Stop posting news. Start writing new.

From now on, I'll stop manually posting all the news in the blog. I found Google Reader is quite handy to do the job. News goes to the above section. Click the "View all" to see the whole list. I'm sharing what I read at  and when I find something very interesting I'll tweet it at . My original writing can be found at .

จากนี้เป็นต้นไป ผมจะเลิกโพสต์ข่าวในบล๊อก ผมเปลี่ยนจากการอ่านข่าวใน web แล้วลอกมาแปะใน blog ไปใช้ google reader แล้วรู้สึกว่าทำงานได้เร็วขึ้นเยอะ ผมยังคงอัพเดทข่าวต่างๆ โดยการ share ผ่าน google reader โดยที่ 10 ข่าวล่าสุดที่ผม share จะแสดงอยู่ที่มุมซ้ายบนของ blog ถ้าอยากดูข่าวย้อนหลังใ้ห้กด "View all" หรือดูได้จาก  ข่าวที่น่าสนใจจริงๆ จะถูกทวีตที่  ส่วนเนื้อหาหลักๆ ใน blog นี้  จะเป็นงานเขียนของผมเองครับ อ่านแล้วคิดเห็นอย่างไรกัน ช่วยทิ้งคอมเมนต์ไว้ด้วยครับ

Google pulls support for Chinese Android phones

Google has withdrawn its support for two new Chinese smartphones based on its Android platform, as its relations with China continue to deteriorate.

Vodafone UK relaunches 3G femto service

Vodafone UK has relaunched its fledgling femtocell service under a new brand and at lower price points. Targeted at both the consumer and small business segments, Vodafone ‘Sure Signal’ is a small plug-in box that works with a broadband line and claims to significantly improve 3G signals indoors.

AIS to invest THB11B in 2010

Thai operator AIS, the country’s largest by subscribers, has set an investment budget, excluding any potential investment in third generation services, for 2010 of about THB11 billion (US$335.3 million), which is on a par with 2009's amount, according to Dow Jones Newswires. The firm targets 2010 revenue growth at 3 percent, in line with the general economic growth forecast for this year. The operator also said it reached an agreement with state-owned TOT PCL to allow its customers to access 3G services on TOT's spectrum from Feb. 1.


source: GSMA MBB

M1 to trial LTE with NSN

Telegeography reports that MobileOne (M1) of Singapore is laying the groundwork for a smooth transition to Long Term Evolution technology and plans to commence an LTE trial next month. The pilot tests will be carried out in partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks and will last two months.


source: GSMA MBB

Google considers China exit

Google is considering closing its China search site and leaving the mainland market because of censorship issues and recent cyber-attacks.

Gartner: Mobile apps spend to hit US$6.2B in 2010

	2009	2010	2013
Downloads (M)	2,516	4,507	21,646
Total revenue (US$M)	4,237.80	6,770.40	29,479.30

Source: Gartner (December 2009)

Consumer spending on mobile application stores will reach US$6.2 billion this year, according to new Gartner figures. Combined with expected advertising revenues of around US$0.6 billion, total app store revenues are forecast to hit US$6.77 billion in 2010. The research firm said that app stores will exceed 4.5 billion downloads this year, and surpass 21.6 billion by 2013. Free downloads will account for 82 percent of all downloads in 2010, and will account for 87 percent of downloads in 2013, the firm said. Download revenue is said to have exceeded US$4.2 billion in 2009 and will grow to US$29.5 billion by the end of 2013.

Verizon and AT&T cut fees as price war escalates

Verizon Wireless and AT&T – the two largest mobile operators in the US – both cut their mobile tariffs late last week amid fears that an escalating price war in the country could affect operator revenue.

Voda outsources M2M services

Machine-to-machine (M2M) specialist Numerex has secured a deal with Vodafone to offer its clients M2M solutions via the operator’s network. The agreement allows Numerex to promote Vodafone M2M services as part of its Numerex DNA (Device, Network and Application) and FAST platform along with an array of other M2M products and services.

Clearwire to launch WiMAX smartphone this year

US-based WiMAX service provider Clearwire says it will launch a dual-mode smartphone in the second half of this year, according to a Financial Times (FT) report.

Femtocell market update

Commercially launched networks
Sprint's Airave (CDMA 1xRTT), September 2007
Starhub's Home Zone (UMTS), November 2008
Verizon Wireless's Network Extender (CDMA 1xRTT), January 2009
Vodafone's Access Gateway (UMTS), July 2009
AT&T's 3G MicroCell (UMTS), September 2009
NTT DoCoMo's My Area (UMTS), November 2009
SFR, December 2009
Expecting
China Unicom 3G Inn (UMTS), expected November 2009
Softbank (UMTS), expected January 2009

source: femto forum (PDF)

Heavy data users cause AT&T network clogged up

40 percent of AT&T’s data traffic came from just 3 percent of its smartphone customers; those with an iPhone!
“We’re going to try to focus on making sure we give incentives to those small percentages to either reduce or modify their usage, so they don’t crowd out the customers on those same cell sites,” said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive of AT&T’s mobile business. Analysts speculated that AT&T could be talking about a tiered pricing structure rather than the current ‘all-you-can-eat’ deals. O2 UK is also facing the similar problem.
source: GSMA MBB

LG looks to smartphones for number two spot

South Korean handset vendor LG aims to sell 140 million mobile phones globally this year, up 20 percent from 2009, in a move designed to help it achieve its goal of becoming the industry’s second-largest player by 2012. As reported yesterday, half of all its new smartphones launched this year will run Google’s Android platform.

