Author Archives: Todd Haselton
E Ink revenues nose dive 60% in January
E Ink, the popular company that provides paper-look gray-scale displays for eReaders, reported consolidated revenues of $48.02 million in January, down 63.6% from the same month last year and 11% sequentially. The growing popularity of media tablets with full-color displays likely played a big role in the decline — sales of Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet are thought to be eating into the companies’ respective dedicated eReader businesses to an extent. Even though E Ink’s revenue took a nose dive in January, the company said that it expects to post revenues of $1.35 billion this year, up 5% from 2011. Read
Sprint to expand 4G LTE to Kansas City and Baltimore this year
Sprint announced on Wednesday that it expects to activate its upcoming 4G LTE network in Baltimore and in Kansas City. The carrier has already said that it will flip the switch on its first 4G LTE networks in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio by mid-2012. The carrier’s first LTE devices will include Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, the LG Viper 4G LTE and the Sierra Wireless Tri-Network mobile hotspot. Sprint said it also expects to improve the 3G coverage in each of the aforementioned markets. Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse also said Wednesday that 86% of the phones his company sold during the fourth quarter were smartphones and that 66% of Sprint’s subscriber base now use smartphones, and the carrier’s 4G LTE network will
Amazon announces content agreement with Viacom for Kindle Fire, Prime customers
Amazon on Wednesday announced that it has entered into a new agreement with Viacom to provide a larger selection of television content to its Kindle Fire and Amazon Prime customers. Under the deal, Amazon’s customers will have access to episodes of The Real World, Chapelle’s Show and the The Sarah Silverman Program from Comedy Central, as well as a number of hit shows from Nickelodeon. “This deal with Viacom brings Prime customers and Kindle Fire users thousands of comedies, kids’ shows, reality TV and much more from some of the best cable networks available,” Amazon’s director of video content acquisition Brad Beale said. “We now offer more than 15,000 movies and TV shows in Prime Instant Videos and are working hard to
Nokia on smartphone strategy: We don’t have a Plan B
There’s no question that Nokia is betting big on the success of Windows Phone, and we have to admit that it has already unveiled several of the best Windows Phone handsets out there. But the Finnish phone maker is reportedly so convinced that Windows Phone will succeed that it doesn’t have a backup plan of any sort. ”Plan B is that Plan A is to succeed,” Nokia manager Victor Saeijs is said to have told Swedish financial newspaper Dagens Industri. We know Nokia is cooking something up for its low-end phones so all of the vendor’s eggs really aren’t in one basket, but its good to see Nokia so confident in its strategy. Nokia will reportedly unveil at least one new high-end smartphone later
ARM-powered Windows 8 devices will likely support desktop apps
Contrary to a number of reports that have suggested otherwise, ARM-powered Windows 8 devices will likely be able to run full desktop applications. Microsoft had failed for some time to provide a straight answer as to whether or not ARM-powered devices would be limited to simply running Metro-style applications. However, ZDNet‘s Mary Jo Foley noticed a Microsoft post that specifically discussed power states on Windows 8 ARM devices for “both desktop and Metro style apps,” which clearly suggests that support for desktop applications will be included. Microsoft still hasn’t officially confirmed this, but as Mary Jo Foley points out, we suspect that Microsoft was diligent with its writing and that it didn’t just drop in a reference to desktop support
LG teases new 5-inch Optimus Vu Android smartphone [video]
LG recently began teasing a new smartphone that could very well make its debut during the Mobile World Congress trade show later this month. The device, dubbed the Optimus Vu, will offer a 5-inch display with a 4:3 aspect ratio, and rumor has it the phone will also come equipped with a 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 8GB of storage, support for NFC, 1GB of RAM and an 8-megapixel camera. Unfortunately, the Optimus Vu will reportedly run Android 2.3 Gingerbread instead of the latest Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system. So far we’re not seeing a whole lot to be excited about other than the massive screen, since most of the specs are similar to what we’ve already seen in the
Nokia Lumia 800 to launch in U.S. on February 14th as part of $900 bundle
Microsoft may be planning to launch a special bundle that includes the Nokia Lumia 800 and several accessories for $899. Citing unnamed industry sources, The Verge said the deal will kick off on February 14th and will include a Bluetooth headset, a Purity HD stereo headset and Nokia’s Play 360 wireless speaker. Microsoft will reportedly not be offering the Lumia 800 as a stand-alone product. $899 seems a bit steep to us, even considering that consumers will be getting an unlocked device and a bundle of solid accessories. After all, AT&T will be launching the sub-$100 Lumia 900 with 4G LTE support and a bigger screen just one month later. Read
Acer sues former CEO for violating non-compete agreement
Acer has filed a lawsuit against its former chief executive officer Gianfranco Lanci for allegedly violating a non-compete agreement. Lanci left Acer last March after the company hit a rough patch and was recently named head of Lenovo’s operatio...
Nokia to unveil a new high-end smartphone during MWC
Nokia will unveil at least one new high-end smartphone during the Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona later this month, Forbes said Tuesday. The Finnish company announced the Lumia 900, a Windows Phone device destined for AT&T, during the Consumer Electronics Show in early January but consumers are still waiting to hear what the company will launch as a follow-up to the Lumia 800 in Europe. Early rumors suggested that Nokia was planning to announce a Lumia 910 device with HSPA+ connectivity and a 12-megapixel camera, but Nokia recently shot down rumors of the camera upgrade. BGR will be reporting live from Mobile World Congress later this month so be we’ll be sure to bring you all the news as