Infineon, Europe’s second-biggest semiconductor maker, expects the all-cash transaction to close in the first quarter of 2011, according to a statement today. The business makes third-generation, or 3G, chips for devices like Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S.

WLS, a leading provider of cellular platforms to top tier global phone makers, will operate as a standalone business serving its existing customers. WLS will also contribute to Intel’s strategy to make connected computing ubiquitous from smartphones to laptops to embedded computing.

“The global demand for wireless solutions continues to grow at an extraordinary rate,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “The acquisition of Infineon’s WLS business strengthens the second pillar of our computing strategy — Internet connectivity — and enables us to offer a portfolio of products that covers the full range of wireless options from Wi-Fi and 3G to WiMAX and LTE. As more devices compute and connect to the Internet, we are committed to positioning Intel to take advantage of the growth potential in every computing segment, from laptops to handhelds and beyond.”

“The sale of WLS is a strategic decision to enhance Infineon’s value. We can now fully concentrate our resources towards strong growth in our core segments Automotive (ATV), Industrial & Multimarket (IMM) and Chip Card & Security (CCS). This creates a great perspective for all Infineon customers, employees and shareholders,” said Peter Bauer, CEO of Infineon Technologies AG. “We all stand to benefit enormously from this deal. Thanks to the outstanding effort of the employees and the management during the last years, WLS is excellently positioned to grow further with the new owner who is ideally suited for this business.”

The WLS transaction is a strategic decision for Intel and Infineon. WLS complements Intel’s existing assets and enables growth in mobile computing, smartphones and embedded computing.  Infineon will benefit from this by stronger addressing three central challenges to modern society – energy efficiency, mobility and security.

Intel’s goal is to expand its mobile and embedded product offerings to support additional customers and market segments, including smartphones, tablets, netbooks, notebooks and embedded computing devices. Through this effort, Intel will pair WLS’ best-in-class cellular technology with its core strengths to enable the delivery of low-power, Intel-based platforms that combine its applications processor with an expanded portfolio of wireless options — bringing together Intel’s leadership in Wi-Fi and WiMAX with WLS’ leadership in 2G and 3G, and a combined path to accelerate 4G LTE.

Intel expects WLS to continue growing, and remaining a standalone business to ensure continuity of existing customer sales, projects and support. The business will continue to support its customers with the best solutions possible, including ARM-based products as well as Intel-based application processor platforms with leading-edge 3G slim modem solutions.

WLS today holds leading positions in the field of wireless mobility and cellular platforms for smart phones and ultra-low-cost, entry phones. WLS provides baseband processors, radio-frequency transceivers, power management integrated circuits (ICs), additional connectivity features, single-chip solutions as well as the corresponding system software. This helps to enable the smooth transmission of voice and high-speed data from the backbone of the telecommunication network to the end user’s device. With annual revenue of Euro 917 million, WLS was approximately 30 percent of Infineon’s total annual revenue of Euro 3.03 billion in the past financial year.

The board of directors of Intel and the supervisory board and the management board of Infineon have approved the transaction. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011, subject to certain regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions specified in the definitive agreement.

i personally think this is a good deal for both companies as Intel will be able to strengthen its position in the fast-growing smartphone market which they have very little share in. On the other hand, Infineon will be able to sell its wireless unit at a time when the more cyclical business is running successfully. The transaction price is fair and is in line with expectations according to industry experts.

The acquisition follows Intel’s $7.68 billion purchase of security software maker McAfee Inc., and fits a plan by Chief Executive Officer Paul Otellini to lessen the company’s reliance on the personal-computer market. Intel, based in Santa Clara, California, wants to get its processors into smartphones like the iPhone and could use the business to beef up the wireless features of PCs.

Below are the highlights of the deal as published in Intel’s Press room:-

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

• Intel to purchase Infineon’s Wireless Solutions Business, called WLS, in a cash transaction valued at approximately $1.4 billion. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2011.
• WLS sale enables Infineon to expand leading position in markets for automotive, industry and security technologies.
• WLS will operate as a standalone business. Intel is committed to serving WLS’ existing customers, including support for ARM-based platforms.
• The acquisition expands Intel’s current Wi-Fi and 4G WiMAX offerings to include Infineon’s 3G capabilities and supports Intel’s plans to accelerate LTE. The acquired technology will be used in Intel® Core processor-based laptops, and myriad of Intel® Atom™ processor-based devices, including smartphones, netbooks, tablets and embedded computers.
• The deal aligns with Internet connectivity pillar of Intel’s computing strategy.

