Gmail on Android looks hot

Check out this video below from the Google team (and the post here) — it gives a super overview about the capabilities of the Gmail app on the Android mobile operating system.

What is the best selling phone in US?

Believe or not, the Motorola RAZR V3 is still the best-selling phone in the US.
Despite widespread reports of Moto’s painful death, it seems the US device maker’s iconic clamshell still the American consumer best choice. NPD Group says the RAZR outsold iPhone 3G, BlackBerry Curve, LG Chocolate and BlackBerry Pearl in the top five. 

Quite unbelievable right, US is the ONLY country where RAZR V3 tops. Perhaps the main factor being that the phone is sold everywhere, often free on a contract

Sadly for Moto, it makes little revenue from each sale, and has yet to follow up with a similarly sexy model.

New "Get a Mac" advertising

Check out this new ad from Apple. Its so simple and effective and I m sure Apple is spending almost next to nothing to produce it in comparison to Microsoft $300 million budget for Vista. Microsoft doesnt seem to get it and Apple is having all the fun poking at Microsoft's poor advertising. 

Morse code vs. SMS

Which is faster, Morse code or SMSing? 

Nokia's Product Placement in Britney Spears’ Womanizer

Nokia has scored the ultimate product placement for its Nokia 5800 XpressMusic touch-phone in Womanizer, the highly anticipated new music video from Superstar Britney Spears.

Featuring Britney Spears in many disguises, one of which is naked in a sauna room, Womanizer prominently incorporates the Nokia phone twice into the plot of the music video.

Nokia seems determined to take on the iPhone, and it doesn’t get any bigger than the highly celebrated Britney Spears comeback to push its first ever touch-phone.

Apple is positioned to ride economic storm with iPhone recording the best quarter sales

Apple sold 6.9 million iPhones in Q3 2008, and earned a net profit of $1.4 billion – up 26% from the previous quarter. Profits beat analysts’ expectations, despite lower than expected sales of $7.9 billion.

Last year Apple earned $9.6 billion in the same quarter. Analysts had been expecting profits of over $10 billion this year.

As Steve Jobs pointed out though, Apple is in an enviable position. He was quoted in the Financial Times saying, “We don’t yet know how this economic downturn will affect Apple, but we’re armed with the strongest product line in our history ... and $25 billion of cash safely in the bank with zero debt.”

And it looks like Apple will hit its target of shipping 10 million iPhones this year too.

Steve Jobs personally delivered the earnings call, and told investors that with $4.6 billion in iPhone sales the company is now the third biggest mobile phone manufacturer in the world.

Apple outsold Ericsson, LG, Motorola and Research in Motion (RIM), Jobs said, and was beaten only by Nokia and Samsung.

Apple has sold more than 13 million iPhones this year.

via Apple PR

Mobile Operator Globalive to adopt mobile advertising business model

Canadian mobile operator Globalive Communications is to use mobile advertising in an effort to keep consumer tariffs low and differentiate itself from incumbent operators Rogers Wireless, Bell Mobility and Telus. The newcomer has signed a deal with mobile marketing and advertising vendor MyScreen that will see Globalive's customers compensated for allowing targeted rich, full-screen advertisements placed on their mobile device at the end of a call or SMS. MyScreen has recently partnered with marketing agency Omnicom, which represents some of the world's major brands. UK MVNO Blyk, which itself this week announced an advertising deal with MTV is regarded as a pioneer in this space, and has already signed up over 200,000 customers.

Backed by Middle East giant Orascom Telecom, Globalive plans to launch services in the second half of next year and is targeting 1.5 million subscribers in the first three years. The move to a mobile advertising-based business model is the latest effort by the operator to position itself as a consumer-focused mobile company, following the launch of an online 'soapbox' forum last month which will gather consumers' opinions about what they seek in a mobile provider. 

Its great news for the mobile ad industry to see Operators like Globalive and Blyk taking their chance with such business model. There isnt a real success story yet but Blyk certainly are making good progress and while i doubt that complete ad supported advertising business model will work for the mobile operator business, I do believe that there is model for partial support as I m pretty sure they are segments of subscribers who are willing to pay for less for looking at ads revelant to them.  

