Best Buy to launch music service with Real, SanDisk

Best Buy on Thursday said it will introduce a new music service with digital music player maker SanDisk and music software company RealNetworks to create the latest competitor to Apple Computer’s iPod and iTunes combination.

Best Buy, the top U.S. consumer electronics retail chain, said it would use Real’s Rhapsody subscription service. The service is designed to work hand-in-hand with the new line of SanDisk Sansa e200R Rhapsody digital music players, much in the way that iPods work with iTunes.

The service and players will both be available starting Oct. 15.

Several major device manufacturers and software makers have been trying to make a dent in the dominant market shares of Apple’s iPod digital media player and its compatible iTunes Music Store software.

ITunes has an 88 percent share of legal downloads in the United States while the iPod has well over half of digital music player sales. SanDisk is a distant No. 2 in that market.

In the last two months, Microsoft, mobile handset maker Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung Electronics have all announced plans to offer music download services combined with new devices.

Microsoft is making the highest-profile push with its Zune brand, which is launching in time for the U.S. holiday season.

The companies are hoping to emulate Apple’s success by offering a seamless service between device and download software.

“The customer expects everything to work together,” Jennifer Schaidler, vice president of music for Best Buy.

Best Buy said it will throw its promotional weight behind the new service, offering buyers of the SanDisk Sansa player a free two-month subscription to its music store, which will allow consumers unlimited access to millions of songs during the period.

But users won’t be able to listen to the songs after the promotion expires if they don’t sign up for the service. The subscription download service is normally priced at $14.99 a month and users can also buy individual downloads at 99 cents a song. Apple’s iTunes also sells songs at 99 cents each but does not have a monthly subscription service.

The Sansa player is priced at $139.99 for the 2GB model, which holds roughly 500 songs, compared with $149 for Apple’s 2GB iPod Nano listed on Apple’s Web site. The Sansa 8GB model is priced at $249.99, which is comparable to the price for the 8GB iPod Nano.
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Getting the skinny on mobile displays

At the Society for Information Display’s Mobile Displays Conference 2006 here, they, along with manufacturers and analysts, are tackling such hot topics as how to build super-slim mobile devices with screens readable in sunlight while lowering power consumption, and of course, designing sleek devices that will garner “it-gadget” status.

Mobile displays have come a long way in a short time–the conference, in fact, is SID’s first ever to focus solely on the topic. Just five years ago, the conversation about screens on portable gadgets such as phones, game devices and PDAs revolved around monochrome. Today, people are talking about how many colors they can squeeze out. Soon, the brightness and resolution of many displays is expected to rival some laptop computer and TV displays.

The industry is innovating quickly and the numbers show it. The small- and medium- size mobile-display market (less than 10 inches) will do $23 billion dollars in sales by the end of 2006, according to Paul Semenza, vice president of iSuppli. That’s about 3.5 billion displays sold, and they go into everything from PlayStation Portables to iPods, digital still and video cameras, navigation devices, watches and portable TV and video devices.

But the biggest driver of mobile displays is mobile phones, which are ubiquitous, according to Jim Zhuang, manager of Motorola’s display group, because they are “essential to everyday life.” The mobile-phone industry is “the most promising industry of the future,” he told conference attendees. That may sound like a brash assessment, but between 900 million and 1 billion mobile handsets will ship this year, and the market has grown steadily at a rate of 25 percent since 2003, Zhuang said.

More small mobile displays will go into mobile phones than into any other portable device, according to Vinita Jakhanwal, principal analyst for mobile displays at iSuppli. The most important factor in making and selling a successful phone is its thinness, according to Zhuang, as evidenced by the recent introduction of ultra-slender handsets like the Samsung Trace, LG Chocolate, Motorola Krzr and others. The slim-phone craze has been driven by Motorola’s highly successful Razr, which sports a 4-millimeter thick display.

Does skinny equal weak?
Just last week, LG.Philips LCD debuted the slimmest display yet, a thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) measuring 1.3 millimeters thick. The slimming-down trend, according to Zhuang, is sure to continue.

But not all display makers are sure thin is best. “How are you affecting the ruggedness of a display?” Palm senior display engineer Kevin Lee asked the audience rhetorically. “Is it worth it making the display 40 percent weaker” just to be thinner? Translation: Glass stretched really thin can break if dropped.

Samsung LCD says it’s already on top of that potential problem. “Thin is definitely in,” said Joe Virginia, vice president of Samsung LCD, but “that thin glass needs much higher strength.” He said Samsung’s process of grinding display glass to less than half a millimeter thick retains its durability.

