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IQE posts healthy financial figures (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:04:28 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 2:04:28 AM
A surging demand for smartphones has seen IQE, a supplier of materials for semiconductors, post a 28 per cent rise in first-half profit.

IQE confirmed it made a pre-tax profit of £2.8 million on revenue, up 16 per cent to £38.3 million, meaning it is on track to meet full-year expectations.

According to chief executive Drew Nelson, the wireless market continued to grow rapidly, adding that new applications were developing well.

"Smartphones are definitely one of the big drivers behind our business, principally because a smartphone has significantly more compound semiconductor chips than previous generations of phone," he commented.

"The same dynamic will be true when we go to 4G and LTE (mobile technologies)."

Despite this positive outlook, Mr Nelson warned of growing uncertainty in the global economy, saying: "If the global economy goes in the direction it is currently in there is a possibility, no more than that at this point, of some inventory correction."

Posted by Andre Dixon

Yahoo sack chief executive (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:03:47 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 2:03:47 AM
In news that may interest wireless communication device users, Yahoo has confirmed that chief executive Carol Bartz has been fired by the firm after two-and-a-half years in the top job.

In a statement, the internet search engine said that Ms Bartz was removed by the board of directors, effective immediately.

Her position has been filled by Tim Morse, Yahoo's chief financial officer, who will serve as interim chief executive while the board of directors will look for a new chief executive.

Yahoo faces increased competition from rivals such as Google and Facebook and Ms Bartz has struggled to change the company's fortunes, according to Larry Magid, a technology analyst at C-net.

He observed that Ms Bartz "hasn't done anything to change the company's fortunes, and they are still anxious to find a leader who can move them up".

"Facebook is way ahead, and now even Google is way ahead of Yahoo in social networking," he added.

Apple needs to resolve antenna issues, says expert (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:03:03 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 2:03:03 AM
With its new device, Apple needs to solve the antenna problems seen on the iPhone 4.

This is according to Jason Jenkins, editor of CNET UK, who said that when you hold the iPhone 4 in a certain way, the signal is reduced. He added: "We're looking to see Apple fix this problem with the iPhone 5."

"We'd love to see support for Adobe Flash, which would make Internet browsing a little better - at the moment, if you come across a site that is written using Flash, it doesn't work properly," he explained to wireless communication device users and others.

Meanwhile, Google chairman Eric Schmidt claimed recently that former Apple chief executive Steve Jobs was "probably the best" company boss in 50 or 100 years.

Mr Schmidt, a former Apple board member, made the statement in an interview at a technology conference.

Of course, Mr Jobs has been influential in developing a range of other Apple products in recent years, including the iPod, iPad and iPhone.

Tech expert hails iPhone (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:02:26 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 2:02:26 AM
The iPhone has gathered momentum like no other phone before it, according to Jason Jenkins, editor of CNET UK.

Mr Jenkins said that unless Apple makes a major error, it's hard to see its market dominance being threatened in the next six to 12 months, wireless communication device users may be interested to learn.

"That said, the smartphone market is incredibly competitive, and phones running Google's Android software are getting better all the time, so there are no guarantees of success here," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Van Baker, an analyst at Gartner, claimed recently that there is no need for investors in Apple to panic after it was announced that Steve Jobs, the firm's chief executive and co-founder, resigned.

Mr Baker reassured investors that Apple remains a safe bet. News of Mr Jobs' resignation caused panic on Wall Street, with shares in the company falling by billions.

"Apple will do just fine," Mr Baker said. "There are so many talented people there, and Steve's attention to detail is baked into the culture."

Touchscreens you can feel 'represent the future' (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:01:45 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 2:01:45 AM
Going forward, touchscreens are likely to be coupled with technologies that can provide haptic feedback.

This is according to Matt Brian, mobile editor for thenextweb.com, who explained that this will mean that consumers will be able to 'feel' individual elements on "what is essentially a completely flat surface".

He observed that when the technology reaches the majority of smartphones, "it will change the way we use our phones by possibly allowing visually-impaired or blind people [to] interact with a touchscreen keyboard."

This will, for example, give users the opportunity to 'feel' the photos they are viewing.

Earlier this week, Dan Grabham, deputy editor of techradar.com, explained that organic light-emitting diode technology will become commonplace in the future.

"The benefit is that these displays are far more energy efficient than LCD tech, while they can also be thicker and more robust," Mr Grabham said.

He added that he expects to see more smartphones used around the home.

Bridgelux Inc develops new silicon substrate LED (3)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:01:08 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 2:01:08 AM
Semiconductor firm Bridgelux Inc has demonstrated a silicon substrate LED with a light output of 135 lumens per watt.

According to the company, this is the first time that anyone has created "commercial grade" performance from a silicon substrate LED.

