Smartphones could be the most important diagnostic tool of this century as part of a revolution in digital wireless medical devices, according to Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist working at The Scripps Research Institute, speaking at the TedMed conference last year. In a video released earlier this week, Topol shows off patches communicating with his smartphone to continuously monitor his vital signs.

I spoke briefly about this intersection of medicine and technology with Dr. Mohit Kaushal, director of health care for the FCC’s Broadband Strategy Initiative, earlier this week, who said that the FCC and the FDA were trying to establish rules to approve regulations that would allow diagnostics to move to smartphones. And who knows, maybe if the smartphone becomes useful for medical monitoring, perhaps those costly data plans will be reimbursed by insurance providers

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The apparent plan of Google Inc. to produce a mobile phone under its own brand has unsettled the wireless industry, but the Web giant won’t find it easy to replicate the same success it’s achieved on the Internet.

Last weekend, the company issued Google-branded phones to some employees, fueling reports it will sell its own handset directly to consumers by early next year. Yet Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been cryptic about its wireless strategy and its motives remain shrouded.

Until now, Google has focused on developing Android, its own mobile software platform for wireless phones, and licensing it for free to handset makers such as Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) , Samsung and HTC. Just as recently as last month, a senior executive insisted Google had no plans to compete with its handset partners by making its own phone.

Many industry analysts think Google should stick to that pledge. By producing its own phone and selling it directly, Google could alienate handset partners and actually harm its main goal of getting the company’s software onto more mobile devices.

What’s more, critics say, Google would be entering a lower-margin business in which it has little expertise, as well as fundamentally alter its DNA as one of the most creative software companies in the world. Success in hardware requires huge economies of scale and massive capital investment, but much like the computer industry, profits have steadily been squeezed as the handset business is commoditized. The bigger profits lie in software development, experts say.

“At the end of the day, I think it would be a big mistake,” said Frank Dickson, vice president of mobile research at the firm In-Stat.

Search for mobile strategy
What’s driving Google’s foray into the mobile business may be a desire to dominate the market for Internet searches, just like it does on laptops and desktop computers. The company generates the bulk of its $20 billion-plus in annual revenue from ads its places in results from Internet searches.

As more people buy phones with Internet access, the search market is expected to shift increasingly to the mobile Web.

Control of the fledgling mobile search market is still up in the air. With 11 million iPhone customers, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has become a major force in the mobile Internet. Wireless carriers are also seeking a chunk of the business. They don’t want to rely simply on monthly access fees for revenue.

The question for Google has been how to best compete in the mobile-search market. Several years ago, the company began to develop its own software for phones and the strategy has started to bear fruit. Most of Motorola Inc.’s (NYSE:MOT) new phones use Android, and Verizon Wireless had made a big splash with the Droid, an iPhone competitor.

“Google has done a good job with Android and getting a lot of manufacturers to support it,” said Jagdish Rebello, wireless analyst at iSuppli. “The fundamental object is to monetize the mobile-search market.”

Yet those relationships could be threatened if Google challenges handset makers head on. Most would be reluctant to rely on software controlled by competitor. Similar worries deterred many handset makers from adopting Nokia Corp’s (NYSE:NOK) Symbian software years ago, analysts point out.

“I don’t believe they want to get into the handset business,” said analyst James Brehm of Frost & Sullivan. “Why would they want to tick off all their partners?”

Wireless consultant Jane Zweig of The Shosteck Group suggests a rationale: Google doesn’t want to let handset makers and wireless carriers act as gatekeepers that control the software customers put on their phones. If consumers can make that choice, like they do with their PCs, Google can bypass the middlemen.

“Google wants to own the customer,” said Zweig, one of the few analysts who likes the company’s odds of success. “They’ve always been a mold breaker. Now they are breaking the mold by going straight to the end user.”

Tough mold to break
Going straight to the customer isn’t easy. Most customers have to choose a carrier before they buy a phone because big U.S. operators use different mobile technologies or frequencies. A phone that works on the network of Verizon (NYSE:VZ) won’t work with AT&T (NYSE:T) or T-Mobile or even Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S) And vice versa.

What’s more, smartphones like an iPhone are expensive to make, costing $500 or more. Handset makers are only able to sell large quantities because carriers offer them to consumers at below cost, typically $100 to $200. In exchange consumers have to agree to a two-year contract.

Google reportedly is mulling a strategy to sell “unlocked” phones that can work on the networks of AT&T or T-Mobile USA Inc. People could buy a Google phone online or in retail stores and then sign up with a wireless carrier.

