typical retailer spends an hour with a customer but doesn’t make a sale, that employee will probably get reprimanded. At an Apple store, all that matters is that the customer had a good experience.
It also means Apple store employees focus on products that meet a customers’ needs, rather than pushing items that will ring up the largest sale. Customers ogling a $2,000 iMac might find themselves steered towards a less-expensive model if it’s a better fit; similarly, customers looking at an iPhone or iPad are likely to find Apple employees showing them how the devices can meet their needs rather than scripted selling points. And beyond an initial hello, Apple employees are also willing to let customers try stuff out on their own and make the first move.
Copying Apple isn’t easy
All these things help explain why customers like Apple stores – others include the Genius Bar, Apple’s One-on-One training sessions, and scan-and-go purchasing with the Apple Store App. But do they explain why Apple stores are so profitable per square foot? Given that Apple stores have been around since 2001, why haven’t other retailers been able to copy the experience and try to beat Apple at its own game?
There are a few other factors to consider:
Few products
A typical Apple store carries hundreds of individual products, from iPhones, iPads, and Macs to headphones, software, and accessories. But the selection is very small compared to consumer electronics retailers, let alone mass-market retailers, whose stores often feature thousands or tens of thousands of individual items. Apple’s tightly-focused product line also enables it to focus its retail experience in ways more generalized retailers can’t match.
No wasted space
If you have a one square-foot store and a million-dollar product, you only need sell one item a year to utterly dominate the RetailSails survey. Apple’s retail stores aren’t exactly diminutive: Two of Apple’s London stores are in the 25,000 square-foot range, and Apple’s recently-opened store in Grand Central Station is about 23,000 square feet – all large by modern retail standards. However, many of Apple’s retail stores are comparatively modest in size, occupying more-or-less ordinary (if high-rent) spots in shopping centers. As of August 2012, Apple had 394 retail locations worldwide; according to Apple, 240 of those are in the United States. Compare that to struggling big-box consumer electronics retailer Best Buy, which has more than 1,100 stores in the United States (omitting several hundred Best Buy Mobile outlets). Comparing the scale of Apple’s retail efforts to Best Buy really is a case of apples and oranges, but some of Apple’s astonishing revenue-per-square-foot is due to Apple operating comparatively few square feet.
Less baggage
When Apple opened its first retail stores in 2001, its main product was the Macintosh — even the iPod just barely existed. The Mac had never dominated the PC industry, and Apple’s presence in big-box retailers like CompUSA and Circuit City were generally failed to show Macs in a good light, or even show them working at all. Part of Apple’s intention with opening its own retail stores was to control the presentation of its products and give a positive experience to customers. It had the advantage of starting from scratch; even if customers were familiar with the Macintosh or other Apple products, none of them had previous experience with an Apple retail store. That’s not true of any retailer hoping to copy elements of Apple’s retail formula: Even if they successfully change their existing retail experiences to be something more akin to Apple, it will take some time before customers forgive or forget the echoes of their previous efforts.
The X factor
If there’s one company that has directly tried to challenge Apple’s retail strategy, it’s Microsoft, which has opened its own stores in Apple’s image. And in some cases, in the literal shadow of Apple stores.
Since I happen to live in the vicinity of one of these rare Microsoft stores, I recently wandered in to get some first-hand experience and see how they stack up beside Apple’s own.
Microsoft’s store location is only a few yards from an Apple store, and conspicuously larger, but otherwise the resemblance is startling, down to blue-shirted employees. But it felt vacant, with idle employees and a handful of kids playing with an Xbox Kinect setup. An employee greeted me after I entered, and I said I was curious about the typing experience on the Microsoft Surface. Big smile; the employee enthusiastically led me to one and then proceeded to use it for me, pointing out key elements of Windows RT without letting me touch the device, ask questions, or politely get a word in edgewise. It was a few minutes before we got through the apparently scripted introduction, and I was able to ask if I could test out both the Touch Cover and the Type Cover. The answer was yes, but it was still more than a minute before I actually got to touch a Surface unit. I was able to give the Surface a decent test drive, and I did encounter the slow typing problem in Microsoft Office so many others have written about (but Brent Ozar has a fun video). The Microsoft store employee was witty and answered my questions accurately, but only seemed prepared to ask me if I was already using a tablet.