Sony Ericsson's Q3 is in the red

Sony Ericsson  reported a net loss of €Euro 25 million (US$33.8 million) for the quarter, down from a profit of €267 million in the same period a year ago, while sales dropped 9.7 percent to €2.81 billion. However, the results were not as bad as many analysts had feared as analysts had predicted a loss of €141 million on sales of €2.74 billion. 

The vendor is currently in the process of implementing a cost cutting programme that will see it eliminate 2,000 jobs globally, and is targeting savings of €300 million a year by the second half of next year. 

 Sony Ericsson's unit sales fell to 25.7 million from 25.9 million a year earlier, beating the analyst estimate of 24.3 million units. The average selling price for its phones in the quarter was €109, down from €116 in the previous quarter and from €120 a year ago.

With more depressing times ahead, the future for Sony Ericsson isnt going to be easy one. Unless with better range of products, Sony Ericsson isnt expected to challenge or eat into the market share of its leading competitors. 

Tech firms dominate top brands

2008 Interbrand survey sees technology companies occupy 22 out of 100 places. Technology brands dominated this year's Interbrand Best Global Brands index, with IBM, Microsoft and Nokia dominating the top five.

The index, which continued to be headed up Coca-Cola at $66.67bn (£36.42bn) saw Microsoft and IBM change places.

Microsoft saw its brand value grow by one per cent over the past year to $59bn (£32.23bn), but failed to hold off IBM, which saw its value shoot up by three per cent in the same period to $59.03bn (£32.24bn), leaving Microsoft in third place.

Nokia and Intel retained their positions in the top ten at fifth and seventh respectively.

However, the top ten saw a new entrant in the form of Google, but its value was still far behind that of Intel and Nokia and more than half that of Microsoft and IBM's at $25.59bn (£13.98bn) – a jump in value of 43 per cent.

Elsewhere, HP came in 12th, while Cisco, Samsung and Oracle ranked at 17th, 21st and 23rd respectively. The firm that saw the second largest climb in its brand value after Google was Apple at a 24 per cent rise over its value in 2007. Its jump from 33rd to 24th means it has leapfrogged both Dell (32nd) and Sony (24th), as well as software vendor SAP (31st).

Canon (36th) remained stationary, while Nintendo saw a climb of four places to 40th. Other names in the list included Philips (43rd), Xerox (59th), BlackBerry (73rd), Panasonic (78th) and Motorola (87th).

Google Strong Q3 beating Wall Street expectations

Google beat Wall Street expectations for its third quarter, reporting net income of $1.35 billion, up from $1.25 billion. Revenue was $5.54 billion, up from $5.37 billion a year ago.

Google-owned sites generated revenue of $3.67 billion, or 67% of total revenue, in the third quarter, up 34% from a year ago. Google’s partner sites generated $1.68 billion, a 30% increase from a year ago.

Perhaps most importantly, capital expenditures finally dropped sequentially, so free cash flow was very strong ($1.7 billion). That's almost a $7 billion free cash flow run-rate. With an enterprise value of about $100 billion, the stock is trading at only 15X cash flow.  Google is certainly in great shape to weather through the global economic depression and in great good position to pick up some good tech companies along the way. 

7 Ways to Help Yourself Recognize Opportunity

One of most powerful ways to change your life and the lives of others is by spotting opportunities for improvement. Opportunity is in front of your eyes – right now – and you don’t see it. So how do you open your eyes wider? How do you see the hidden opportunity that exists everywhere in your environment?

1. Develop relationships with highly creative people – Creative people see opportunity everywhere and their insight will rub off on you. The best way to learn to see a world of possibilities is to hang out with people that spend most of their time actively creating things. People who create art, literature, businesses, graphics, websites, ideas, music, markets, products, or anything else constructive. Find ways to spend your days and nights talking about creative ideas and thinking about possibilities. With Web 2.0 and social media your opportunity to meet other creative people and share ideas is greater than ever before in human history. No matter where you are, if you can connect to the internet, you can meet and hobnob with creative people from every corner of the globe. What an amazing possibility this is. Think of the endless opportunity our connectedness provides.

2. Write down everything that surprises you – Many great opportunities are fueled by surprises. Surprises are usually funny, amazing, and insightful. Carry a small notebook and digital camera everywhere and document everything that surprises you. You will find endless opportunity to create things from your surprises.