So, are we going to see the “Intel Inside Logo” on iPhones soon???……    :-)

The iWorry app can enable users to jot down their worries in a worry list the moment they occur in order to get them out of their head quickly. While doing so, they can also assign a tag to a worry for easy retrieval and filtering later on. Users can also schedule a worry time. Only at the appointed time that they can view their worry list. “This serves to discipline users to worry only at a specific time.” said Waihon Yew, founder of Pringgle Media.

When the worry time is reached, users go to a chosen worry place where they can be with themselves and think through their worries. For each worry, they can either delete it from their list if it is no longer relevant or note down their decision such as a solution or action for follow-up. A decision tag that summarizes the decision made can be chosen. “There are some time-saving features that users will find handy such as viewing only those worries associated with a specific tag and deleting multiple worries at one go.” said Yew.  Using this way, users can tackle their worries in a more systematic and holistic way.

Below are some of the screenshots of the iWorry app:-

Those worries updated with a decision are captured in a logbook, which is separated from the main worry list. The logbook is grouped by decision tags. Within a group of worries, users can further filter the list by a worry tag. Those worries no longer relevant can be deleted from the logbook. “Users can also password protect iWorry to prevent undesired access to their private information.” said Yew.

The iWorry Apps is currently available for downloads at the Apple’s AppStore. There are 2 versions of the app i.e. the iWorry(standard) which is available at US$2.99 and iWorry Lite which is available for FREE.

To see how the iWorry works, below is a video on the iWorry App:-

All in all, i think this is a great app that can serve its purpose. Congratulations to Pringgle Media on the launch of the iWorry app. i am sure we can see many more great app coming from this company in the future. Malaysia Boleh!  :-)

Although Apple claimed that the mobile operating system would work on both the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G, users have not been very unsatisfied with the performance that they recieved after the upgrade. In addition to that, there are people who indicated that the operating system causes reduction in the battery performance of the iPhone.

Other low performance indicators include a drop in the responsiveness of the smartphone, and the lagging of many applications. It seems that the recent iOS 4.0.1 update did little to alleviate the probelms faced by users.

Following the recent spate of problems with regards to mobile connectivity in the iPhone 4, Apple is taking this new series of complaints very seriously. The iOS4 offers over a hundred enhanced features for the iPhone, and the new software release causing problems is regrettable.

So, if you are currently using the iPhone 3G and plan to update your software to the IOS4, i would strongly recommend that you hold that back for now until a more stable version of the iOS4 software is out.

Below is a youtube video which highlights some of the issues on the iPhone 3G which has been upgraded to iOS4:-

Below is the article written by Sherry Mazzocchi from NYDailyNews.com:-

Smartphone apps could be sharing your private data

You might not give out your phone number to strangers, but the free app you downloaded on your phone might be doing just that.

Technology Review reported that apps downloaded on mobile devices can collect users’ sensitive data – such as phone number, location and contact lists – catching users as well as application developers unaware.

The App Genome Project, developed by the mobile security company, Lookout, examined more than 300,000 phone apps. They found that that most app developers don’t know that the code written by third-parties is harvesting users’ data.

“Mobile apps are doing a lot of things that people would not expect,” Lookout CEO John Hering told Technology Review.

In one example, the project found that a wallpaper application for the Android gathers users’ data and then transmitted it to a server over an unencrypted network connection. The information included the device’s number, subscriber identification and even the voicemail number for the phone. It was estimated that the app was downloaded over 1.4 million times.

Apps for the iPhone, Blackberry and Android phones can all gather sensitive data from users. Both the iPhone and Android systems warn users that the app wants to collect sensitive data, but it doesn’t reveal what data is collected or where it will end up.

While the project didn’t find any actual malicious use of the data, they did say that third-party apps have the potential to take control of a phone. The project found instances where Androids released user data into logs that made it accessible to other applications. That vulnerability has since been addressed by Google and fixed in the v.2.2 versions of Android and beyond.