U.S. consumers are not used to buying phones and wireless plans separately, however, and most are reluctant to shell out big bucks for a new device. Google could offer its phone at a discount if consumers accept a certain number of Internet-based ads, but such a pricing strategy has never worked.

“Google has more expertise in advertising than anyone else in the world, but an ad-supported business model is hard to do. Other companies have tried and failed,” said wireless analyst Tero Kuittinen of MKM Partners.

To help spread its costs, Google’s best bet is to strike a formal alliance with handset makers even if that means less control, analysts say. The latest talk suggests T-Mobile could agree to a distribution deal with Google.

Google is also limiting its exposure to the hardware business by contracting with Taiwan-based HTC to make the Google phone. That’s why many analysts are skeptical Google will dive into the handset business just like Apple, historically a hardware company.

Until the company reveals it full intentions, however, established wireless companies will be on guard. Google’s huge size and nearly unbroken string of success on the Internet marks it as a dangerous threat with the potential to reshape the wireless industry.

“The carriers and the handset makers will be nervous,” Zweig said

IDG News Service – Acer plans to launch as many as six new smartphones with Google’s Android mobile operating system in the first half of next year, a company executive said today.

The world’s second largest PC vendor this week started rolling out its first Android handset, the Liquid smartphone. The device went on sale via Hong Kong operator CSL on Wednesday and at Far EasTone Telecommunications of Taiwan today.

“We’re still evaluating the second half,” said Roger Yuen, vice president of Acer’s smart handheld business in Asia. Acer will ship five or six Android-based handsets in the first half of 2010, he said.

Acer plans to unveil Android mobile phones for three price levels, top-end, mid and low-end, as well as models aimed at business users and consumers, he said. The executive declined to say when Acer’s second Android mobile phone will be available.

Liquid, a 3.5-inch touchscreen smartphone with a Qualcomm 8250 Snapdragon chipset inside, was announced earlier this year. The device uses version 1.6 of Android, comes with a built-in GPS receiver for location services and a 5-megapixel camera.

The smartphone will be offered by mobile operators in Europe by the first quarter of 2010 and will continue to roll out around the world, Yuen said. Currently, it is only available through operators in Asia.

“We have several operators we are talking to both in Asia and in Europe,” he said. “We will be announcing [those deals] shortly, within the next month,” he added.

With the launch of Liquid, Acer also introduced new Android apps. Spinlets, a streaming music and video service, ships on the device. The app will allow users to listen to streaming music and watch videos free. Acer is working with music companies to sign them onto the service, a representative said.

“We have a very large R&D team so they work on Android projects,” said Yuen.

Another Android app ready for Liquid is an app to create an avatar for users to dress and use on their smartphones. Acer plans to continue developing Android apps to promote its handsets.

A number of rival Android smartphones have entered the market this year, including new handsets from Samsung Electronics, High Tech Computer (HTC), LG Electronics and Motorola.

Google developed Android to make Internet services such as social networking sites, e-mail, online maps and particularly Google services more easily accessible on smartphones.