This was achieved by using a single 1.5-mm diameter LED that is operated at 350-mA.

However, Bridgelux Inc conceded that products based on this technology are at least two to three years to come to market.

Meanwhile, new research has shown that global inventories held by semiconductor suppliers increased to the highest level in two and a half years during the fourth quarter of last year.

IHS iSuppli said that semiconductor suppliers had 83.6 days of inventory at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, newselectronics.co.uk reports.

This is up 5.5 days, or seven per cent, from 78.1 days in the previous quarter.

Indeed, inventory was said to be at its highest level since the second quarter of 2008.

Bridgelux Inc develops new silicon substrate LED (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 02:00:24 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 2:00:24 AM
Semiconductor firm Bridgelux Inc has demonstrated a silicon substrate LED with a light output of 135 lumens per watt.

According to the company, this is the first time that anyone has created "commercial grade" performance from a silicon substrate LED.

This was achieved by using a single 1.5-mm diameter LED that is operated at 350-mA.

However, Bridgelux Inc conceded that products based on this technology are at least two to three years to come to market.

Meanwhile, new research has shown that global inventories held by semiconductor suppliers increased to the highest level in two and a half years during the fourth quarter of last year.

IHS iSuppli said that semiconductor suppliers had 83.6 days of inventory at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, newselectronics.co.uk reports.

This is up 5.5 days, or seven per cent, from 78.1 days in the previous quarter.

Indeed, inventory was said to be at its highest level since the second quarter of 2008.

Semiconductor levels 'highest in two years' (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:59:40 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:59:40 AM
New research has shown that global inventories held by semiconductor suppliers increased to the highest level in two and a half years during the fourth quarter of last year.

According to IHS iSuppli, semiconductor suppliers had 83.6 days of inventory at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, newselectronics.co.uk reports.

This is up 5.5 days, or seven per cent, from 78.1 days in the previous quarter.

Indeed, inventory was said to be at its highest level since the second quarter of 2008.

Analyst Sharon Stiefel told the news provider: "Inventory levels arguably now are high by any standard, illustrating the difficulty of controlling chip stockpiles despite the arduous efforts of semiconductor suppliers to keep them in check.

"The sharp increase during the fourth quarter of semiconductor inventory defied expectations of a decline for the period, but the inflated level of inventory could become a concern if semiconductor industry growth falls short of expectations in 2011."

Worldwide semiconductor sales rise in January (3)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:59:04 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:59:04 AM
Worldwide sales of semiconductors were $25.5 billion (£15.7 billion) for the month of January 2011, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

This is a gain of 1.5 per cent from the prior month when sales were $25.2 billion.

Furthermore, the SIA confirmed that sales increased by 14 per cent from $22.4 billion in January 2010.

"The industry will continue to benefit from steady growth, as semiconductor content increases in a wide range of products," commented Brian Toohey, president, SIA.

"The impressive growth in semiconductor sales over the past year has been driven by strong demand across all major end markets as the products we use everyday become smarter, faster, and less expensive."

He added that the industrial and automotive sectors both saw significant growth.

This comes shortly after In-Stat said that the semiconductor total available market for In Vehicle Infotainment systems will grow nearly 110 per cent between 2010 through 2015.

The research firm observed that the largest opportunity will be for those companies supplying applications processors, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS/FM combo chips and SDRAM.

Worldwide semiconductor sales rise in January (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:58:26 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:58:26 AM
Worldwide sales of semiconductors were $25.5 billion (£15.7 billion) for the month of January 2011, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA).

This is a gain of 1.5 per cent from the prior month when sales were $25.2 billion.

Furthermore, the SIA confirmed that sales increased by 14 per cent from $22.4 billion in January 2010.

"The industry will continue to benefit from steady growth, as semiconductor content increases in a wide range of products," commented Brian Toohey, president, SIA.

"The impressive growth in semiconductor sales over the past year has been driven by strong demand across all major end markets as the products we use everyday become smarter, faster, and less expensive."

He added that the industrial and automotive sectors both saw significant growth.

This comes shortly after In-Stat said that the semiconductor total available market for In Vehicle Infotainment systems will grow nearly 110 per cent between 2010 through 2015.

The research firm observed that the largest opportunity will be for those companies supplying applications processors, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/GPS/FM combo chips and SDRAM.

ON Semiconductor Corp delays factory closure (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:57:39 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:57:39 AM
Phoenix-based ON Semiconductor Corp has announced that it will delay the closing of a local factory because of unexpected customer demand, azcentral.com reports.

The wafer-fabrication plant was due to close in mid-to late 2010.

The move would have seen 350 metro Phoenix jobs axed as the company moved production to its plant in Malaysia.