After I’d finished, I walked down the the Apple Store braced for the worst, because I’ve always found this particular location be overcrowded and noisy. It was. Nonetheless, I was “greeted” immediately, although it was more of a “Hi!,” a nod, and an overwhelmed laugh as the store employee helped a child pick up a dropped toy. Once that was accomplished, I said I was curious about the typing experience on the new iPad mini. “Here, try it!” the greeter said … and just like that handed me an iPad mini. I was less than three feet inside the store, and I’d been there less than 10 seconds. A couple minutes later (child and parent successfully reunited), the employee swung back around, asked what sort of writing I did, if I’d found Pages (Apple’s word processor app for iOS), or if there were particular apps I wanted to try out. I was still barely inside the store.
It turned out my big calloused fingertips didn’t like the iPad mini typing experience any more than being able to out-type the Microsoft Surface. But I know which store made me jump through hoops, and which immediately put the product I’d come to see in my hands.
“What’s easy is mirroring the look of an Apple Store,” said Gallo. “What’s harder is to hire, train, and motivate employees for a transformational customer experience. I hope other retailers improve based on what they’re learning from Apple, but it’s really hard to get the people part right.”
After posing in front of the camera several times now, it was high time for the Huawei Ascend W1 to be captured on video.
Techblog.gr was lucky enough to get hold of the device and give it a quick spin in front of the camera. This particular Ascend W1 unit is colored blue, and we have it say it looks better than previous images suggested.
Check out the hands-on video below.
The source of the video also suggests that the price of the Ascend W1 "will not exceed $200", which sounds a bit hard to believe, but not impossible considering the device's entry-level nature.
The Huawei Ascend W1 is rumored to sport a 4" WVGA display and a 1.2GHz dual-core Krait processor. The device is also said to feature a 2000mAh battery and NFC capability, complete with a 5MP camera with LED flash.
The presence of the LTE connectivity hardware in the Nexus 4 caused some to believe that it could be next-gen speed-enabled in the future.
"In order to provide the best possible specification for Nexus 4, LG utilised the same powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset as can be found in its 4G LTE product namely LG Optimus G," a spokesperson told us.
"This powerful chipset is only available with a combined processor and modem and cannot be implemented separately.
"The modem contains 4G LTE capabilities but is only effective when combined with other essential hardware parts such as a signal amplifier and filter in order for it to work. It therefore cannot be upgraded to 4G LTE capability through software.
That's why it's cheaper
This will disappoint a number of fans who hoped for a firmware update to give them access to super speed. But the lower number of components means the phone can be brought to the market at an improved cost, despite LG selling for more in other territories:
"With the inclusion of the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, Nexus 4 therefore offers the same amazing processing performance as LG Optimus G but for the 3G market," added the spokesperson.
However, let's not be too down: who else can see the day in a few months' time where LG or Google announce a 4G-enabled Nexus 4 to keep interest in the handset alive?
Ever since its inception, our voting system has been subjected to relentless abuse from both fanboys who give unrealistic votes to their most-hated and most-loved devices and thus rendering the overall score useless.
We tried various policies that attempt to put a stop to this, including bans and filtering of extreme votes, but none of that helped against people with proxies and plenty of free time.
Back in April, we asked you to help us improve our voting system. We were overwhelmed by your response, and from the sheer amount of comments we found that many people find our voting system important, if flawed. After reading through your comments carefully, we've taken it upon ourselves to make it a truly useful aspect of our site.
