Archive for November, 2010

Apple Develops New Version of iPad with In-Built SIM-Card

apple-logo1The iPad tablet with an embedded SIM-Card which can be activated remotely is to hit stores either before Christmas or at the very beginning of 2011, The Sunday Telegraph reports, quoting the renowned European mobile operators.

Previously, Apple planned on implementing embedded SIM-cards in the iPhone, yet negotiations with major European operators made the company give up this intention,  according to an article published in The Sunday Telegraph. Operators warned they would stop subsidizing the iPhone which could negatively affect further sales of the device. According to Bernstein’s analyst Robin Binenstock, this step could potentially lead to an overall 12% drop in iPhone sales

Selling the iPhone through their networks, many operators currently subsidize part of the phone’s cost; i.e. they sell it for a lower price together with a long-term contract in exchange for future income from voice and data transmission services. While applying ordinary SIM-cards, mobile operators can firmly “tie” the subsidized devices to their mobile network. The embedded SIM-card makes it possible to choose an operator after purchasing the device. Operators, therefore, regard this as a possible threat to their business.

Apple believes that the use of the embedded SIM-card will allow the company to rely more on direct sales of the iPhone to consumers and exclude any third parties represented by mobile operators from the process. Opposition toward this move by mobile operators , as reported by the Financial Times, forcedApple to review its plans and implement embedded SIM-cards firstly in iPads which are often sold through retail networks without the participation of operators.

GSMA also announced their plans concerning the formulation of  a single industrial standard for embedded SIM-cards last week. It is still unclear how Apple will respond to this initiative, which potentially will impinge on the iPad manufacturer’s own plans..

Apart from the possibility of a remote selection of the operator, the use of embedded SIM-cards will allow for the access to GSM networks not only for mobile phones, netbooks and tablet computers, but also for cameras, MP 3 players, navigators and other digital equipment.

Posted in IT News, Mobile platforms at 08:11

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New Google Smartphone to Substitute Credit Cards

nexus sGoogle demonstrated the Android-based communicator, still not presented officially, at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco (California, USA).

Eric Schmidt, Google’s General Director, demonstrated the device. According to numerous web sources, the device in question is the Nexus S model which was already mentioned  on the Internet on several occasions.

According to Mr. Schmidt, the smartphone operates on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Platform which is to be announced in several weeks. The device will receive the embedded NFC (Near Field Communication) chip, owing to which customers will be able to pay for purchases and services by means of contactless operations, receive accompanying information, etc.

In other words, the communicator can substitute conventional payment cards, such as credit and debit cards. .

Nexus S is currently known to have 2 cameras and will be developed by Samsung.

It hasn’t been reported yet when Nexus S will hit the market and how much it will cost. It is quite possible that the device will be officially announced at CES 2011 exhibition which is to take place in Las Vegas  from  the 6th to the 9th of January.

Posted in IT News, Mobile platforms at 05:11

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Oracle Publishes Specification Drafts for Java 7 and Java 8

j2Oracle has submitted specifications of new Java-technologies to the Java Community Process Committee. The technologies are planned to be realized in Java 7 and Java 8 platforms. Their release is scheduled from   mid 2011  to the end of 2012. After studying the submitted materials, the Committee will make a decision as to whether the specifications should be approved or further enhanced.

The following specifications are to be reviewed:

  • JSR 334 – set of small Java language enhancements developed as part of Coin project;
  • JSR 335 – lambda-expressions for Java;
  • JSR 336 – options to be included in the release of Java SE 7, for instance, support of programming languages with a dynamic type assignment (InvokeDynamic Instruction), new API for entry/lead-out (NIO. 2), support of URL class download, updates connected with parallel accomplishment and support of collections, enhanced XML-stack, enlarged support of locales, new file system API, direct entry/lead-out  from ZIP and JAR-archives, Rowset 1.1., Unicode 6.0, JDBC 4.1, support of TLS 1.2, Nimbus and JLayer components for Swing GUI-toolkit;
  • JSR 337 – options aimed to be included in the release of Java SE 8 including Jigsaw module system, annotations for Java-types, support of language constructions for operations with collections, Swing application framework (JSR296).

Apache intends to vote against the approval of these applications and encourages other Committee members to act likewise.

Posted in IT News at 07:11

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Apache Attempts Decisive Plan of Action Against Oracle’s Java-Monopoly

apache_software_foundation_logo_3074Apache Software Foundation (ASF) was reelected member of Java Community Process (JCP) Executive Committee with 95 % of voices for a standard term of three years. The representatives of Eclipse Foundation, Google, Red Hat and other companies were also elected to the committee. In its address regarding this event, Apache Executive Committee thanks the community for the support and again tackles the key issue of licensing Java for the use in open applications and to the old problem of licensing limitations in tests for compatibility with Java SE.

Apache representatives also point out that if the limitations aren’t removed it won’t maintain its membership in JCP. “We don’t want membership in the organization for which law means nothing. Our membership under such conditions is fraudulent as it demonstrates that the community means nothing, and we promote solutions exceptionally for Oracle’s interests irrespective of the fact whether they coincide with the interests of the community”, says Jim Jagielski, President and Co-Founder of Apache Software Foundation.

The situation has now reached a critical point. Apache hopes to use its influence to make Oracle drop its Field-of-Use limitations included in the license. The re-election into the committee became positive news for Apache given rather a complicated period, since some time before that IBM announced its decision to stop supporting the Harmony project in favor of OpenJDK.

IBM was one of the most reliable and consistent allies of Apache in FOU. It is possible to assume that this step in the direction of OpenJDK means that at the upcoming voting for Java 7 IBM will support Oracle. In this case, it will join the organizations which believe that Oracle’s actions shouldn’t be interfered with for the sake of developing Java in general. In fact, Red Hat and Eclipse Foundation adhere to this idea.

Consequently, according to Jagielski, the chief question for Apache is now the future of Harmony. Without Harmony the participation of Apache in JCP will be useless and even artificial. Oracle is obviously seeking profit through the commercial licensing of Java. Larry Ellison said Java was the most valuable acquisition of all which became possible due to the purchase of Sun.

Apache doesn’t want to slow down the development of Java, said Jangielski, but at the same time the vote for the adoption of Java 7 (provided it still has licensing limitations) will put Apache in the improper situation. The decision to stay or leave the JCP Executive Committee will depend on the seriousness of the support Apache will get. “If the voting for Java 7 is negative it will mean that JCP still reflects processes which take place in society, and in this case we’ll stay and fight actively”. Oracle made no comments on the situation.

Posted in Corporate software, IT News at 07:11

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The European Commission to Invest into the Development of Symbian

symbian_osThe European Commission is to allocate 22 million EUR for the development of Symbian mobile platform. This is according to a report from the official Symbian blog Symbian being the developer of the most popular mobile operation system in the world.

It is also reported that the European Commission, leading European IT organizations, and the Symbian Fund will create the SYMBEOSE Consortium which stands for “Symbian, the Embedded Operating System for Europe”. The main objective of this organization will be to implement the projects which will raise the attractiveness of Symbian for investors and end users.

It is expected that the allocated funds will be spent on the simplification of issuing the new Symbian-based models. Symbian also want to improve the support of cloud computer technologies.

These initiatives are aimed primarily at supporting the Symbian Fund which has lately lost the support of a number of major mobile telephone manufacturers. Sony Ericsson and Samsung have recently announced the termination of the manufacture of Symbian-based new mobile phones. Only Finnish Nokia still manufactures Symbian-based smartphones.

Posted in Mobile platforms at 09:11

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