Besides determining the size of a mobile device, a display is also its biggest battery hog. “More features in a device means people use them for more hours per day, and power consumption is a concern,” said Miles Kirby, senior director for product management at Qualcomm. Power affects everything–standby, talk and usage time–and being forced to put a bigger battery in any device will affect its overall design, Palm’s Lee pointed out.

Intel is attempting to tackle the issue with its new Display Power Saving Technology (DPST) for portable gadgets, which will reduce the backlight power while simultaneously offering better image quality, according to Achin Bhowmik, Intel’s manager of mobile platforms. The technology, designed to transparently adjust graphics and video images before they are transmitted to the display panel, will prolong battery life by 30 minutes, he told the crowd. Rather than handsets, like Motorola and Nokia, the chipmaker is heavily pushing the technology for ultramobile PCs.

No matter the type of device, being able to actually see its screen outdoors is critical. Scrolling through e-mail on a BlackBerry at a baseball game, or selecting an iPod playlist while standing at a bus stop, is essential, display manufacturers agree, and most current devices sporting LCD displays are practically impossible to see outdoors. As Barry Young of DisplaySearch said simply, displays “must be outdoor-readable.”

Qualcomm, for one, is choosing to use sunlight instead of fight it. Its interferometric modulator (iMoD) displays don’t use a backlight, reflecting ambient light instead. Qualcomm says iMoD displays will start showing up in mobile handsets, wrist-worn devices and portable music players in the future.

Samsung SDI and LG.Philips both talked up active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AM OLED) displays for their visibility in sunlight. AM OLED displays use an organic material compound underneath the glass that emits red, green and blue light. The benefit is its near 100 percent ability to display the full range of colors. More colors means better readability, even outside, according to Chang Hoon Lee, general manager of AM OLED for Samsung SDI.

But despite concerns over functionality with mobile devices, gaining style points with consumers is still a major goal, and clearly displays are a big part of that. Gadget purchases, especially of phones, now are symbolic of a lifestyle choice, and that’s something even display designers need to address, according to Motorola’s Zhuang. “It’s about making a statement,” he said. “This drive to make it more stylish will put even more pressure on mobile displays.”

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Handset round-up: T-Mobile’s Dash, Treo 680

T-Mobile launched a couple of interesting handsets this week: Motorola’s RAZR V3t and the T-Mobile Dash. The RAZR model is simply the RAZR V3i rebranded for T-Mobile USA and the T-Mobile Dash is actually the HTC Excalibur, which may prove to be a rival for the Motorola Q. The Dash boasts WiFi and EDGE, but looks like a fat Blackberry from the leaked photo. Both phones are myFaves-enabled.

Palm also unleashed their latest handset: the Treo 680, which allows users to listen to digital music, download podcasts and receive email–much like the Pearl. This handset is aimed at the growing segment that Symbian CEO Nigel Clifford calls “the Prosumer.”

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Nokia teams with Orb on N80 Internet Edition

Nokia is jumping on the place-shifting trend, saying it will work with Orb Networks to integrate Orb MyCasting into the Nokia N80 Internet Edition. That means when U.S. consumers buy the Nokia N80 Internet Edition starting in November, they will be able to access home photos, videos, music and TV. Orb’s solution streams users’ own content from their home PC using the Web browser and player on their Nokia N80 Internet Edition, creating their own “personal media portal.”  Users can also remotely record TV programs using Orb’s DVR function and then play back those recorded programs to their mobile device. Talk about usurping carriers’ own initiatives. But the GSM device will probably land at two carriers who have become quite user-generated content friendly. Cingular already offers Motorola phones with iTunes and has embraced the idea of personalization, while T-Mobile USA proclaimed that its new UMTS network will enable user-generated content and social networking applications as it sidesteps music and mobile TV.

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Carriers taking mobile spam to court

Last week Verizon Wireless filed a “John Doe” lawsuit against whoever it was that sent 550,000 SMS spam messages to a large number of their subscribers earlier this month. Sprint Nextel subscribers received the same spam messages. The messages reportedly began on September 24, 2006. Since most U.S. wireless subscribers pay about 10 cents per SMS (well, Sprint’s subscribers now pay 15 cents), an SMS spam message is far more annoying than the email variety.

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A new service that makes mobile phones emit a piercing electronic scream if stolen and automatically block access to sensitive data was launched in Britain on Monday.

Eventhough this is from the UK, it’s very interesting.

The product, called Remote XT after the company that created it, is designed for application on smart handsets. Remote XT joins other mobile-phone security services in the U.K. such as Synchronia’s Mobile Manager, which is designed to make a Windows Mobile-based handset emit a high-pitched wail when stolen.

It is primarily targeted at the high end of the market, typically business users who may hold confidential data, such as e-mails, on their phones.