Now, though, the firm has announced that it won't close until the end of the second quarter of this year.
"We do intend on still closing our Phoenix wafer fab," president and CEO Keith Jackson told stock analysts on a recent conference call.

"We have delayed that several times based on business conditions being extraordinarily strong. We have actually put that off yet another quarter because we're going to be consolidating some of the Sanyo product into our consolidating Malaysia fab."

Earlier this week, IBM and Samsung announced that they will collaborate on basic research into new semiconductor materials, manufacturing processes and other technologies, cpifinancial.net reports.

The two companies will work together to develop new semiconductor process technology that can be used in a broad range of applications.

HTC emerges as most popular wireless communications provider (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:57:04 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:57:04 AM
Wireless communications manufacturer HTC is the most popular smartphone maker, new research has shown.

According to uSwitch, HTC has overtaken Apple in the British smartphone market. Indeed, HTC handsets make up the top three smartphones in the UK.

The three most popular handsets are, according to uSwitch, the Android based HTC Desire, HTC Wildfire and HTC Desire HD.

"HTC has outsmarted the smartphone market by customising its handsets at a range of price points as seen by the Wildfire acting as an aspirational Desire," uSwitch's Ernest Doku told TechEye.

Meanwhile, Samsung recently announced a variant of its popular Galaxy S smartphone, the Inquirer reports.

Samsung explained that the Galaxy S WiFi 4.0 Smart Player is being pitched as a contract free device that has extensive video and audio playback capabilities.

There is, Samsung said, enough processing power in the 1GHz chip to play back HD 720p video at 30 FPS.

Huawei Devices launches Android-based wireless communications device (5)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:56:24 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:56:24 AM
Wireless communications device manufacturer Huawei Devices has launched Android-based smartphone IDEOS.

According to the manufacturer, the device offers multiple ways to access the internet and comes pre-loaded with a range of other services, such as YouTube, Google Mail and Gmail.

"Innovation and premium experiences shouldn't be restricted to high-priced devices," commented Huawei Devices marketing director Anand Narang.

"We believe that IDEOS will redefine the Internet experience for Indian youth."

Meanwhile, a British company recently unveiled the first ever wireless communications device to be used on Facebook, smarthouse.com.au reports.

Targeted at 18-28-year-old social networkers, the phone has been developed by British company INQ Mobile in conjuction with the Facebook team.

The firm is set to release two new mobile phone designs to tap into the hugely popular social networking site. The two new models, the INQ Cloud Touch and INQ Cloud Q, will run on Android.

It will introduce Facebook-friendly features which replace traditional applications on mobiles.

Huawei Devices launches Android-based wireless communications device (4)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:55:39 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:55:39 AM
Wireless communications device manufacturer Huawei Devices has launched Android-based smartphone IDEOS.

According to the manufacturer, the device offers multiple ways to access the internet and comes pre-loaded with a range of other services, such as YouTube, Google Mail and Gmail.

"Innovation and premium experiences shouldn't be restricted to high-priced devices," commented Huawei Devices marketing director Anand Narang.

"We believe that IDEOS will redefine the Internet experience for Indian youth."

Meanwhile, a British company recently unveiled the first ever wireless communications device to be used on Facebook, smarthouse.com.au reports.

Targeted at 18-28-year-old social networkers, the phone has been developed by British company INQ Mobile in conjuction with the Facebook team.

The firm is set to release two new mobile phone designs to tap into the hugely popular social networking site. The two new models, the INQ Cloud Touch and INQ Cloud Q, will run on Android.

It will introduce Facebook-friendly features which replace traditional applications on mobiles.

Huawei Devices launches Android-based wireless communications device (3)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:55:04 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:55:04 AM
Wireless communications device manufacturer Huawei Devices has launched Android-based smartphone IDEOS.

According to the manufacturer, the device offers multiple ways to access the internet and comes pre-loaded with a range of other services, such as YouTube, Google Mail and Gmail.

"Innovation and premium experiences shouldn't be restricted to high-priced devices," commented Huawei Devices marketing director Anand Narang.

"We believe that IDEOS will redefine the Internet experience for Indian youth."

Meanwhile, a British company recently unveiled the first ever wireless communications device to be used on Facebook, smarthouse.com.au reports.

Targeted at 18-28-year-old social networkers, the phone has been developed by British company INQ Mobile in conjuction with the Facebook team.

The firm is set to release two new mobile phone designs to tap into the hugely popular social networking site. The two new models, the INQ Cloud Touch and INQ Cloud Q, will run on Android.

It will introduce Facebook-friendly features which replace traditional applications on mobiles.

Huawei Devices launches Android-based wireless communications device (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:54:33 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:54:33 AM
Wireless communications device manufacturer Huawei Devices has launched Android-based smartphone IDEOS.