Voting will now be restricted to logged-in users only. Over the past several weeks, we've implemented several changes to how you interact with GSMArena, and one of these is the ability to log in with your Google or Facebook accounts.
Since the back-end authentication for either of these log-in methods is done by Facebook or Google, we don't store any of your data and using either service is completely risk-free.
From now on you will be allowed to vote only once per phone. Voting again for a given phone will simply overwrite your previous rating, so you can still change your mind as many times as you like.
To maximize the effect of our new system, all of our current phones have also been reset to having 10 votes apiece. This means that while the current ratings are all still the same, future votes will have a significant impact on the scores.
For now, we're allowing you to vote on as many devices from our database as you want, but that may change if we see too many fraudulent votes. We encourage you to avoid extreme votes such as all 10's or all 1's, as our new moderation system is especially sensitive in that regard.
We hope that this new system will make voting the experience we initially envisioned it would be – a way to identify truly amazing mobile technology, by the people who use it every day. So, if there's a device you're familiar with, get out there and let everyone know what you think of it!
If you have any problems with the new voting system, please let us know in the comments.
There are now hundreds of thousands of apps available for your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and, surprisingly, many of the best are free.
The following list showcases our pick of the 70 best free iPhone apps, and includes iPhone applications for social networking, travel, news, photography, productivity and more.
Most of these apps are also suitable for the iPod touch.
If your top free iPhone apps aren't covered, tell us all about them in the comments.
You can also take a look through the top 10 free iPhone apps with our nifty video.
1. Facebook
The world's biggest social network brings a tightly honed experience to the iPhone and iPod touch, but nonetheless still enables you to access your contacts, feeds and other important information. This sense of focus makes it in many ways superior to using Facebook in a desktop browser.
We did a bit of a double-take on seeing Microsoft's name attached to this, not least given the lack of a price-tag. But PhotoSynth is a really great panorama app; it's user-friendly and fun to use, especially when watching your panoramas take shape while you capture them.
3. RunKeeper
The prospect of Nike+ but better and for free might sound unlikely, but that's what RunKeeper provides. Previously split into 'pro' and 'free' versions, the developer now generously includes all the features in one free app.
That means you can spend no money, yet use your iPhone's GPS capabilities to track your jogging and cycling routes, and examine mapping and details of your pace and calories burned. Activities can be shared online, and treadmill runs and other exercise details can be entered manually.
RSS has a reputation for being a rather dry technology, feeding you dull lists of headlines. Pulse flips RSS on its head, providing streams of feeds that grab your eye with photographs. It's perhaps not for the hardcore RSS crowd, but if you follow a small number of feeds, it's a great choice.
5. Dropbox
Plenty of apps exist for transferring content between your computer and your device, but Dropbox is free and easier to use than most of its contemporaries. Dump files you want to sync in a folder on your computer and Dropbox for your device will enable you to access them, download them for offline viewing, and, in many cases, view them.
For anyone commuting by train, National Rail Enquiries is a handy app to have installed. There's journey planning, timetables and a location-aware 'next train home' option, along with progress tracking, so you can see when a train's likely to show up. It's not as usable nor as pretty as UK Train Times, but it is broadly similar - and five quid cheaper.
7. Skype
FaceTime is a great alternative to standard voice calls, but it's no good if you're trying to contact someone without a Mac or compatible iOS device. Therefore, Skype remains an essential download. The interface is simple and usable, enabling anyone with a Skype account to make free calls to other Skype users and cheap calls to anywhere in the world. If you're on Pay and Go, this is particularly handy, but the app also enables iPod touch users to utilise their devices for calls.
Although some aspects of cinema listings app Movies by Flixter are disappointingly US-centric (notably regarding details on upcoming movies and DVDs), it succeeds where it matters. Select a film and the app figures out where you're located, lists nearby cinemas, and displays times your chosen film is showing. Efficiency can be further increased by pinning favourite cinemas to the top of the list.
