Nokia sees mobile future with touch screens and sensors. Sounds familiar

Nokia's Chief Technology Officer, Tero Ojanpera, has said that future mobile phones will have touch screens and optical sensors. They'll be "the next big thing" he said at the CommuicAsia telecom fair.

"I believe there will be a lot of innovation around these," he continued.

Though touch screens aren't a new thing for Nokia, they haven't really made it on to their mainstream devices. Perhaps the threat from the likes of Apple's iPhone and LG's Prada phone are making them take notice.

Not everyone wants to abandon physical keyboards altogether, but many people will see devices with large touch screens as the norm, once the iPhone hits shelves next week.

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Posted by Andy Merrett on June 19, 2007 11:33 AM in What Apple's rivals say
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Verizon CEO talks up network, iPhone alternatives

CEO of Verizon, Ivan Seidenberg, recently talked up his network on the "Mad Money" TV show.

He said that the iPhone would create a lot of buzz and add "sizzle" to the industry, but that ultimately the Verizon network was the most advanced, and had a range of new products coming out. That would ensure customers would realise the greater choice Verizon offered.

He believes that people will go to AT&T, and then compare the product will what Verizon can offer.

Posted by Andy Merrett on June 7, 2007 10:56 AM in What Apple's rivals say| iPhone industry Views
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Microsoft Entertainment's Robbie Bach respectful of iPhone, pushes Windows Mobile

Being slightly kinder than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, head of the Microsoft Entertainment division, Robbie Bach, has spoken of the iPhone:

"Apple is very good at design; they come up with interesting approaches to products. Like anything else, it will have its trade-offs. It will be pretty high priced, and just on the Cingular (AT&T) network. But, it's an Apple product. It'll attract its level of attention from Apple enthusiasts, and we'll see where it goes from there. And it's a new concept, highly integrated," he said.

Posted by Andy Merrett on May 29, 2007 3:56 PM in What Apple's rivals say
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Ed Zander claims "wickedly cool" Moto products coming soon

Ed Zander has a lot to say about the iPhone, even though he still can't utter its name, and the CEO of Motorola responded to a recent question about dealing with the iPhone by retorting, "How do they deal with us?"

Using the language of (yesterday's) street, he promised that Motorola would be revealing some "wickedly cool" products over the coming months, including a high-end phone coming to Europe next week that has "has unbelievable video capability" and is "a media monster".

Posted by Andy Merrett on May 10, 2007 12:06 PM in What Apple's rivals say
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Ballmer: iPhone won't get any significant market share

In an interview with USA Today, Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, had a thing or two to say about the iPhone:

"Would I trade 96% of the market for 4% of the market? (Laughter.) I want to have products that appeal to everybody.

Now we'll get a chance to go through this again in phones and music players. There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It's a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I'd prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get."

Posted by Andy Merrett on April 30, 2007 12:03 PM in Latest iPhone news| What Apple's rivals say
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Steve Jobs has helped the entire smartphone market, says Research In Motion CEO

"Hats off to Steve," Research In Motion co-Chief Executive Officer Michael Lazaridis said in an interview yesterday at the CTIA Wireless conference in Orlando, Florida. "He made smartphones cool again. Now everyone wants one. He helped the entire industry."

Lazaridis says that the BlackBerry and iPhone aren't in competition with one another, because they target different users. "One is pure consumer and pure consumable. One is pure function and pure productivity."

That's a little insulting to the iPhone, and to consumers, really. It suggests that only businesspeople appreciate and use technology that is functional and helps them to be more productive.

Posted by Andy Merrett on March 28, 2007 9:28 PM in What Apple's rivals say| iPhone industry Views
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Sony talks iPhone and Steve Jobs

Smarthouse reports on a TV interview (as yet unaired) with Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer. Amongst other topics, he talks about the iPhone and Apple:

In talking about current products, when asked about Apple's iPhone Stringer said, "The good news is that Steve Jobs spotted a trend that we've seen. The phone is a convergence device, between music and a phone. We are all building variations on the same theme. We have sold plenty of Walkman phones [from Sony Ericsson], especially in Europe."

While Stringer is pleased with Sony's cellular phone progress, [he said] "I would never sit up here and say I'm not worried about Steve Jobs. I wouldn't bet against Steve."

Proof, if it were needed, that the iPhone is ruffling a few feathers in large mobile companies.

Related stories:

• iPhone sets the standard for the mobile industry to aim at
• Palm CEO is sceptical of the iPhone
• Journalist reminds Apple of Newton flop, presuming iPhone will do the same

Posted by Andy Merrett on March 19, 2007 11:55 AM in What Apple's rivals say
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