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On a smart platform.

Janani Krishnaswamy

The mobile phone space is becoming the new battleground for companies looking to keep the business going in a recession-struck market.

With computer sales falling and consumers cutting back on their spending on electronics, PC makers are turning to the smartphone segment, hoping to create newer revenue streams.

PC maker Lenovo and smartphone player Research In Motion (RIM) recently announced that the two companies will work together to enable Lenovo users receive e-mail whenever their BlackBerry smartphone accesses the Internet, even if the laptop is turned off.

“By leveraging the connectivity of the BlackBerry solution, Lenovo Constant Connect will simplify e-mail synchronisation on the laptop and provide mobile professionals with greater flexibility to manage their e-mail on the move,” says Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO, Research In Motion in a media communiqué.

Lenovo also believes that with more and more mobile professionals relying on both their BlackBerry smartphone and ThinkPad laptop PC, integrating the two becomes a necessity.

In a similar move of convergence, ASUS phones will get GPS treatment from Garmin. The two companies have begun joint development on a mobile phone product line that will be known as the Garmin-ASUS nüvifone series and the co-branded nüvifone product line currently includes the newly announced nüvifone M20 and nüvifone G60, both powered by WinMo 6.1 Professional.

ASUS, which has gained ground in the netbook market, will use this platform to take on Apple and BlackBerry in the smartphone market.

In a release issued at the time of agreement, Min Kao, Chairman and CEO of Garmin, said, “The alliance allows us to combine our resources and establish a strong foundation which will help us deliver the world’s best integrated and most compelling GPS-enabled mobile devices.”

ASUS has been working for over one year on the initial nüvifone that was announced in 2008 on the basis of an ODM (Original Design Manufacturer) relationship.

Microsoft and Google are already around lending their hands to device makers, allowing them to use their respective Operating Systems, Windows Mobile and Android. Microsoft is hoping its Windows Mobile Operating System can continue to challenge Symbian, a platform backed by the world’s top mobile phone maker Nokia.

Blackberry-maker RIM and Apple iPhone are also a growing threat to Symbian, while several gadget makers are planning to or have started rolling out smartphones based on Google’s Android software.

HTC launched the first Android-based phone late last year to rave reviews; the gadget maker announced its second Android-based phone at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

The HTC Magic, exclusively made for Vodafone, is to be available in spring and will be initially offered in the UK, Spain, Germany, France and Italy. HTC says the phone will be for sale in several other Vodafone markets over the next few months.

Motorola, Samsung and LG are also active in the Android platform and might launch their versions very soon.

While HTC, ASUS, Samsung, Motorola and Sony Ericsson are already making phones that run on the Windows Mobile platform, Microsoft has announced an expanded alliance with LG to increase the number of LG phones running Windows.

As part of the agreement, LG will make Windows its primary Operating System for its smartphones and will increase both the number of Windows phones in its portfolio. This will create a tenfold increase in the volume of Windows phones available from LG in 2009 and bring up to 26 new Windows phones to market in 2012 alone. Overall, the agreement can result in more than 50 new LG Windows phones.

Microsoft is also hoping to leverage its existing associations and is looking at newer brand strategies to widen the reach of Windows Mobile, a new version of which was unveiled at Barcelona.

And the software giant’s partners are quick to adapt the new OS. LG’s upcoming smartphone and HTC’s next-generation Touch Pro and Touch Diamond, which were also announced at the MWC, will run on the new WinMo 6.5 OS. Dell’s rumoured smartphone is expected to work with either Windows Mobile or Google’s Android.

Skype is teaming up with Nokia and the phone maker will soon begin selling its handsets with Skype software installed. The N97, which is scheduled for market release in June this year, will be the first to use Skype’s service.

With social-networking at an all-time high, Nokia is also in talks with Facebook. MySpace and several other social networking sites might also be integrated into Nokia phones through the Ovi Store.

However Nokia is not the only phone maker promoting Skype or Facebook. Sony Ericsson recently added four new panels for its Xperia X1 mobile phone, and one of the panels offers quick access to Skype.

The X1 already has a Facebook panel. However, HTC was among the first to offer a Skype service in its first Android attempt — the G1.

When brands and business possibilities converge, everything’s within reach, it seems.

janani@thehindu.co.in

More Stories on : Convergence | Telecommunications

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