Qualcomm reveals Snapdragon roadmap

Qualcomm is set to beef up its top-of-the-range Snapdragon processor to run at speeds of up to 1.5GHz by year-end.

Ericsson and NSN win major TeliaSonera LTE deals

TeliaSonera – the world’s first commercial LTE operator – has awarded major network expansion deals to Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN), an important win for both vendors after recent losses to China’s Huawei. Both Nordic vendors will supply radio access network (base station) kit for LTE buildout in Sweden and Norway, whilst Ericsson has won a sole supplier core network deal in both countries. The contracts cover network rollout this year and next, and will see TeliaSonera expand its existing limited rollout of LTE in the central city areas of Stockholm, Sweden and Oslo, Norway (launched last month) to 25 of Sweden’s “largest municipalities and recreation areas” and Norway’s “four largest municipalities.” TeliaSonera previously said the capital expenditure for its national rollouts will amount to SEK500 million (US$71 million).

Clearwire launches WiMAX in Europe

US WiMAX service provider Clearwire has launched a commercial network in Malaga, Spain, its first venture outside of its home market. The service – dubbed ‘Instanet’ – covers an area of nearly 600,000 people and is targeting consumers and enterprises with claimed average download speeds of 3-6 Mb/s with bursts over 10 Mb/s. Pricing starts at EUR29.90 a month. Clearwire’s data services are going up against the mobile broadband offerings of the country’s HSPA operators, with Clearwire promising speeds “several times faster than 3G.” The company is also expected to launch another 3.5GHz WiMAX network in the Spanish city of Seville soon.

Verizon hints at usage-based LTE pricing

Verizon Wireless is set to return to some form of usage-based pricing for its new LTE network when it rolls out later this year. In an interview with the Washington Post at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Verizon CTO Dick Lynch said the operator was looking to move away from the current flat rate ‘all you can eat’ data plans and instead begin charging users on the bandwidth they consume. “The problem we have today with flat-based usage is that you are trying to encourage customers to be efficient in use and applications but you are getting some people who are bandwidth hogs using gigabytes a month and they are paying something like megabytes a month,” Lynch said.

Report: Google’s Nexus One has component costs of US$174

Google’s high-profile Nexus One device has component costs of about US$174 according to iSuppli, with the research firm declaring the smartphone “both cutting edge and cost competitive.” The Nexus One, sold under the Google brand but manufactured by Taiwanese vendor HTC, carries a ‘Bill of Materials’ (BOM) of US$174.15 (comprising hardware and components costs but not including manufacturing, software, royalties and other costs).

Lenovo takes wraps off Snapdragon-powered smartbook

Laptop-maker Lenovo this week officially unveiled one of the industry’s first major ‘smartbooks,’ the mobile computers designed to compete with traditional Wintel-powered netbooks. Reuters reports that Lenovo's new ‘Skylight’ smartbook runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip and features a Linux (rather than Microsoft Windows) operating system; it is based on the power-efficient ARM chip architecture, rather than Intel Corp's x86 platform, which currently dominates the netbook market. Lenovo said that Skylight will sell for US$499 in the US from April, and will be available in Europe and China later this year. Skylight boasts more than 10 hours of active battery life and has built-in Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.

AT&T and T-Mobile boost HSPA networks

US operators AT&T and T-Mobile have separately announced upgrades to their national HSPA networks, claiming to support theoretical peak download speeds of up to 7.2Mb/s. In a statement, AT&T – the country’s second-largest mobile operator – said it has completed a software upgrade to its network, but noted that consumers won’t be able to take full advantage of the faster speeds until the new technology is combined with improvements to its fibre-optic backhaul connections, planned for this year and 2011.

Google unveils own-brand 'superphone'

As expected, Google yesterday (5 Jan 2010) unveiled its own-brand ‘Nexus One’ touchscreen smartphone based on its Android 2.1 operating system. Manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC and powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset and HSPA technology, Google went heavy on the hype during the launch at its Mountain View headquarters in California. "The Nexus One belongs in the emerging class of devices which we call ‘superphones,’ with the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset making it as powerful as your laptop computer of three to four years ago,” claimed Andy Rubin, Google’s VP of Engineering. The Internet giant also claims to be offering “a new way for consumers to purchase an Android mobile phone,” via the creation of its own portal through which people can get the device tied to one of several mobile operators or untethered direct from Google. Nexus One can be bought ‘unlocked’ from the Google web store for US$529, or for US$179 if consumers are prepared to sign up to a two-year contract with T-Mobile USA.

Apple to buy mobile ad specialist

Apple is poised to announce a US$275 million swoop for mobile advertising company Quattro, according to media reports this week. The Wall Street Journal’s 'All Things Digital' blog – citing several sources – claims an announcement may be made as early as today. The move is being compared to Google’s US$750 million acquisition two months ago of AdMob, a competitor to Quattro.

India sees new delays to 3G licensing and MNP

India - the world’s second-largest, and fastest-growing, mobile market - has reportedly again delayed plans to auction 3G spectrum and introduce mobile number portability (MNP). Dow Jones Newswires today reports that a senior official at the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said the 3G license auction will now be held in February, with a date to be confirmed soon.