Intel(INTC Quote) will have no choice but to buy ARM Holdings(AIG Quote).
The first reason is that ARM controls the market for smartphone processors, and Intel won’t be able to knock it off that perch.
ARM CEO Warren East said the other day in an interview, “I’m sure that Intel are going to get their Atom designed into a few handsets, it’s an inevitability. They go on their hands and knees. There will be a little bit of leakage, but it’s not going to be dramatic either way.”
I wholeheartedly agree. Intel will get some design wins, primarily from Nokia(NOK Quote), but ARM continues to make advanced processors, and there are too many leading semiconductor companies licensing its products for Intel to make inroads.
Remember that ARM owns the mobile Internet device (MID) space. It owns 95% of the mobile phone market and 85% of the smartphone market in unit shipments. ARM processors are being manufactured in the best semiconductor facilities.
Also remember that ARM has a very long list of current and former licensees: Alcatel(ALU Quote), Atmel(ATML Quote), Broadcom(BRCM Quote), Cirrus Logic(CRUS Quote), Digital Equipment Corp., Freescale, Intel (through DEC), LG Group, Marvell Technology Group(MRVL Quote), NEC, NVIDIA(NVDA Quote), NXP (previously Philips), Oki, Qualcomm(QCOM Quote), Samsung, Sharp, ST Microelectronics(STM Quote), Symbios Logic,Texas Instruments(TXN Quote),VLSI Technology, Yamaha, ZiiLABS and, oh yes, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing(TSM Quote).
ARM CEO East also said, “I don’t think ARM is going to take over the PC world from Intel, and I don’t think Intel is going to take the smartphone world from ARM.”
I disagree and think he’s just being humble, and this brings us to the second reason I think Intel will have to acquire ARM.
In a September article for TheStreet.com, I wrote that ARM will gain 55% of the netbook and smartbook market in 2012, the other sector where Intel’s Atom processors compete with ARM processors.
Why did I make such a controversial statement?
Analyzing these markets for the past 25 years has given me insight. And I can’t look past the promise of Google’s(GOOG Quote) Chrome and cloud computing as avenues to ARM’s success. In fact, new evidence is reinforcing my prognostications.
According to a Nov. 24 article in PC Magazine, “Although it’s not really known what the percentage of netbooks running Linux is, the number may have increased. In April, Microsoft(MSFT Quote) cited NPD studies that claimed just 4% of netbooks in the U.S. ran a non-Microsoft operating system. But ABI Research claimed in November that about one-third of all netbooks shipping globally this year will contain Linux or some other non-Microsoft OS.”
So, not only will ARM continue to dominate the mobile-phone market, it will eventually lead the netbook market, too. Intel should pay attention and buy ARM.

Qualcomm has raised its concern about market share in the high-end handset segment due to fiercer competition. The chipmaker is in talks with Apple for interest in future cooperation, according to market sources.

Qualcomm is supplying handset chips to Korea-based Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics (LGE) and Taiwan-based High Tech Computer (HTC). However, none of the most popular smartphones – iPhone, Blackberry and Palm Pre –adopt Qualcomm’s 3G solutions.
On the other hand, Motorola has a tight relationship with Freescale Semiconductor, while Nokia and Sony Ericsson are more likely to give ST-Ericsson priority on their supplier lists, the sources indicated.

In addition, Korea-based handset vendors have been promoting low-cost smartphones, meaning they tend to adopt more low-priced chipset solutions instead of more expensive chips from Qualcomm, bringing impact on Qualcomm’s market share worldwide, added the sources.

Dell officially hatched its grand smartphone plan and it’s focused on emerging markets and the Android operating system. The company confirmed its plans to launch smartphones in China and Brazil.

In a statement Friday, Dell said it will distribute its Mini 3 smartphones through China Mobile, the wireless behemoth in China. In Brazil, Dell has inked a deal with Claro, which has more than 42 million customers.

The strategy makes a lot of sense. In the U.S. Dell would face a crowded field. In so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) the growth pie is big enough to support multiple players and new entrants such as Dell. For instance, China Mobile has 500 million customers.

The other notable wrinkle here is that Dell’s Mini 3 smartphones run on Android. The Mini 3 will be available in late November on China Mobile and by the end of the year on Claro. In a blog post, Dell said:

With Android, we’re designing these initial Mini 3 phones to provide power, flexibility and customization to both our customers and to carriers around the world.

It remains to be seen whether Dell can be a smartphone contender, but if it’s going to be successful the emerging markets are the best place to start. Indeed, Ron Garriques, president of Dell’s consumer group, is familiar with emerging market turf since he led Motorola’s efforts abroad.

Dell said the moves solidify its “continued expansion into mobile Internet products.” Dell already has a bevy of netbook deals with various carriers around the world. Rumors of Dell’s move into smartphones have circulated for months. Dell CEO Michael Dell talked about the company’s smartphone plans on an earnings conference call in August.

Qualcomm could end up federating the currently fragmented open source mobile app space and giving Apple a real run for its money.

So far, developers have flocked to the iPhone because Apple makes it easy for them to present their apps to end users, and makes it easy for them to sell through an interface that’s familiar to most users (iTunes). Given the fact that apps are the tail that wag the smartphone dog, the question can fairly be asked: does anyone stand a chance against this?

The 75,000-plus (at last count) apps available on Apple’s iPhone app store seems like a big deal (Apple certainly markets it as such), and explains the iPhone’s ascendancy in the smartphone market. But 75,000 is actually an achievable goal in the open source world that dominates mobile platforms.

In contrast to PCs, which are 99.999999% proprietary software (mostly Microsoft Windows and Apple), the mobile world is predominantly open source, largely thanks to Nokia’s Symbian, the most popular smartphone operating system.