3. Journal about problems – Some people say there is no such thing as a problem; there are only opportunities. I concede they may be right. For every problem there is a solution and that solution will have value to others. Documenting obstacles and problems and the solutions you use to overcome them is an opportunity for you to bring value to others.

4. Journal about possibilities – Imagine grand possibilities and write them down. Imagine inexpensive limitless clean energy. What would it look like? How would we use it? Imagine yourself being the greatest possible person you can be. What would you be? Imagine your dream business. Imagine the future you would create if you could create any possible future. What would it look like? Write it down. Find the opportunities hidden inside your imagination.

5. Be open to unorthodox ideas – If your first reaction to an idea is defensive, stop yourself and think “Wait, listen, let them finish. Listen to the entire idea and then imagine the possibility of the idea.” Don’t shoot down an idea just because it sounds far out or strange. Give it a moment, wait for your defensiveness to pass and then look at it again. Sleep on it or wait several days to get your prejudices out of the way. It has taken years of persistence for me to accept several unorthodox ideas that have proven valuable.

6. Eliminate limiting beliefs and mindsets – Are you one of those people that say “I’m just not that creative.” Do you think playing with gadgets is frivolous? Are you a bit too serious? Are you easily offended? Are you willing to indulge your curiosity or are you afraid of looking foolish? Do feel a need to follow the rules without question? All these things come from limiting beliefs and mindsets which will limit your ability to sense opportunities. Identify and smash your limiting beliefs.

7. Be grateful –Being grateful is the antidote to resentment and complacency. Resentment and complacency block your ability to see clearly. The best way to clear resentment and complacency from your mind is to be grateful for where you are right now. Be grateful for your gifts and your weaknesses. Be grateful for your success and your setbacks. If you are grateful for all things, including those that appear to go wrong, you will be able to see them for the opportunities they are.

A humorous and simplified way to explain the current financial situation on the Wall Streett

Once upon a time in a village in India, a man announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10.

The villagers seeing there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at $10, but, as the supply started to diminish,the villagers stopped their efforts. The man further announced that he would now buy at $20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to $25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now act as buyer, on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: 'Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when he returns from the city, you can sell them back to him for $50.'

The villagers squeezed together their savings and bought all the monkeys.

Then they never saw the man or his assistant again, only monkeys everywhere! Welcome to WALL STREET.

Nokia's Q3 falls in profits and market share fell to 38%

Nokia, the world's largest handset manufacturer reported a third-quarter falls in profits, sales and market-share but said it expects industry device volumes to grow in 2008. The Finnish vendor reported a 30 percent slide in Q3 profit, with net income falling to €1.09 billion (US$1.47 billion), from €1.56 billion (US$2.11 billion) a year earlier. Sales fell 5.1 percent to €12.2 billion (US$16.5 billion). 

The Finnish giant shifted 117.8 million handsets, an increase of 5 per cent, contributing to industry mobile device volumes of 310 million units, up 8 per cent year on year.

The vendor also confirmed a warning from September that its global device market share fell from the Q2 value of 40 percent to a Q3 value of 38 percent. On a positive note, Nokia said in a statement its Q4 market share will remain constant or grow slightly and the company "expects industry mobile volume will be approximately 1.26 billion in 2008, up from approximately 1.14 billion units estimated for 2007." 

While mobile device sales in the Asian market grew nearly 14% to reach 33.6 billion, sales in the European and North American market both declined. North American sales were hardest hit, falling 16.7% to 4.5 million.

Looks like Samsung and LG is really hot on the heels of Nokia or could that be coming from Apple's iPhone??

via Nokia PR

Microsoft planning RIM takeover?

As Research in Motion (RIM) shares continue to decline, the industry is abuzz with speculation that Microsoft may be planning to buy up the company.

RIM shares have dropped in value substantially owing to the global financial crisis, trading at below $64 from a high of around $150.

According to financial analyst Canaccord Adams, as quoted in Reuters, Microsoft is believed to have a standing offer to buy all RIM shares at $50 each, but may be waiting until the share price drops below that to make its move. Adams believes Microsoft will gladly pay around $28 billion for the company.

This is not the first time Microsoft has been rumoured to be plotting a RIM takeover – in August last year, it was rumoured to be plotting to buy out RIM in response to Google entering the mobile OS market.

