Nobody else can do this as good as BlackBerry, claims Thorsten Heins

Let’s discuss Enterprise Mobility Services, which includes both traditional enterprise business and new mobile computing opportunities in vertical markets such as automotive. Blackberry’s goal is to remain number one in Enterprise Mobility Management and have completely reengineered and rebuilt BES 10 to achieve that objective. Since announcing BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10, this service has been installed by customers all around the world and secure workspace for iOS and Android devices has been tried globally with many BlackBerry customers.

At the time of BlackBerry Live in May, 12,000 companies that had installed BES 10 for commercial or test purposes; today, this commercial and test installed base have grown to 19,000, in a period of four weeks, a clear indication of the strong enterprise interest in reengineered BlackBerry 10 Enterprise platform.

While the Enterprise environment requires longer sales cycles than consumer-only focus product, the successful adoption of BES 10 and enterprise remains the single most important driver for Blackberry for future unit sales and service revenue opportunities.

Already over 60% of all of BlackBerry’s Fortune 500 customers, as well as market of government agencies have already installed BES 10. With BES 10 the massive challenge for Blackberry during this transformation is moving from a vertical BlackBerry-only proprietary player to providing a comprehensive cross platform management solution that is evolving to an Enterprise Mobile Services platform regardless of the device deployed.

The demonstration displaying BlackBerry 10 was also provided where an employee was showing an iPad and Android Nexus phone which was being run and managed by BES 10. So this way BES 10 outside key managers lower the total cost of ownership for the enterprise mobility and it also represents a key element of the strategic cross platform direction that BlackBerry is taking.

Check Out: Blackberry - Accomplishments During First Stage of Transition


‘I probably can’t provide you a more concrete example of adapting and making real change at BlackBerry and that we have gone from dismissing to bring your own device to work trend to actually embracing it and driving it in the enterprise services and we think we’ve taken the offering and technology to a whole new level in enterprise, getting them ready for not just mobile communication but also get them ready for mobile computing and its BlackBerry who is enabling this based on a very strong BES 10 services platform’ said Thorsten Heins.

So with this type of innovation that Blackberry is driving relentlessly through the company and into the market, they have product at hand with BES 10 being a premier solution for enterprises.

Thorsten also added, ‘And we all follow the news, let’s be very, very clear, the topic of security and enterprises, the topic of privacy for consumers is coming back full force and that is for BlackBerry 10 helps protect corporate assets and information, and that is we are on the same device managed by BES 10 and balance, BlackBerry helps to also keep your privacy. Nobody else can do this as good as BlackBerry and it matters, nobody loves to talk about it’.


Check Out: Blackberry Limited Three-Phase Transformation Plan and Vision

Samsung, Sony & LG: In-depth Comparison

Sony Xperia Z1 vs Samsung Galaxy Note 3 vs LG G2

We have seen many amazing phone releases at this year’s IFA 2013 at Berlin. Let’s look at the three most anticipated android phone releases of this year’s IFA, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, LG G2, and the Sony Xperia Z1.

These android smartphones are all set to wage war against each other. Let’s do a quick comparison of all the three phones to find out who comes out victorious this year. This is Note 3 vs G2 vs Z1

Design: On the design front, we have seen changes from all the three phones. The LG G2 has thickness of 8.9 mm thick, the G2 has a very thin bezel, with rounded corners and it feels super awesome in the hand. LG has come up with a very bold design of placing all the buttons on the back of the phone which makes it very thin, but it does take time to get used to the buttons on the back of the phone. Even with a bigger display of 5.2”The LG design-wise looks amazingly like the Galaxy S4 even with a bigger display and it certainly doesn’t feel like the phablet.

  

Sony has continued their design with respect to the Xperia Z and Z ultra, with very similar design. The Xperia Z1 has a 5.2 inch TFT display, it has one piece aluminum frame with the tempered glass build. Also the Xperia Z1 is IP 58 certified i.e. water resistant and dust resistant. The Xperia Z1 is very thin at 8.5 mm thickness and weighs in at 170 gms. It has no physical buttons on the phone. Also the design comes with a dedicated camera button as the main selling point for the phone is the 20.7 MP camera, which we will get to later.  

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 design surprisingly is quite different than the Galaxy S4. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 comes with 5.7 inch Super Amoled Screen with Squared corners as opposed to the Galaxy S4 with one physical button. Also Samsung has finally done away with the Glossy back cover, though still plastic the back cover has a better look and feel to it and it feels very premium in the hands. The Note 3 is bigger than the rest of the two, still thickness is measured at an amazing 8.3 mm, and it also weighs in at 168 gm, lighter than the Xperia Z1.