According to Juniper Research,

with over 60% of the smart-phone market now using an open-source OS, there has … been a significant a shift in position from proprietary to open-source.

The problem remains, however, that handset manufacturers (i.e., Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Motorola) each have their own app stores, each with its own way of presenting and selling apps to end users. Not good for developers and not good for end users.

Om Malik notes that while Android, Google’s open source mobile operating system, is taking off, “the problems Android faces are fragmentation of the user experience and the existence of multiple app stores.”

Maybe that explains why Qualcomm, which has already announced an app store of its own, has created a new subsidiary dedicated to open source platforms.

The wholly owned subsidiary, called Qualcomm Innovation Center, currently consists of software engineers who work on hardware-optimizing, open-source mobile operating systems and applications, the company said.

If Plaza Retail, Qualcomm’s mobile app store, can somehow federate the Web-based open source mobile app world, giving developers and end-users a single place to discover and pay for mobile apps, then the iPhone will be in for one heck of a battle in the long run. Because what iDoesn’t, Droid does. In other words, all apps being equal, Apple will have to start competing on its own product features, and that will be a change.

If you were wondering what Motorola (NYSE: MOT)’s third Android handset will look like, wonder no longer. New images have appeared that show a simpler handset that won’t match the CLIQ or DROID when it comes to specs.

This Android handset from Motorola has been masquerading under the codename “Calgary” for some time now. The Boy Genius (who else) managed to get some hands on with the device.

Similar to the CLIQ and DROID, it is a sideways slider with a touch screen and full QWERTY keyboard. According to the Boy Genius, other specs include a 3 megapixel camera, 3.5mm headset jack, GPS, digital magnetometer, Wi-Fi, and microSD card slot. Other hardware features include three touch-sensitive buttons on the front face of the phone and an optical trackpad.

If you’re thinking this will be a killer smartphone, think again. Compared to the specs we know the DROID will have, the Calgary is definitely a step down. Remember, the DROID has a 5 megapixel camera and the Calgary has a 3 megapixel shooter. In all respects, this looks like a mid-market device aimed more at the messaging crowd than a high-end smartphone for power users.

Another interesting move is that the Calgary will run MOTOBLUR, but as far as we know, the DROID will not.

None of this information is official and some of it is subject to change, but the Boy Genius says the device runs well and is pretty decent.

Exclusive: Google Plans Its Own Android Phone
Scott Moritz

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Move over Apple (AAPL Quote), Research In Motion (RIMM Quote) and Motorola, (MOT Quote) Google (GOOG Quote) is jumping into the smartphone market with a Android phone of its own.

In what is likely to be seen as disruptive to the wireless status quo, Google is working with a smartphone manufacturer to have a Google-branded phone available this year through retailers and not through telcos, according to Northeast Securities analyst Ashok Kumar, who has talked to Google’s design partners about the plan.

The move would fulfill Google’s pledge to bring a new generation of open-standard mobile Internet devices to consumers. By bypassing the carriers, who keep tight controls over the features and applications that are allowed on phones, Google will presumably offer a device that lets users determine the functions.

Google also has plans with computer maker Quanta to build its own netbooks that will run on a Linux-based Google Chrome operating system and be available next summer, says Kumar.

Both the Chrome netbook and the Android phone will use Qualcomm (QCOM Quote) chips, with the netbook running on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon platform, says Kumar, who has discussed the plan with original design manufacturers working with Google.

If talk of the Google phone plan is true, the entrance of a unlocked, low-cost, Web-friendly touchscreen device will probably undercut other Android phone efforts by players like Motorola, Samsung and Dell (DELL Quote).

Motorola’s entire turnaround strategy is based on the Android operating system. The company is expected to announce a ultra-thin Droid phone at Verizon (VZ Quote) next month. Both Verizon and Motorola expect the Sholes/Droid phone to be a significant challenger to Apple’s iPhone.

Dell is also working on an Android smartphone, which is expected to be ready early next year at AT&T (T Quote).

Skeptics point out that Google might have a hard time getting the phone out in time for the holidays, since it typically takes a year or more to bring a phone from design to production.

Industry analysts also argue that the move would be an affront to the U.S. carriers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint (S Quote) and Deutsche Telekom’s (DT Quote) T-Mobile, outfits that have been supporting the Android effort by selling or planning to sell subsidized devices.

“It’s a bit of a departure from Google’s strategy, but I think the speculation is valid,” says Michael Cote of the Cote Collaborative. And as for getting the phone to the market quickly, Google “would probably use a partner they are familiar with.”