But back then, market analysts found the rumours hard to swallow, with InformationWeek reporting that the high asking price would mean Microsoft would spend 22% of its market cap on a company that makes just 10% of Microsoft's revenues.

But with RIMs share price dropping, this latest round of rumours would appear to be more credible and Microsoft is certainly seating on alot of cash to be in a position to take over RIM. 

US National Debt Clock Runs Out of Space

From AIG and Wachovia to WaMu, we all knew that the economy is in bad shape. But you know things with the economy are going really really bad when the national debt clock maxes out and requires being replaced with a bigger one to accommodate the increasing debt.

The clock, which was set up in 1989 with a US national debt of $3 trillion, has reached its limit and couldn’t display the new debt of $10 trillion. The dollar sign would had to be dropped off to give away to the extra digit.

How did the Financial Crisis started in the US

The video clip below will help you better understand the current financial fallout in the US especially how it all started from the beginning. It will take many years for the bankers to regain its credibility.

New Michael Jordan Commercial

ASUS Launches Fashion-Friendly Laptop for under $800

Who said that Fashion and Trendy has to be expensive? ASUS had just launched the Eee PC S101, a well designed netbook for fashionable individuals who put fashion and style as an important factor for buying a laptop. 

The Eee PC S101 builds upon the industry-pioneering form factor, ergonomics and features of its predecessors but boasts a beautiful exterior in three gorgeous colors—Brown, Champagne or Graphite. Its incredible portability weighing a mere 1 kg and svelter than most fashion magazines at just 1.8 cm enables users to carry themselves with effortless.  At times, you would had mistaken if for a Apple's MacAir.

For details of the spec, pls check out below.

Wall Street is on fire, check out how obscene these CEOs are being paid for the mess they co-created and responsible for

Except for John Mack whom i thought was not being over-paid, the rest was really earning obscene packages. What do you think? Werent these supposed to be industry leaders who are supposed to be the best of the best managers and yet they failed so badly to save the financial industry from falling apart.

I m on the BIG SCREEN on Times Square in New York

Guess what this is no photoshop job. This is yours truly on the BIG SCREEN. I was walking around Times Square just now and Microsoft's promo team was just happened to be around to promote their latest I'm a PC advertising campaign. Its really a double bonus!!

New Gadgets coming your way soon

1. Calliper Style Radio
Like a precision calliper tool, this state of the art design radio lets you precisely find the station you want by sliding the entire radio unit up and down the scale.

2. Jive for the elderly
Jive is a range of 3 products that were designed to get elderly technophobes connected to their friends and family.

3. LifeMap
Touch screen digital photo storing and organization product.

4. Microsoft Arc Mouse
When you go advanced in all your computer equipments, the next best thing is to get a futuristic mouse.

5. Pebble Key Port
Designed with many slots so that user can easily group their keys into categories such as car keys, home keys or office keys.

6. Pixel Perfect Hour Glass

7. New dSLR
Concept of a digital camera which can be used in one hand.

8. Future Internet Search
All you need to do is point the tablet at any object and you should get search results as good as Google's, just more interactivity.

9. Sunshine Pillow

10 .Capsule Radio Clock
Not rocket science, but definetely cool to get one.


11. Info-Live Watch
INFO Live is an data organizer for connected internet world. It is able to transfer data information to any hardware and person any moment in time of need.

12. B-membrane Laptop/Desktop
Concept computer designed by Korean designer. No bulky monitors, just a UFO shape system that displays screen like a projector.

13. Nokia Aeon Full Screen Concept Phone
The most prominent design feature of aeon is a touchscreen that stretches over the full surface area of the phone.

14 Napkin PC
The Napkin PC is a multi-user, multi-interface, modular computer designed for creative professionals to collaborate and bring their greatest ideas to life.

15. Cellphone Code
This phone uses haptic technology to provide physical feedback for making a call.

16. Virtual Goggles
Designed and conceived by Franz Steiner, he wondered what the personal assistant might look like in the future.

The Evolution of Company's Trademark

1. XEROX

2. Microsoft

3. Motorola

4. Firefox

5. Nokia

6. Palm

7. Canon

8. IBM

9. Apple
10. Google

11. LG