I don’t think in today’s world, we will ever be able to judge a phone by its design, but undoubtedly the Xperia Z1 and the LG G2 stand out in terms of their looks and design. Though LG G2 has all the buttons on the back of the phone, I think it is pretty innovative and useful, though it does take a little time to get used to it. There is no clear winner in terms of the design, and we will let you choose which design you like and it will depend on everyone’s taste and personal preferences.

Let’s take a head-to-head look at the specifications of these three smartphones:

Specifications	LG G2	Sony Xperia Z1	Samusng Galaxy Note 3	Verdict
Display	5.2 inch full HD IPS+LCD Display (424 ppi)	5 inch full HD TFT Triluminous Display with Mobile Bravia Engine 2 (441 ppi)	5.7 inch Full HD Super AmoLED Display with 386 ppi	Sony Xperia Z1 because of the Mobile Bravia Engine, the images are sharper and natural colors are displayed. More vivid colors on the other two phones
CPU	2.26 GHz Quallcomm Snapdragon 800	2.2 KHz Quallcomm Snapdragon 800	2.3 GHz Quallcomm Snapdragon (800 U.S.) 1.9 GHz Octa-Core Exynos processor for International versions.	Though very close, I think we should give the edge to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3
GPU	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	Adreno 330	It’s a Tie
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	3 GB	Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Memory	16/32 GB, No Micro SD Card Slot	16 GB with Micro SD Card Slot	32/64 GB with Micro SD Card Slot	Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Battery	3000 mAh	3000 mAh	3200 mAh	Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Camera	13 MP camera with OIS (2.1 MP Rear)	20.7 MP camera with OIS and 4k recording (2 MP Rear)	13 MP Camera with OIS and 4K recording (2 MP Rear)	Sony Xperia Z1
Operating System	4.2 Jellybean	4.3 Jellybean (Timescape UI)	4.3 Jelly Bean (Touchwiz UI)	It’s a Tie.
Connectivity	4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC	4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC	4G LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC	It’s a Tie.

Overall, I would like to say that while choosing a phone, you have to look at what exactly are you trying to achieve out of it. If it’s a camera phone you require with excellent display, the Sony Xperia Z1 would be perfect coming with a 20.7 MP Camera with Exymor R Sensor.

But overall, I would like to say that I am pretty impressed with the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the clear winner for me in this shootout of Android Giants would be the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The seamless integration of the S-pen along with a truly magnificent 5.7 inch Full HD Super AMOLED display just raises itself from the competition and I think the Note 3 will be the hottest selling Android phone for the remainder of the year.

Nokia Opens its gates to Microsoft

Salo, Finland which is the one of the heart and soul development facilities for the Nokia Lumia Windows phone, will soon become the home ground for Microsoft. Steve Ballmer seemed pretty excited to have a chance to talk about the very bold and exciting deal transaction that they announced today.

Microsoft is acquiring Nokia's phone business, so called mobile phone business as well as its smart device business. Secondly, along with acquisition of Nokia's phone business, Microsoft has also been assigned the right to Nokia's license, IP license with Qualcomm and other key IP licenses.

Ballmer said they are licensing not buying, ‘we are licensing Nokia's patents to be able to use them not only with our Windows phone and other phone product lines but across the Microsoft product set’. And also mentioned Nokia brings significant expertise in areas such as supply chain and demand planning and has mature operational systems in place that will be a key asset for the combined entities.

They are licensing the ability to use Nokia's HERE mapping geospatial location service to use that and modify it broadly in their products. Nokia Company will continue under the Nokia name. It retains the NSN business which is a network infrastructure business, its location and mapping business, its CTO office and the patent licensing business that goes along with the advanced technology work they are doing.

Nokia ships well over 200 million phones a year, the vast majority of those are mobile or feature phones that get sold for prices as low as say $25 and are often the first connection with technology that people in many places in the world have with any kind of communications or information technology device.

Mr. Ballmer said he is pleased to be acquiring the full capability of Nokia in phones, from mobile phone the smart devices, from engineering, to marketing, manufacturing, supply chain management and the like.

Nokia is a phenomenal company that Microsoft really had a chance to work with and got to know over the last two and half years. They knew the company earlier, but the working partnership has been quite remarkable.

Ballmer pointed out a few key points in his remarks.

We know we need to accelerate. We're not confused about that and we see opportunities to do so. We want to strengthen the overall opportunity for Microsoft from a devices and services perspective and the opportunity for our partners as well.  We are going about why this is a smart acquisition. It is a smart acquisition from a financial and assets perspective.