9. TonePad
Virtual pianos and guitars are all very well, but purely digital musical toys are more suited to Apple handhelds. TonePad is the best of them, using a grid-based interface that enables you to turn notes on and off and compose pleasing and harmonious loops; your creations can be edited, saved and uploaded to share with other users.
10. Thomson Reuters News Pro
There are many free news apps, but Reuters News Pro offers a breadth of coverage that makes it a winner. Preferences enable you to tailor the app's output to the UK, and the toolbar provides swift access to news, pictures, videos and stock markets coverage.
11. Twitter
The official Twitter app might lack some of the features found in the likes of Tweetbot, but it does provide a sleek and simple means of using the service. It also directly mirrors the latest navigational scheme on the Twitter website.
In all honesty, Comics is a little awkward compared to using it on an iPad, but you won't find a better comics experience on an iPhone. The app is free, as are dozens of downloadable comics - and once you run out of those, many more are available to buy. Reading works on a frame-by-frame automated 'zoom' basis, and is surprisingly usable.
13. Wikipanion
The Wikipedia website works fine on iPhones, but a dedicated app is a better bet. Wikipanion is a freebie which gives you quick access to article sections, in-article search, viewing options, bookmarking, and the ability to tweet about whatever odd fact you've just unearthed. Also, wonderfully, there are no ads.
14. Evernote
Clients to access the popular Evernote service for storing notes and ideas online are available for so many platforms that we half expect a ZX Spectrum app to be announced tomorrow. On the iPhone, Evernote is efficient and usable, enabling you to rapidly scan your notes and also create new ones.
15. Kindle
With iBooks on the iPhone, you might wonder why you should bother with Amazon's Kindle. After all, the app's not as pretty as iBooks, nor is there an integrated store (you buy in Safari and sync purchases to the app). However, Kindle offers a massive selection of books compared to Apple's app and the reading experience is great.
16. Around Me
Around Me figures out where you are and lists local stuff - banks, bars, petrol stations and, er, Apple Retail Stores. The app's reliance on Google Maps info means there are gaps, but it's nonetheless handy to have installed when in unfamiliar surroundings, and the 'augmented reality' landscape mode is amusing, if flaky.
17. Dictionary.com - Dictionary & Thesaurus
Over two million definitions, synonyms and antonyms are available in the palm of your hand with this free, offline dictionary and thesaurus. The app is fast and efficient, includes phonetic and audio pronunciation of words, and its interface seems perfectly suited to the iPhone.
18. Air Video Free
Air Video Free can stream (and convert as necessary) video from any computer running the free Air Video Server. You only get access to a small number of items per folder or playlist, but some careful planning can get around that limitation.
19. Adobe Photoshop Express
If you're looking for Photoshop-style power, Photoshop Express won't impress. However, if you're after a quick, free, highly usable tool for making edits to your iPhone photos, Adobe's app is ideal. Use it for cropping, straightening, exposure adjustments, colour effects, sharpening and more.
One of the tools from the excellent iHandy Carpenter toolkit app, iHandy Level Free turns your iPhone into a spirit level. By default, it'll show just how wonky your device's accelerometer is, but tap the calibrate button and you get an accurate and great-looking level.
Before reading on, why not check out TechRadar's top 10 ebook reader apps for iPhone:
21. Pocket
The service formerly known as Read It Later enables you to save pages from websites, to read them later, bereft of the advertising and other junk on the original page. The service is free, as is the Pocket app, which downloads your articles, so that you can digest them without a web connection.
22. PCalc Lite
"But I've already got a calculator on my device," you might argue. True, but we'd recommend stashing the default Apple app in a folder and replacing it with PCalc Lite. The reason: this is without doubt the finest free calculator for iOS, with a great interface and plenty of options. You can also bolt-on features from the paid version via in-app purchases.
23. iBooks
Effectively iTunes for books, the app combines a reader and store, in Apple's typically usable and integrated fashion. Usefully, iBooks includes PDF support and bookmarks automatically sync across devices.
