Asia

mobile
June 20, 2012
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Mobiles on track to overtake PCs in Asia, Google executive claims

By on June 20, 2012 at 10:35 PM.

Mobiles on track to overtake PCs in Asia, Google executive claims

Mobile Sales

Mobile phone sales in Asia-Pacific have surged and are on track to top conventional computer sales, a top Google executive said Wednesday. Aliza Knox, managing director of commerce for Google Asia Pacific, said smartphones and tablets were becoming the primary tool for individuals to access the Internet in the region, and that the Mountain View-based company is preparing to address that, Agence France-Presse reported. “Asia has an insatiable appetite for mobile,” the executive said during a forum at the CommunicAsia telecom fair in Singapore, adding that Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and South Korea already have higher smartphone penetration rates than the United States. More →

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mobile
August 16, 2011
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Motorola unveils water-resistant DEFY+ smartphone

By on August 16, 2011 at 12:00 AM.

Motorola unveils water-resistant DEFY+ smartphone

Google’s proposed acquisition of Motorola on Monday nearly overshadowed Motorola’s latest Android smartphone, the DEFY+. Like the original DEFY, the DEFY+ is water resistant, scratch resistant and dust proof. It is equipped with a 1GHz processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) with MOTOBLUR, a 3.7-inch screen, a 5-megapixel camera, 2GB of internal storage and a 1,700 mAh battery. Motorola says the DEFY+ will be available in Asia, Europe and Latin America beginning in early fall, but we also suspect we’ll see a variant land on T-Mobile to replace the DEFY. Read on for the full press release. More →

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mobile
July 29, 2011
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HTC posts stellar quarter; revenues up 104%, 12.1 million handsets shipped

By on July 29, 2011 at 1:01 PM.

HTC posts stellar quarter; revenues up 104%, 12.1 million handsets shipped

HTC posted impressive second-quarter results on Friday noting that its profit of NT$17.52 billion was up 104% year-over-year and up 19% over the first quarter. The Taiwanese phone maker’s shipment total of 12.1 million devices during the quarter was up 24% year-over-year and 25% quarter-over-quarter. The company also noted that it shipped a total of 21.8 million devices during the first half of the year, a big jump from the 8.7 million it shipped during the first half of 2010. HTC noted that much of its growth came from the Americas, Europe and Asia. The average selling price of an HTC smartphone is currently $349, down from the average price of $359 last quarter thanks to new entry-level handsets. HTC expects its third quarter revenue to jump 10% quarter-over-quarter and 90% year-over-year, and plans to sell “around” 13.5 million handsets. Read on for a link to the PDF of HTC’s second quarter results.
More →

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mobile
April 23, 2011
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Sony Ericsson outs Android powered W8 Walkman phone

By on April 23, 2011 at 10:26 AM.

Sony Ericsson outs Android powered W8 Walkman phone

Looking for the newest Android 2.1 device? Neither are we. That’s why it’s no surprise Sony Ericsson quietly launched the Walkman W8. It’s the first Android device to sport the firm’s “Walkman” moniker, which should imply it has more music-centric services, but we’re not seeing anything extraordinary in its spec sheet. It’s loaded with the Walkman music player software, although that’s nothing to call home about. The phone sports a 3-inch touchscreen display with a low 480 x 320 resolution and it also has a 3.2-megapixel camera, an FM radio, and 128MB of RAM. The Walkman W8 will make its debut in Asia in three colors, blue, red, and orange. Our jaws will hit the floor if this ever hit the U.S. marketing running its current OS.

More →

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mobile
February 15, 2011
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HTC announces Incredible S, Desire S, and Wildfire S at MWC

By on February 15, 2011 at 3:58 AM.

HTC announces Incredible S, Desire S, and Wildfire S at MWC

Early this morning at Mobile World Congress, HTC announced six new and updated mobile devices that will be coming to market in the next few months. Three of the six devices are the Incredible S, Desire S, and Wildfire S.

The HTC Desire S has a complete aluminum design paired with 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 3.7-SLCD screen. The Desire S also packs a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n, 768MB of RAM, and 1450mAh battery. Oh yeah, and Android 2.3.

The Wildfire S is HTC’s lower-end Android set and will sport a 600MHz Qualcomm processor, 3.2-inch TFT display, 512MB ROM, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0, 1230mAh battery, and Android 2.3.

The Incredible S’ spec sheet is as follows: 1GHz Qualcomm processor, 768MB of RAM, 4-inch SLCD WVGA display, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0, 8 megapixel rear-facing camera, 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and Android 2.2.

All three devices will be will be available in Europe and Asia in Q2 of 2011 and ship with HTC’s Sense UI. Hit the jump to check out the full press release and a few more images.

UPDATE: HTC’s initial press release indicated that the Wildfire S and Desire S would ship with Android 2.4; that is not the case. The Desire and Wildfire will ship with Android 2.3.3 and the Incredible S will ship with 2.2 (to be updated to 2.3 in the near future). More →

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Audio
August 30, 2010
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Apple iPod nano cases in production, surprise no one

By on August 30, 2010 at 3:31 PM.