Today they have the Best Selling Lumia 520 at an entry level price point, the 620, the 720, the 820, the 920 which was voted smartphone of the year by Engadget's readers, the same year the iPhone 5 and Galaxy S3 launched and now the best camera phone in the world, the Lumia 1020. In just over two years, Nokia has gone from shipping no Windows phones to now shipping 7.4 million last quarter.

The Nokia windows phone momentum has made windows phone the fastest growing mobile platform with 78% year-over-year growth. Every quarter for the past eight quarters, more customers have activated windows phones than in the prior quarter. Microsoft is building momentum, but they still have a low share today.

Nokia's mobile phone division reaches a whole new customer segment from Microsoft shipping over 53 million phones last quarter. Terry Myerson, Executive Vice President, Operating Systems said, ‘We are excited to partner with this team to bring the next billion people on to the Internet. In the area of imaging, the Lumia 1020 has no equal’.

Some Financial Aspects of the Acquisition Deal:

First, Microsoft is paying €3.79 billion for Nokia's devices and services business, which includes thousands of design patents, key brands. Additionally €1.65 billion is being paid to license Nokia's broad intellectual property portfolio for 10 years with an option to convert to a perpetual license.

Microsoft expects this deal to have a negative $0.08 impact on adjusted basis and a $0.12 impact to GAAP earnings per share in fiscal 2014 based on the close date in early calendar 2014. The smartphone market is expected to reach over 1.7 billion units a year.

By owning the devices and services business, Microsoft will now be able to capture and utilize the entire growth profit of the device, which for Lumia was about $3 per unit in Nokia's most recent quarter. Using assumptions that are in line with industry forecast and current performance and trajectory, after it is integrated into Microsoft, we estimate that they will achieve operating income break even for this business when they sell approximately 50 million smart devices a year.

Nokia sold over 53 million mobile phone units in their second quarter and their strength in growth markets creates a unique opportunity for Microsoft to reach these users as they transition to smartphones.

Mr. Ballmer ended his speech saying, ‘The Lumia Windows phones in the market are some of the best products Microsoft has ever built in terms of capability, design, quality. We are very, very firm in our commitment and belief’.

So one of the things which I think we are more sort of acutely focusing on is, how do companies really make big acquisitions work? Only time can tell. And since we all know that Steve Ballmer is retiring, I personally feel he is going to be remembered for this acquisition along with numerous feathers on his hat. Wish him Luck.

Expect the Unexpected from Galaxy Note 3 @ Samsung's Unpacked Event (IFA '13)

We have all heard various rumors about the Note 3, but can Samsung pull a rabbit out of the hat, can they surprise their fans with something unexpected. Let’s look at a few possibilities of how they can manage to do that:

1.  Octa-core Processor: if Samsung does indeed decide to go with the Octa-core processor for its international version of the Note 3, the least we can expect from Samsung is that they will take care of the overheating issues that we have seen in the Samsung galaxy s4.

2.    Camera: For once, I want the rumors to be wrong and I want Samsung to surprise us with a better camera than the one used in the Galaxy S4. Also I would like to see the much hyped S-orb on the Note 3. S-orb is a 360° Panorama shot, Samsung’s version of the photosphere that we have seen in test videos and one we expect from Google in the next version of its android operating system, Key Lime Pie. Optical Image Stabilization, if Samsung can pull it off will be another great addition to the camera features, and also one of the selling points for the phone.

3.   Design: The design of the Note 3 is rumored to be very similar in terms of the Galaxy S4, as we have seen in previous launches of both devices. What would surprise us would be a different design, NOT based on the S4 or maybe a design that involves the use of less plastic, a major surprise would be an aluminum design. With the screen size most likely to be bigger than the previous 5.5 inch, I expect the Note 3 to be longer rather than being wider, which feels much more comfortable in the hand.

4.   Key Lime Pie: Will Note 3 be the first device to come with the much awaited Google’s fifth installment of its operating system, Key Lime Pie. If Samsung do manage to pull this off, it would certainly give them an edge compared to its competitors, and might be a huge selling point for the phone, especially since the launch of iPhone 5S is also rumored to be around the same timeframe. We saw the Note 2 become the first phone to ship in with the Jellybean operating system, can lightning strike twice?

5.    S-Pen: Nobody is talking about the S-pen. Samsung itself has been very tight-lipped about the S-pen, is this the calm before the storm? I am certain that we are going to see huge upgrades to the S-pen. Instead of S-pen replacing the finger, I would like to see the S-pen operate more like a mouse. Also, a scrolling feature in the S-pen would be a huge surprise, but is that a lot to ask for, lets wait and watch.

All eyes in Berlin, all we can do at this stage is speculate and I am sure everyone's as excited as I am for one of the most anticipated smartphone releases of 2013.