Nearly one-third of all free iPhone apps try to get a user’s location. Approximately 14 percent of iPhone and 8 percent of Android apps try to access users’ contact information.

The project found that almost half of the Android apps and over one-fifth of the iPhone apps depend on code written by third-party developers. The ‘application framework’ makes building the app easier, but might also allow it to do things the developer never intended.

“Apple and Goggle are doing a great job trying to keep these platforms secure,” Hering told Technology Review, “but that does not mean anything if the developers are introducing vulnerabilities using third-party development kits.”

Below is the live coverage on how he communicated this message during the iPhone 4 press conference call:-

So, apart from this key message that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would like to convey to the new purchasers of the iPhone 4, what else did he cover during the iPhone 4 press conference? Below are the summary:-

• Steve Jobs apologized to the purchasers of iPhone 4 and admits that Apple is not perfect
• iOS4.0.1 software update is out which fixes the wrong formula that Apple uses to calculate how many bars to put up for a given signal strength as well the Exchange bug
• Next iOS update will fix the proximity sensor issue
• Apple sold 3 million iPhone 4 in 3 weeks
• The iPhone 4 has the highest customer satisfaction rating of any smartphone
• The iPhone 4 to be available for sale on 30th July in 17 countries i.e. Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. ~Damn~ Malaysia is not in there….  :-(
• Antennagate issue does not only happen on iPhone 4. Other smartphones like Blackberry, Nokia, Motorola and HTC also drop bars if held in a certain way.
• The iPhone 4 drops one more call per hundred than the iPhone 3GS
• Only 0.55% of all iPhone 4 owners called Apple to complain about the antenna
• Apple invested $100 Million in antenna test facilities
• The White iPhone 4 will start shipping at the end of July
• Steve Jobs was on vacation in Hawaii and came back for the conference
• Someone has made a cool song out of this iPhone 4 antenna issue

Before we sign off, below is the cool song about the iPhone 4 antenna issue. This is a cool way to get free publicity….  :-)

With the strong sales recorded for the iPhone 4, Apple has better address this issue well. Otherwise, they may be pissing off some of their most loyal and die-hard fans. Apple has recorded 1.7 Million units sale in the first 3 days of launch. This is another record in the Apple history. In 2008 and 2009, Apple has sold 1 million each of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS respectively in their initial weekend of sales.

Apple has initially claimed that the antenna issue was merely a software problem that the onscreen signal strength display is over-stating the actual signal strength. Consumer Reports and some other sources have conducted a laboratory test which proves that the iPhone 4 does suffer from higher signal attenuation compared to other devices and that a software fix will not be able to solve the problem. With this report going into mainstream news, Apple is once again in the hot seat.

Below is the video by Consumer Reports about the iPhone 4 antenna issue.

So, what will Apple be announcing this coming Friday?

Below are some of the guesses from other major news/blogs/forums:-

1.  Apple to recall the iPhone 4

2.  Apple to issue a free upgrade of the phone when the problem is fixed

3.  Apple to continue to deny the issue

4. Apple to issue a bumper cover to all iPhone 4 purchasers  - quick fix and cheaper option

Below is a video on how the bumper option works to fix the Apple iPhone 4’s antenna issue.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed on this and not speculate too much until we hear it from Apple.  :-)

]]> http://www.iphonemalaysiablog.com/news/apple-to-hold-a-press-conference-about-the-iphone-4/feed 0 http://www.iphonemalaysiablog.com/news/apple-to-hold-a-press-conference-about-the-iphone-4 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/iphonemalaysiablog/rLvO/~3/u-XxUZW-Rss/iphone-4-launch-madness http://www.iphonemalaysiablog.com/news/iphone-4-launch-madness#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 22:40:14 +0000 admin http://www.iphonemalaysiablog.com/?p=493 iPhone 4 is finally launched in the US, UK, Germany, France and Japan. The pre-orders for iPhone 4 has exceeded 600,000 and is giving AT&T servers some problems last week. The iPhone 4 launch is probably going to be another big hit and may yet set another record for the Apple launches.

In June 2010, apart from the “Waka Waka” style World Cup Kickoff in South Africa which is gaining a huge following, i suppose the iPhone 4 launch is also not to be left out.