Apple iPod nano cases in production, surprise no one

Well, well, well… That rumored touch screen square iPod nano is looking pretty solid right about now. Thanks to our lovely friends in manufacturing in Asia, 3rd party cases have started showing up online for the new iPod nano device. We’re not talking just one either, more like a whole heap — every color possible, too. In addition to cases, there is also a mockup along with sizing dimensions that has surfaced as well. We have to ask, is an incredibly small touchscreen iPod nano something that interests you, or will you stick to an iPod shuffle? Image of one of the cases after the break!

UPDATE: As one of our readers points out… what if this is just Apple’s new Shuffle? Would be pretty amazing, right? More →

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General
July 20, 2010
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Chinese search engine Baidu developing a mobile OS with the help of ex-Google employees?

By on July 20, 2010 at 1:38 AM.

Chinese search engine Baidu developing a mobile OS with the help of ex-Google employees?

baidu_logo

Fearful of losing their jobs, a number of Google employees left the US search giant to join rival Baidu during Google’s brief mini-war with the Chinese government. Recent rumors suggest that the talents of these ex-Google employees are being tapped by Baidu as it begins to develop its own mobile OS. Details are scarce but the mobile OS project is thought to be an open source venture that will compete directly with Google’s Android OS for the lucrative mobile search market. Though Baidu commands 70% of the overall search market in China, its mobile search market share hovers around 26% , a level that is equal to Google. With a decidedly hometown advantage, Baidu may be looking to use its mobile OS to swing the pendulum in its favor and stem the tidal wave of success that Google’s Android OS is currently riding. More →

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Rumor
March 3, 2010
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Asian sources claim iPad inventory is on track for a March launch

By on March 3, 2010 at 3:30 PM.

Asian sources claim iPad inventory is on track for a March launch

Apple

Prospective iPad owners can probably stop panicking as Asian component suppliers have come forward to confirm that their supplies are on schedule, and Foxconn should have the resources to manufacture up to 700,000 iPads in March and one million units in April. The suppliers expect that the iPad launch will go smoothly as planned and the rumored delay and shortage put forth by analyst Peter Misek of Canaccord Adams can be filed in the “not likely to happen” category. Anyone’s hopes renewed now that the current intelligence points to a successful and robust iPad launch? As always, Digitimes to the rescue. More →

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Rumor
January 12, 2010
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Blackberry Curve 8910 is the Atlas, gets photographed on its way to Asia?

By on January 12, 2010 at 10:28 AM.

Blackberry Curve 8910 is the Atlas, gets photographed on its way to Asia?

BlackBerryCurve8910

The BlackBerry 8910 officially broke upon the scene yesterday when it was uncovered amongst the handsets that had recently received Bluetooth SIG certification. Details on the phone were sparse but a few hours later a spy shot of this unknown handset was leaked to the intertubes. The BlackBerry 8910 bears a striking resemblance to the previously leaked BlackBerry Atlas, a variant of the BlackBerry 8900 with EDGE-only connectivity, 8900-style keypad, 256MB of RAM, 624MHz processor, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 3.2 megapixel camera and an optical trackpad. The Atlas/8910 is expected to launch in Asian and European markets at yet-to-be-determined date. More →

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General
November 4, 2009
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HTC's HD2 now shipping in Europe and Asia, confirmed for the U.S. in 2010

By on November 4, 2009 at 8:20 AM.

HTC's HD2 now shipping in Europe and Asia, confirmed for the U.S. in 2010

htc-hd2


Our readers in both Europe and Asia have reason to smile this morning, as HTC has at long last announced that the highly anticipated successor to the Touch HD has finally begun shipping. Citizens in Europeans will be able to pick up the HD2 in the next few days while our Asian brothers and sisters will see a gradual rollout staring in a weeks time. As for the majority of our readers, Americans, HTC has formally confirmed what we reported one month ago when the device was first announced — the HD2 will be making its way to “a major US carrier” in early 2010. The only mystery is which carrier could HTC possibly be referring to. Hmm…

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Software
July 13, 2009
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LG launches app store in Asia, looks to go global by year's end

By on July 13, 2009 at 7:55 AM.

LG launches app store in Asia, looks to go global by year's end

If there’s one thing the world needs right now, there’s no doubt in our minds it’s another on-device application store. Lucky for us, LG seems to agree. The electronics giant has launched its mobile app store in Asia and is setting its sights on going global (Europe and South America, no US yet) by the end of 2009. The creatively named “LG Application Store” will see 1,400 applications right out the gate –  quite impressive for an app store at launch — with about 100 of those applications available for free. We can’t say we’re overly impressed with the ratio of free to paid apps, but anything is better than the selection of 30 that Pre users are currently forced to pick from. If and when LG’s offering makes it to the US however, we would expect the number of free (and total) apps to have grown substantially — pending some level of success of course.

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