24. Red Laser
The Red Laser bar-code scanner is pretty accurate, even if you're still saddled with an iPhone 3G. It's great for checking prices while shopping, and also enables you to get your media collections into Delicious Library if you make use of AppleScript.
25. eBay Mobile
On using eBay Mobile, there's a good chance you won't go near the eBay website again. The app is fast, has great saved searches (which flag new finds), and enables you to create listings. The last of those things is also improved by the built-in bar-code scanning.
Before reading on, why not check out our demos of the best photography apps for taking pictures and editing them on your iPhone:
26. Tube Map
At its most basic, Tube Map is a London Tube map on your device, for free. In landscape, even the ads get out of your way, which is rather nice. And if you've a web connection, the app also provides live board info, a station finder and a route calculator.
27. Google Earth
"Hold the world in the palm of your hand," says Google about Google Earth, which enables you to fly across the planet by swiping your finger. More integration with content and features from Maps would be good, but Google Earth's Wikipedia articles and a Panoramio layer at least ensure it's a great app for seeing the world from your living room.
28. XE Currency
XE Currency is a fine example of an app that does what it needs to, without fuss. You configure a list of currencies, and it shows current conversion rates. Double-tap a currency to set its base rate or to define values for custom conversions.
29. Shazam
Shazam is an app that feels like magic when you first use it. It's deceptively simple—hold your iPhone near to a music source, and wait while the app listens and tells you what track is playing. But the sheer technology behind this simplicity is mind-boggling, and while Shazam doesn't always guess right, it's worth a download.
30. Bump
Another contender for the 'surely, that's witchcraft?' award, Bump enables you to select up to four contacts, then 'bump' your device into another iOS device running Bump to transfer details, or to compare contacts. And, yeah, we know there's an email-based 'share contact' option in Contacts, but where's the fun in that?
Intel CEO Paul Otellini is retiring in May. Could a change in leadership ironically help the chipmaking giant keep up with mainstream computing?
Intel CEO Paul Otellini surprised the technology industry this week by announcing he would be retiring from the company in May 2013 after helping the company work through a leadership transition. Most industry watchers (and even the company’s chairman Andy Bryant) had expected Otellini to stay on at Intel for several more years. After all, leadership transitions at Intel are rare. The company has had only five CEOs in its 44-year history, and Otellini has been an Intel employee for 40 of those.
Otellini gave no specific reasons for his departure, save to note “it’s time to move on and transfer Intel’s helm to a new generation of leadership.”
Paul Otellini is generally credited with having kept the company’s nose to the grindstone on semiconductor design and manufacturing – and cornering about 80 percent of the PC market as a result. However, on Otellini’s watch, Intel has also been caught flatfooted by the mobile revolution. And where the PC market is stagnating, mobile is experiencing tremendous growth, mostly without “Intel inside.”
What does Otellini’s departure mean for Intel, and could new leadership bring a new direction to the company? Perhaps one that bring cheaper PCs and a new generation of mobile devices?
Otellini’s successes and shortcomings
Looking at Otellini’s tenure in Intel’s top chair, it’s important to consider Intel’s past. In the early 2000s, Intel found its market leadership challenged by AMD, which, in addition to bringing antitrust complaints, was able to undercut Intel on price just as demand for Intel’s most profitable chips dropped after the dot-com bust.
When Otellini came on board, he introduced the now-famous “tick-tock” model of annual processor updates: the “tocks” bringing advances in microarchitecture, while the “ticks” br0ught advances in manufacturing, essentially, making the “tick” processors smaller and more power-efficient. Otellini bet heavily on semiconductor design and manufacturing plants, and wound up bringing more than 20,000 new hires on board (although he was forced to lay off more than 10,000 other people shortly thereafter).
Otellini also expanded the company’s markets by putting Intel processors into places and products where PCs still had room to make inroads, including “digital home” offerings, enterprise, the health industry, and mobility. However, mobility largely meant notebook computers – not phones or tablets.