Below are some of the pictures captured before the launches at various places above. The below pictures are courtesy of Engadget.com and Wired.com.

Well, the champion among all of these is still a guy in Dallas who has has waited patiently despite the hot summer heat for 1 week just to get to be the first to get his hands on the iPhone 4 in Dallas. Below is the picture of Justin Wagoner who camped outside the Apple Retail Store 1 week before the launch of Apple iPhone 4.

Below is the explanation of why he did it as found in the MacRumour forum:-

Let’s see what the actual sales figures will come out to be in the first week of launch. i am sure there are a lot of Malaysians out there who are eagerly awaiting for the launch of iPhone 4 in Malaysia as well. Let’s see if there will be a queue of this sort in Malaysia…..

]]> http://www.iphonemalaysiablog.com/news/news-video-of-iphone-4-presentation-by-steve-jobs-during-the-world-wide-developer-conference-in-san-francisco/feed 0 http://www.iphonemalaysiablog.com/news/news-video-of-iphone-4-presentation-by-steve-jobs-during-the-world-wide-developer-conference-in-san-francisco http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/iphonemalaysiablog/rLvO/~3/WWnI5JL3Nlo/news-iphone-4-to-be-available-in-the-us-on-24th-june-2010 http://www.iphonemalaysiablog.com/news/news-iphone-4-to-be-available-in-the-us-on-24th-june-2010#comments Tue, 08 Jun 2010 00:40:27 +0000 admin http://www.iphonemalaysiablog.com/?p=447 One of the most anticipated news at the WWDC today has to be the announcement about the 4th generation iPhone. Without much surprise, Steve Jobs has finally officially announced the new 4th Generation iPhone which is called the iPhone 4. Thanks to Gizmodo for unveiling lost iPhone prototype which has now turned into somewhat of a legal battle(between Apple and them), we have more or less anticipated how the new iPhone looks like a few months ago. Anyway, we now have confirmation on what the “real” thing looks like and what specifications and features it comes with.

So what is new with the iPhone 4:-

• Retina Display: 960 by 640 backlit LCD with a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. This is 4 times the previous iPhone’s pixel density giving much better resolution
• Engineered glass, chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic. More scratch resistent than the previous models
• Stainless steel band – 5 times stronger than standard steel provides rigidity to the phone and acts as an antenna
• Powered by the A4 chip (same chip used in iPads)
• Gyro plus Accelerometer – built in 3 axis gyroscope paired with accelerometer producing great motion sensing which translate to greater gaming experience on the iPhone 4
• Larger battery means 7 hours of talk time, 6 hours of 3G browsing, 10 hours of WiFi browsing, 10 hours of video, 40 hours of music and 300 hours of standby
• Video calling via Facetime app – currently only works with other iPhone 4 and within Wifi networks only.
• 5Megapixels Primary (back) camera giving better resolution photo shoots
• Dual microphone system – one for voice and video calls located at the bottom of the iPhone 4 and the other at the top for noise cancellation giving better voice call quality

Below is a comparison table of the specification/features in the iPhone 4 vs the iPhone 3GS:-

Below are some pictures from the WWDC:-

The iPhone 4 will be on sale in 5 countries(US, UK, Germany, France and Japan) on the 24th June. 24 more countries will get it in July and 88 more countries in September. Not too sure when this will be launched in Malaysia…..

Below is the Youtube video on iPhone 4 posted by Geekwood…..

Apple is currently selling about 200,000  iPads every week. It achieved its first million iPad sales after only 28 days. This is even better than the successful launch of its big brother iPhone which managed to achieve the 1,000,000 unit sales in 74 days. Below is an image of the people waiting outside the retail store to get in to purchase the iPad when it was launched internationally.

With this feat, it comes as no surprise that Apple has now officially become the largest market capitalized technology stock in the US. As of today, the market capitalization of Apple share is about USD232Billion. The next largest capitalized technology stock is Microsoft with a market capitalization of USD225.5Billion. Below is the comparison chart of how the Apple stock fared compared to Microsoft and Google.

No wonder Steve Jobs has been named as CEO of the decade by Fortune sometime end of last year. To achieve such a feat is indeed no simple task.  :-)