HTC, the first developer of an Android phone, is also a no stranger to Qualcomm chips and would be the most likely manufacturer able to give Google what it wanted fast.

If Google goes through with the plan, it would point to how eager the Internet ad giant is to get Android in as many hands as possible so it can extend its search business beyond desktop computers to mobile devices. Going around phone companies to reach consumers is a bold move, but Google no doubt sees the wireless Internet market as a land-grab race with Apple, Nokia (NOK Quote) and Microsoft (MSFT Quote).

Google also has plans with computer maker Quanta to build its own netbooks that will run on a Linux-based Google Chrome operating system and be available next summer.

There are rumors that the PC maker plans to enter the smartphone market, but it may have a hard time muscling its way into the crowded field
By Roger L. Kay

Now that Dell is signaling its intention to vault into the smartphone market, industry watchers are asking whether the company can make a serious run. Don’t bet on it.

In August, Dell (DELL) announced plans to release a smartphone in China. In early October, it hinted at plans to enter the U.S. smartphone market, without going into detail.

Dell is nothing if not conservative, and it continues to waffle about exactly what it has planned. The company appears to have chosen to enter the smartphone market in as low-risk way as possible, partnering with established industry giants AT&T (T) and Google (GOOG). But it won’t say when its products will arrive or how they’ll work. Part of the reason for this tentative stance is that the stakes are extremely high.

Fallen From Its Perch
Dell was once a formidable rival to other PC makers, and a Wall Street darling, thanks to its ability to produce more cheaply, and sell more plentifully, than competitors. Now it has fallen from its perch.

When PC industry growth shifted from business desktops to notebooks sold to consumers, Dell was out of its element. It had trouble managing the notebook supply chain and making the kind of smartly designed machines consumers wanted. The company has taken steps to remedy those ills in recent years. Its computer designs now rival even those of Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), the industry leader in consumer notebooks.

But it’s still playing catchup in the handheld computer market. It might be asking too much for a company known for making boring business PCs to leap to the front of the pack in the smartphone market. Dell may not have the DNA for this kind of reinvention.

Tablets on the Way
A few years ago, mobile computing pretty much meant carrying a notebook computer. Then, Research In Motion (RIMM) put the office in our pockets with its hit BlackBerry device, and Apple (AAPL) opened the smartphone market to a whole new class of consumers with the iPhone. The iPhone lets it users read Web pages, send e-mail and text messages, talk on the phone, and run a huge number of productivity and entertainment applications. Pretty much the only thing it doesn’t let users do is create documents, and that idea was always a nonstarter in handheld computing anyway.

I saw these developments coming in 2005, when I formed Endpoint Technologies. I had been the PC analyst at market researcher IDC, but I suspected the PC’s heyday was drawing to a close. At Endpoint, I decided to consult on computing trends that encompassed all manner of computing devices, including smart phones, netbooks, tablet computers, and even home theater systems.

The smart phone may not be the pinnacle of handheld computing’s evolution. Even now, Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple are said to be creating new kinds of tablet machines. But for now, phones are where the action is in personal computing. The PC industry sells about 250 million to 300 million units a year, but the overall cell-phone market is at least twice as large.

No Zing After All
And while PC prices continue to fall, the prices of popular smartphones are rising, and so are the carriers’ average revenues per subscriber. Data plans make up an ever greater percentage of smartphone revenue, and nearly everyone in the computer industry is trying to get in on it.

Which brings us back to Dell. It’s tried to enter new markets, including mobile music, and had hired ex-Apple executive Tim Bucher, who has since departed Dell. The Round Rock (Tex.) company has planned to bring out a portable music player called the Zing to compete with Apple’s iPod, but it never made it to market.

In 2007, Dell hired Ron Garriques, the force behind Motorola’s (MOT) Razr cell phone. Two and a half years later, all we’re getting is rumors of Dell phones.

Adding Something to the Mix
This is a big, important market, and Dell can ill afford to get it wrong. By agreeing to sell phones that run Google’s Android operating system, Dell wants to leverage Google’s software development expertise and winning brand name. By partnering with AT&T, Dell sets itself up with an experienced operator.

Yet unlike Apple, Dell doesn’t bring its own flair to the phone market. Dell is good at assembling and distributing hardware. But unless it can add some interesting intellectual property to the mix, it’s hard to see how it can muscle its way into a meaningful place in the smartphone market.