July 28, 2009
Business Drying Up for Luxury Phone Makers
Wired
Priya Ganapati provides the thoughts of Frank Nuovo, former chief of design for Nokia, and now the current head of Vertu, regarding the luxury phone market.
“Despite the bumps on the road now, Nuovo says the luxury phones will bounce back and find an audience. ‘It is no different than a fine watch or a car,” he says. “If you take people who value something that is made extraordinarily well there will always be a group interested in it.’ Vertu is determined to prove that. It will launch its latest handset the Carbon Fibre Ascent Ti in August. The phone is made of high-gloss carbon fiber and has a sandblasted titanium surface. The price tag? $9,800.”
Three things the Apple tablet needs to be successful
ZD Net
Jason D. O’Grady offers his thoughts on what Apple can do to differentiate its upcoming rumoured tablet from Microsoft’s Windows tablet.
“There are three components to a successful Apple tablet. Handwriting recognition is a must and it’s got to be good, voice recognition is another key technology that we need to see in the Apple tablet (and having) resolution independent apps. Other features Apple needs to include are Bluetooth, which will allow the use of external keyboards, mice and speakers – and a price point less than $800.”
Samsung confirms a Tegra-based smartphone is in the works, all other details shrouded in mystery
Engadget
Ross Miller writes that Samsung has confirmed that it’s developing a smartphone with Nvidia’s Tegra chip, hopefully coming out soon.
“A recent rumour suggested one of the ‘top five’ smartphone makers would be releasing a $199 GSM-based Tegra device by year’s end — no indication if these two reports are one in the same, but we’d love to see what Sammy has in store sooner rather than later.”