“By making mobiles unusable to anyone but the rightful owner the phones become worthless and we will see the market for stolen handsets stamped out once and for all,” said Mark Whiteman, managing director of Remote XT.

“Theft-proof phones spell disaster for the huge criminal industry that has profited from mobile theft for too long,” he said in a statement.

With the Remote XT security package, which costs subscribers 9.99 pounds a month, a signal is sent to the phone as soon as it is reported stolen. All the phone’s data–like contact numbers, e-mails or images–is wiped and an ear-piercing alarm also sounds.

Until now network providers were able to disable stolen phones from being used but could not necessarily provide data from being accessed.

The software, which backs up any wiped data, can also be used to scan for viruses, as the latest generation of phones increasingly has capabilities similar to those offered on laptop computers.

About 700,000 mobile phones are reported stolen each year, although many will actually have been lost and many are not smart phones–devices which integrate applications such as Internet access or GPS navigation software–in addition to telephone functions.

The industry body charged with tackling mobile phone crime said any step aimed at deterring theft was to be welcomed.

“Anything that adds an additional level of security, we will encourage,” said Jack Wraith, chief executive of Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum (MICAF).

MICAF represents mobile network operators in Britain, some retailers and handset makers.
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Nokia unveils new short-range wireless tech

Mobile phone market leader Nokia unveiled a new short-range wireless connection on Tuesday that is smaller and more energy-efficient than current Bluetooth technology and can be used in devices such as watches.

The new radio technology, dubbed “Wibree,” can work alongside Bluetooth short-range wireless connections but use just a fraction of the power.

“It’s up to 10 times more energy efficient than Bluetooth,” Bob Iannucci, head of Nokia Research Center, told a news conference.

Nokia said it had worked for five years to develop the technology and would put it through a standardization process along with a number of other wireless technology firms. When Wibree has become a standard, the technology would be available to anyone at the same reasonable terms.

“Our aim is to establish an industry standard faster than ever before by offering an interoperable solution that can be commercialized and incorporated into products as quickly as possible,” Iannucci said.

Like Bluetooth–used to link cell phones with headsets, computers and printers to transfer calls, calendar items, documents, songs and pictures–Wibree provides a radio link of up to 10 meters (30 feet) between devices.

Because of their small size and low energy consumption, Wibree radio chips will make it possible and efficient to connect phones and other electronics devices to low-power watches or sports sensors and health monitors.

Nokia said it expected the first commercial version of the standard to be available during the second quarter of next year, while products using the technology should follow soon after that.

While Bluetooth is looking for ultra-high frequencies above 6 gigahertz for new faster connections, Wibree will operate in the 2.4 gigahertz band.

Nokia expects devices currently connected by Bluetooth will get a dual Bluetooth-Wibree chip, while devices that are currently not connected will use a Wibree-only chip.

Likely Wibree-devices include watches, wireless keyboards, toys and sports sensors. “This technology increases the growth potential in these market segments,” Nokia said.

Wibree technology would eventually add a few cents on top of current prices for Bluetooth chips, Iannucci said.

Finnish-based Nokia said companies working with it on defining the standard are Broadcom, CSR, Epson, Nordic Semiconductor, Taiyo Yuden and Amer Sports unit Suunto.

“I guess the challenge is getting industry-wide support for yet another wireless standard, given the overwhelming number of standards in play at the moment its hard to see how companies can justify the R&D commitment to all of them,” said wireless telecommunications analyst Ben Wood at U.K.-based Collins Consulting.

“Bluetooth is clearly not suited to some of the cooler applications like intelligent jewelry, watches–a less power hungry, smaller, cheaper solution will open some interesting new opportunities.”

Global sales of Bluetooth chips are expected to be between 500 million and 550 million units in 2006, up from 317 million in 2005, according to market leader CSR. Bluetooth technology was invented by Ericsson in the 1990s and subsequently given away to the market as an open standard.

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Sony plans its own battery recall

Sony is planning to announce a massive battery recall of its own, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) confirmed.

The recall, expected this month, will encompass all possibly defective batteries, including those previously announced by manufacturers for specific notebook computers, said Julie Vallese, director of the Office of Public Affairs at the CPSC. But it is not expected to extend to batteries for devices other than laptops.

Sony makes lithium ion batteries for an array of electronics devices, including camcorders, portable DVD players and video game consoles. Contrary to a blog of Consumer Reports, which first reported the potential recall, though, only notebook batteries are currently covered, according to the CPSC and Sony, which would jointly conduct the recall.

“Sony has provided a wealth of technical data to the CPSC involving this tech, and it is omnipresent in a host of portable electronic devices, but as far as we know, from Sony’s perspective, there is no initiative planned at this time that goes beyond what has already been communicated with respect to notebook computers,” said Sony spokesman Rick Clancy, referring to Sony’s official statement released on Thursday concerning a global replacement program for notebook battery packs.