On the PC side, it paid off. Intel’s first “tock” were the original Core 2 processors in 2006, which brought a significant leap in processor performance and proved Intel could still develop technology that left competitors in the dust. The designs landed just as the industry was seriously converting to 64-bit architectures. The Core processors were also enough of an advance that they convinced Apple to drop IBM/Motorola PowerPC processors – a huge PR coup for Intel. The “tick” in 2007 shrunk those technologies down to 45nm.
The next “tock” in 2008 brought the first Core i3/i5/i7 processors, while the “tick” in early 2010 shrunk those down to 32nm. In 2011, Intel “tocked” again with Sandy Bridge (which had a $700 million hiccup), then “ticked” earlier this year with Ivy Bridge and a 22nm process. The next “tock,” dubbed Haswell, should land by mid-2013, and the “tick” in 2014 should be Broadwell, the first processor to use a 14nm process. Other chipmakers like AMD, Qualcomm, and Samsung aren’t demonstrating manufacturing and chip design expertise at Intel’s level. Simply put, Intel processor technology truly is leading the market.
These advances also kept investors happy by raking in money. On Otellini’s watch, Intel saw its global revenue jump from $39 billion a year to $54 billion. The company has also paid out some $23.5 billion to investors. Otellini also cleared clouds from the companies horizons by resolving antitrust cases with both AMD and the Federal Trade Commission (with no fines), although it’s still appealing a $1.34 billion antitrust fine from the European Union.
Intel’s biggest problem: fewer PCs, lots more mobile devices
Intel’s technology is solid, but two things happened during Otellini’s tenure that have put Intel on shaky ground: the global economic recession, and the revolution in smartphone and mobile technologies.
A worldwide economic downturn meant both consumers and businesses put buying new PCs on hold, hoping to cut costs by milking their existing systems for an additional year or two, meaning less demand for processors and less growth in the PC market.
Consumers’ and enterprises’ embrace of smartphones and tablets – sometimes as replacements for traditional notebook computers – further crimped demand for PCs and Intel processors. Despite repeatedly trying to make low-power, low-cost processors for mobile devices (like its Atom line and even earlier efforts), Intel chips drive almost no mobile devices. Instead, most phones and tablets are powered by processors based on designs from the UK’s ARM Holdings, and are manufactured by the likes of Samsung and Qualcomm.
How bad is it? With a market cap of about $100 billion, Intel is the world’s biggest chipmaker in terms of revenue. On paper, however, it’s been eclipsed by Qualcomm, with a market cap of $106 billion, surpassing Intel largely due to the strength of its Snapdragon ARM-based processors.
Otellini’s approach to mobile seems to be that design advances from its flagship processors and the Wintel ecosystem will eventually trickle down and also power mobile devices, which is (loosely) the premise behind the Atom line. Despite some progress, such as a version of Android for Intel chips, Intel’s complex microarchitectures are originally designed for PCs. Making them power-efficient and backward-compatible is no small feat.
Intel also puts a premium price on its ability to run x86 software, which initially meant the sales proposition for Intel’s mobile processors amounted to we’re more expensive and use more power than our competition! In contrast, ARM processors are designed to be simple and power-efficient from the word go. While ARM processors aren’t compatible with the x86 world, they are more efficient and less expensive than Intel’s offerings. In fact, Apple is working on its own hand-optimized processor designs rather than relying on Intel, which makes the most advanced processor technology available.
This year, Intel claimed its Medfield line of single-core Atom processors were competitive enough with ARM systems to power smartphones. So far, there have been few takers, with Motorola’s Razr i being the best-known example. Intel’s next dual-core mobile processors, dubbed Clover Trail, are supposed to outshine ARM processors, serve as the heart of devices that can run x86 software, and offer all-day batter life and 30 days of standby time. Clover Trail was supposed to ship this quarter, powering a wide range of tablets and slates running Windows 8. However, Intel has yet to announce a launch date, meaning device makers hoping to ride Windows 8′s launch have now missed the wave.
