Technology to watch 2006/2007

ahkian · Member

RE: Technology to watch 2006/2007

ahkian · Member

News from http://www.skype.com/company/news/2006/skype_ces.html
Skype Expands Partner Ecosystem with Consumer Electronics Industry Leaders
Alliances with Creative, D-Link, IPEVO, Kodak, Netgear, Panasonic, and VTech Illustrate Skype Market Leadership

LAS VEGAS, Jan. 3 – Skype, the global Internet communications company, today announced seven deals with consumer electronics industry leaders that will make Internet calling even easier for consumers. With these announcements, Skype continues to enrich the ecosystem of products that make Skype simple to use.

New Skype Products

Creative Skype Internet PhonePLUS – a standalone phone that enables anyone to make free Skype calls over the Internet without a PC connection
D-Link Skype USB Phone Adapter (DPH-50U) – a Skype phone adapter that enables the use of Skype on a traditional phone
IPEVO Fly-1 Cordless Handset and Xing Speakerphone – PC and Mac compatible IPEVO Fly-1 cordless Skype USB handset and an IPEVO Xing Skype USB speakerphone
KODAK Photo Voice – a beta version of the first Skype certified online photo sharing service, available as a free download at Kodakgallery.com/photovoice
NETGEAR – a new communications device to be unveiled at CES on Wednesday, January 4th (details below)
Panasonic – a cordless telephone product that interfaces directly with Skype, allowing users to make and receive Skype calls and traditional calls using the same device
VTech USB7100 Phone – availability of the previously announced VTech USB phone, expandable with up to four handsets and allows users to view their online contacts

“Skype and the companies joining its ecosystem – from retailers like RadioShack to device manufacturers such as NETGEAR and Panasonic – are bringing Internet telephony to the mass market even faster than expected,” said Will Stofega, Research Manager, VoIP Services, IDC. “By moving Skype off the desktop and into handsets, the free service becomes much more compelling and familiar so that it may appeal to a wider range of callers.”

With these new products, consumers will be able to use cordless phones away from the desktop to make Skype calls, easily switch between free Skype calls and ordinary landline calls, and enjoy Skype’s simplicity on regular phones via a desktop USB connection. Skype consumers and small business owners now have more choices when using the Skype service.

“The growing Skype ecosystem of leading consumer electronics companies gives Skype users innovative, easy-to-use products and validates the market for Internet calling,” said James Bilefield, vice president of business development for Skype.

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comments

Being a user of skype, particularly interested in skype phone.
Creative shares rose $0.40 yesterday on the news of this tie up with Skype.

KK · Guru

ahkian wrote:

HD DVD vs Blu-Ray DVD HD DVD is jointly developed by Toshiba and NEC Corp.The standard is backed by Universal Studios, Warner Bros, Intel and Microsoft (Xbox 360).Expected to launch in US early next year. Blu-ray developed by Sony. Playstation 3 will be able to read Blu-ray discs.Expected to launch early next year in Japan. Blu-ray is backed by Apple, HP, Del and some others. Two formats are incompatible.There are comparisons made between the 1980s war between VHS and Beta over the video recorder format.

A more recent example is the DVD standard, where the 2 groups finally agreed to a common standard a few years back. But still, that didn't stop them fm coming out with incompatible stds for DVD-RAM, DVD-RW+, -,....

Why the standard wars are fought so intensely is cos' of copyright royalties. The copyright owners stands to reap rewards for many years if their standard is adopted by the industry. Philips had been a key beneficiary of this approach as their CD standards were adopted as industry std many years back.

Chip-set makers, set makers,... all need to pay royalties to the copyright owners. So, end of day, I'd say the copyright owners earn the most money with the least effort. The semicon cos., set manufacturers,... will hv a more challenging time squeezing out margins due to intense competitions amongst each other and due to the fact that the final product is ultimately a commodity item (where margin are usually very thin).

ahkian · Member

Could PCs dominate the news in 2006 ?
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Next year Apple has plans to release the Macs base on intel processors.
Expected to have new generation of mobile chips designed in.
Apple's iTunes Music store is signed a deal with Disney to sell TV shows in 2005.
Streaming video is catching up but many believe the market will only be huge if it becomes
easy to watch on the big TV.

Apple recently added media-centre like capabilities to iMac.
This allows you to show videos and photos and play music from iMac from across the room
using remote control. What is lacking is its ability to connect to home entertainment system
or "pipe" music to any room.

Microsoft is also set to release new version of Windows - Vista.
Also talked about is the intel's platform called Viiv, to allow for media sharing in standard PC.
Viiv will appear in early 2006 Windows XP Media center edition.
Will Vista be just another pretty face or some major change that will trigger a stampede?

ahkian · Member

HD DVD vs Blu-Ray DVD

HD DVD is jointly developed by Toshiba and NEC Corp.
The standard is backed by Universal Studios, Warner Bros, Intel and Microsoft (Xbox 360).
Expected to launch in US early next year.

Blu-ray developed by Sony. Playstation 3 will be able to read Blu-ray discs.
Expected to launch early next year in Japan.
Blu-ray is backed by Apple, HP, Del and some others.

Two formats are incompatible.
There are comparisons made between the 1980s war between VHS and Beta over the video recorder format.

ahkian · Member

Had a few conversions with some friends/collegues, decide to pen it down.
There is a lot of buzz now in the semicon, FABS are full, testhouses are loaded and fabless design companies are screaming for capacity.
[My bonus not fat tho', so need to work harder in stock market :D]
So what/who is fueling the market ?

Current hot items :
    1) mobile phones - new designs, new features, 2 year plans-people get free phones.
    2) ipod - with downloadable songs etc.
    3) broadband, has been around for a while.
    4) LCD, Plasma TV
    5) Game consols, internet gaming is really big.
    6) PC, also people moving to notebooks.
          Ever increasing need for speed and memory.
          Technologies such as PCI express, SATA made it possible!
    7) Digital cameras. Flash Memories are in demand again.
    8) Microdrives, usb thumb drive hard disks.

Next 2 years :
     1) 3G/4G. Will we finally see it happen?
     2) HD TV, with digital broadcasting .
     3) HD DVD vs Sony's Blu Ray. Next generation DVD.Who will win this next generation war?
     4) WiFi/WiMax. Wifi has taken off to some extend still lots of room to go.
     5) VOIP. Also started oready but will it take over the phones?
     6) PCIexpress, SATA, NAND Flash, micro drive hard disk all will have a next generation
         in the wings.

So, there is some really interesting things going on in the semicon tech sector.
The only thing is there is some talk about not enough content - LACK A KILLER APPLICATION!
Something that will sweep every1 off their feet and get every1 addicted like internet!

STill I think there is lots of things to look for in the coming year!
What are the tech stock to watch?
Fabless companies are the wants with high growth.
Broadcom, Qualcomm and Marvel has gone way up oready.
Did not check Sunplus, Scandisk, Xilinx, but i bet they are also up.
Who is the next kid on the block ??