According to the manufacturer, the device offers multiple ways to access the internet and comes pre-loaded with a range of other services, such as YouTube, Google Mail and Gmail.

"Innovation and premium experiences shouldn't be restricted to high-priced devices," commented Huawei Devices marketing director Anand Narang.

"We believe that IDEOS will redefine the Internet experience for Indian youth."

Meanwhile, a British company recently unveiled the first ever wireless communications device to be used on Facebook, smarthouse.com.au reports.

Targeted at 18-28-year-old social networkers, the phone has been developed by British company INQ Mobile in conjuction with the Facebook team.

The firm is set to release two new mobile phone designs to tap into the hugely popular social networking site. The two new models, the INQ Cloud Touch and INQ Cloud Q, will run on Android.

It will introduce Facebook-friendly features which replace traditional applications on mobiles.

Still waters run deep in semiconductors sector (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:53:49 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:53:49 AM
The calm exterior of the microprocessors segment of the semiconductors sector disguises fierce competition within, according to iSuppli.

In its latest market update, the analyst notes very little change in market share, with Intel gaining 0.1 percentage points sequentially in the second quarter of 2010 but losing 0.3 year-on-year.

AMD lost 0.2 percentage points in the second quarter, taking it to zero change for the year, while other operators combined to gain 0.3 percentage points annually and 0.1 in the three-month reporting period alone.

Intel remains the market leader with 80.4 per cent, AMD 11.52 per cent and the remainder of the sector 8.1 per cent.

However, the static share does not mean a placid semiconductors industry, as principal analyst for compute platforms at iSuppli Matthew Wilkins suggests the two leading firms are simply matching one another blow for blow with innovations to gain ground.

A recent report from iSuppli noted how Intel has the capital to continue investing during an economic downturn, at a time when other producers of semiconductors turn to more focused expenditure on specific constriction points in their production lines.

IP comms switches see demand in 2010 (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:53:08 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:53:08 AM
The first half of 2010 has seen service providers increase their investment into network switches with support for IP communications, reports Dell'Oro Group.

In its Routers Quarterly Report, the analyst notes how demand for IP-based voice and video communications is driving capital expenditure (Capex) trends in Europe and North America.

Routers are sophisticated network switches with additional functionality, such as the ability to direct IP traffic from numerous local area networks to which they are connected.

"Even though service providers have tightened their Capex budgets due to weak economic conditions, they are allocating a greater portion of those budgets to strategic technologies such as IP routers," says Dell'Oro Group vice-president Shin Umeda.

This has driven growth of 15 per cent in the service provider routers market as measured by the analyst.

Dell'Oro Group's quarterly routers report segregates the market into two main groups, comprising core service providers and enterprise users.

Ethernet switches revenue up by a third (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:52:24 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:52:24 AM
Revenues deriving from sales of Ethernet switches rose by almost a third in the year leading to the end of the second quarter of 2010.

Figures from analyst IDC show a 32.7 per cent annual increase in revenues for Ethernet switches.

Meanwhile, the Ethernet routing market also saw growth at the more modest rate of 11 per cent year-on-year.

Data centre and cloud computing installations helped to drive investments into high-speed equipment, particularly 10 Gbps devices.

Over the second quarter, more than a million ports supporting this level of bandwidth were shipped.

Rohit Mehra, director of enterprise communications infrastructure at IDC, says: "The second calendar quarter builds on the performance of the first, which is what the market delivered, showing strong year-over-year growth from the slowdown the market witnessed in 2009."

IDC's enterprise communications infrastructure continuous intelligence service addresses topics such as small office, home office, headquarters and branch infrastructure to provide insight into trends in the networking market.

Optoelectronics on agenda in Qatar (2)

e14news — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 01:51:40 GMT

Current Revision posted to Documents by e14news on 11/12/2021 1:51:40 AM
The application of optoelectronics in telecommunications is among the topics for attention at the upcoming International Conference on Telecommunications 2010 in Doha, Qatar.

Due to take place from April 4th to 7th, the event is an opportunity for people in the region to meet with representatives of more than 30 countries worldwide in order to discuss the future of the global telecommunications industry.

More than 340 papers have been submitted by 54 different countries, with topics on the agenda ranging from optoelectronics to wireless communications, signal processing and sensor communications.

"Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing industries in the world and the Middle East represents a major growth market; this conference will put Qatar at the forefront of this industry," says Dr Adnan Abu-Dayya, executive director of the joint organiser, Qatar University Wireless Innovations Center (QUWIC).

Founded in early 2009, QUWIC undertakes a variety of different research and development projects focusing on wireless technologies and says that its aim is to establish Qatar as a hub for research into their progression.