Can Intel re-invent itself?
Even as the traditional PC market stalls and (eventually) shrinks thanks to widespread use of mobile devices, Otellini’s unexpected resignation could present an opportunity for Intel to reinvent itself and remain a ubiquitous force in mainstream computing. RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman wrote in a research note that “[a] shift in leadership could be welcome news to investors as Intel could be in greater position to broaden its portfolio into higher growth markets.” But how?
Show ‘em how it’s done – It used to be unthinkable that either pillar of the Wintel ecosystem, Microsoft or Intel, would try to tell hardware partners like HP, Dell, Acer, Lenovo, or Toshiba what to do. Microsoft broke that rule with its new Surface tablets, choosing to compete directly with its hardware partners to achieve a more Apple-like (or Xbox-like) vertical integration. Intel stepped close to that line with Ultrabooks, laying out basic specs that OEMs had to meet in order for the laptop to officially be called an Ultrabook. If Intel really wants to prove its mobile technology can compete with the likes of Samsung, Qualcomm, and Apple, Intel needs to make its own mobile devices. They could run Android; they could run Windows 8; they could run something entirely new. But if Intel truly wants to be a ubiquitous force in computing for the next couple of decades, it’s going to need a major presence in the mobile market. So far, OEMs aren’t stepping up, so it might be up to Intel to disrupt the mobile market all on its own.
Cut prices – Building multi-billion-dollar chip fabrication plants isn’t cheap, but, in the short-to-medium term, Intel can improve demand for its PC chips by cutting prices. One of the reasons Ultrabooks have so far failed to ignite the PC market is that they’re just too darn expensive – and a lot of that expense is Intel’s processors. Intel threw hundreds of millions of dollars at Ultrabook development but refused to drop or subsidize the cost of its processors, forcing manufacturers to ship pricey Ultrabooks or cut costs on everything but the processor (sometimes resulting in chintzy messes). Cheaper processors mean cheaper PCs, and that means more demand and volume for Intel chips. Plus, it’s a good way to continue to assert superiority over AMD.
Think outside the x86 box – Intel’s x86 architecture has been around for decades, and, ironically, so have the simpler ARM-based designs that are now powering mobile devices. The solution to Intel’s mobile problem is not licensing ARM processors. That’s antithetical to the company’s DNA. The heart of Intel is microprocessor design and manufacturing. Instead of focusing all efforts on extending the x86 ecosystem, Intel could apply some of its world-class brainpower towards the next revolution in microprocessors as well as the manufacturing technologies that will make them possible. Starting from a clean slate with no baggage, Intel is arguably the best-positioned company on the planet to develop the architecture that drives mainstream computing well into the second half of the 21st century. Are we really expecting x86 or ARM to get us there?
So who’s next?
Intel has had only five CEOs in its corporate history, and they’ve all been company veterans promoted from within. Intel plans to look at both internal and outside candidates to fill the CEO position, but current Intel execs most certainly have the inside track.
The leading internal candidates would seem to be Renee James (currently head of Intel’s software business), Brian Krzanich (COO and manufacturing head), and CFO/strategy chief Stacy Smith. Although Otellini came from the marketing side of the company, Intel has a tendency to favor engineering experience in the top seat. Krzanich may have a bit of a lead in that case, but Intel is not lacking in executive talent.
It’s not clear whether internal candidates steeped in Intel’s current business model will have the ambition and force of personality to divert Intel from the path it’s followed since the 1980s. Intel has known for over a decade that it needs to diversify its business, and it still isn’t there yet. Unless something fundamental changes with the Clover Trail mobile processor offerings – and there’s no indication of that happening – Intel needs to do more than keep on keeping on … and that argues in favor of a CEO from outside the company.