The CPSC is trying to contact Consumer Reports for a correction about a recall extension to other electronics devices, Vallese said.

“I think that the real way to look at it is that Sony is working with the CPSC to identify the widest scope of batteries that it may recall. Any recall that the agency will make will be limited to batteries that power notebook computers. We have no anticipation at this time beyond that,” Vallese said.

“Sony and the CPSC are currently working together to identify what will be in the recall, the time frame of what was manufactured and sold. We will be trying to issue that as soon as possible,” she said.

Richard Shim, a senior analyst with IDC, said: “The big issue is that while there is a small financial impact (to Sony as a company) compared to the perception impact, you have a number of significant brands that the consumer knows very well who were also involved in the recalls. They have basically pointed the problem at Sony by saying they have a poorly manufactured component.

“From a manufacturer standpoint, this gives them a lot of leverage going forward. Sony is going to have to rebuild not just with consumers, but with manufacturers. And the fact of the matter is that a lot of these manufacturers” buy batteries from multiple manufacturers, Shim said.
Previous notebook battery recalls were issued by Dell and Apple Computer in August for specific laptop models containing Sony batteries, after it was discovered that some batteries were overheating or exploding, causing fires even when the machines were turned off. At the time, Sony said the issue was confined to Dell and Apple computers, and the problem was attributed to a potential short circuit caused by tiny shards of metal left over in the battery cells from the manufacturing process.

On Friday, Toshiba announced that it, too, would be recalling 830,000 laptop computer batteries, while Dell increased the amount of laptop battery recalls from 4.1 million to 4.2 million. Lenovo announced a recall of 526,000 laptop batteries on Thursday, after a Lenovo ThinkPad T43 caught fire at the Los Angeles International Airport.

Separately on Monday, Sony and Hewlett-Packard issued a joint statement that said a study of the issue found that “because of HP’s PC system configuration, HP notebooks using Sony battery cells are not prone to overheating issues that have recently been observed.”

The issue has specifically affected travel, as some airlines have issued restrictions on the use of Dell and Apple laptops on planes. While the laptops may be brought on board, owners must first remove the battery and then use them only with an external power supply.

This may be creating negative feelings among consumers, said Shim, as most airlines do not offer electrical outlets in coach class, making notebooks essentially unusable on planes. Sony needs to have high take-back rates–the number of bad batteries returned for good ones–so the airlines can lift the current bans, Shim said.

“If you can’t use your notebook on the planes, that puts a pretty big cramp in (your) day,” Shim said. The airlines “have to do what they are doing from a liability standpoint. You don’t want to see that evening headline that a plane caught fire because someone’s laptop battery overheated. That’s a lose-lose for everybody,” he said.

Vallese said consumers should keep the situation in perspective. According to the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association, an estimated 2 billion lithium ion cells will be manufactured in 2006. Of those, Vallese said, the actual number of incidents of fire in relation to batteries is few.

“We want consumers to respond because the risk is real, but the risk is low, and that needs to be understood,” Vallese said.
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Number 2. One week after news that another computer from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had gone missing, the agency announced plans to beef up safeguards on all of its machines.

In the next week, the agency plans to begin installing data encryption software on its laptop and desktop machines, VA Secretary R. James Nicholson said Monday. Data on portable media such as flash drives and CDs will also be protected.

“A system-wide encryption program will be a tremendous step forward in improving the safety and security of sensitive veteran information,” Nicholson said in a statement.

The planned upgrade is the agency’s latest effort to step up vigilance over its computer systems, after the high-profile theft of a laptop and an external hard drive that housed sensitive information on more than 26 million veterans and active military personnel. The equipment was stolen from the Maryland home of a Veterans Affairs Department employee in early May and was ultimately recovered in June–but not before an uproar ensued among politicians and other watchdogs.

Police arrested two teenagers in connection with the incident last week. Days later, the agency said it was investigating reports of a new theft–this time of a desktop machine from the Reston, Va., offices of Unisys, a subcontractor hired to assist with insurance collections for Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers in Pennsylvania. The agency estimated that the computer contained information on about 38,000 veterans–2,000 of whom were deceased.

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ laptop computers will be the first to receive the new encryption software. They will be given products made by GuardianEdge and Trust Digital, which market themselves as mobile security specialists. The agency said it awarded a $3.7 million contract last week to SMS, a Syracuse, N.Y.-based company owned by a “service-disabled” veteran, to carry out the upgrade.

Final testing of the products is currently under way, and installation is set to begin on Aug. 18. The agency hopes to have 100 percent of its laptops covered within four weeks of that date, with desktop machines to follow.
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