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Microsoft Moves Windows 8 into Smartphone Territory

October 29, 2012 by

Microsoft continued its move into a more digital, mobile software provider today with the debut of its Windows Phone 8 smartphone operating systems, offering a very much revamped OS along with a number of its partners’ latest offerings.

Microsoft is looking to leverage changes it has made in its operating system , with its Windows 8 OS introduced just last week, and will now be providing a similar look and feel with the same technology core used in both platforms.

The look and feel of the OS appears to be very different from what is offered from its rivals- no static icons but rather what Microsoft is calling Live Tiles, a technology that has the apps that you use in a tile format.

The nice thing about Live Tiles is that a user can customize the startup page and place the apps and functions that they want right there, rather than being stuck with a large number of predetermined apps.

A key attribute of many of the apps is that they are live, that when you look at the phone or start it up an app such as Facebook will be up to date, even if it is still in lock screen mode.. They are also sizable with three formats and you are provided with 20 options for colors.

Microsoft has also been working on developing a much healthier app ecosystem, an area that it has received criticism in the past. Its Windows Phone Store now has 120,000 apps including most of the top rated. In the future it will have Pandora, the leading Internet radio service, in early 2013 with one year of ad-free music.

There is a feature called Data Sense that helps prevent you from going over your data plan by automating and in some cases delaying tasks. It can compress images, or defer tasks until free Wi-Fi is available. It can monitor how much data apps use and inform you when you are nearing the limit. This is used in conjunction with carriers and Verizon is expected to be the first to support it.

One clever piece of software is it’s “Kid’s Corner” an app that enables children to play games on the phone without deleting information, ordering apps or calling Peru.

Along with the Windows Phone 8 OS, Microsoft had a trio of partners delivering new phones. There will be several options available from Nokia, Samsung and HTC, that will go on sale in November at AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon in the U.S., as well as at carriers and retailers around the world.

The move comes just hours after Google announced an update to Android, now at 4.2, along with a new Nexus phone and a revamped Nexus 7 and a new Nexus 1 tablet. Apple had a new iPhone out a few weeks back and a new iPad Mini last week.

I think that, depending on real world performance when the phones are available, Microsoft has a strong story simply because all of its products- PC OS, tablet OS and smartphone OS are compatible with each other and using Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud service a user can start projects on one device and finish them seamlessly on another- a compelling usage model IMHO.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, AT&T, Facebook, Google, HTC, iOS, iOS 6, iPad, iPhone, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Smartphone, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday Wi-Fi Whispers: Brocade, Niners Make it Official

October 17, 2012 by

After hinting about a relationship earlier this year, the San Francisco 49ers and networking vendor Brocade made it official Tuesday, announcing Brocade as the “exclusive and official network solutions partner of the San Francisco 49ers.” Though no details on the exact buildout are yet available, Brocade Chief Technical Officer Dave Stevens told MSR in a phone interview Tuesday that Brocade will be responsible for the “entire wired and wireless network infrastructure” for the new Niners stadium currently being built in Santa Clara.

We’ll break out more details from our interview with Stevens next week but the bottom line is, he says Brocade knows that this stadium will have to live up to a higher standard because of its location smack dab in the middle of Silicon Valley. That means the Niners and Brocade will aim for building the best Wi-Fi and cellular fan network that can be built, as well as a wireless network to run other stadium apps like signage, ticketing, security and more.

“The Niners and Brocade are looking for an unprecedented network experience,” Stevens said. What that will be is a bit of a moving target, since the stadium won’t be ready for a couple years at the earliest. While technology changes and improvements will affect deployments some, Stevens said you can probably count on Wi-Fi equipment that embraces the nascent 802.11ac standard, which supports much higher data rates than current Wi-Fi gear. As we said, more from our interview next week.

If there’s a loser right now in the game it’s Cisco, which like Brocade has its headquarters in the same San Jose/Santa Clara neighborhood as the stadium. (Cisco’s HQ is literally just down the street.) With a business unit dedicated to building out stadium networks, Cisco might have been seen as a lock for the bid and even earlier this month had hinted rather strongly that they wouldn’t be shut out of the Niners’ new stadium, which has a long list of corporate sponsors on its roster, like SAP, whose name is on the practice center. Maybe there will be some room for Cisco on the digital signage part of the buildout? Cisco reps contacted Tuesday had the “no comment” light on, but from the looks of it this Brocade deal doesn’t seem to leave much room for any Cisco gear. But it ain’t over until the access points get connected, or something like that.

Ericsson Intros Stadium-Specific Wi-Fi Gear

Telecom supplier Ericsson Tuesday announced a set of stadium-specific Wi-Fi gear, the first new products coming out of the company’s acquisition of Wi-Fi specialist BelAir Networks earlier this year. According to the press release, Ericsson now has a Wi-Fi access point and a Wi-Fi controller designed specifically for stadium use. Since Ericsson sells mainly to big telecom companies like Verizon and AT&T, look for this year to be used side by side with small-cell cellular technology as the big carriers continue their quest to make fans’ phones work in stadiums worldwide.

(hat tip to Phil Harvey at Light Reading for alerting us to the news release. Phil and his crew cover Ericsson… a lot.)

AT&T Adds 4G LTE DAS to… Some Stadium in Foxboro

From the “we can’t tell you but you can figure it out file” comes a press release from AT&T today telling us of the company’s newest DAS upgrade, a 4G LTE implementation that will make fans’ cell phones work better in… a football stadium in Foxboro, Mass. Yep, because of stadium naming rights AT&T apparently can’t use the name of the place but… we are under no such restrictions. So unless there is a spaceship stadium that landed during the night we are guessing that New England Patriots fans will find their AT&T iPhones connecting a bit better now.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Cisco, DAS, NFL, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Wednesday Wi-Fi Whispers: Ruckus Files for IPO, Qualcomm Stadium Gets DAS

October 10, 2012 by

It’s about as far from a whisper as you can get, but in the Wi-Fi world the big news of the week was Wi-Fi vendor Ruckus Wireless filing for a $100 million IPO last Friday. As you’ve read here earlier Ruckus is heavily involved with the growing market for big-space Wi-Fi (like stadiums, racetracks and other event areas) and with healthy revenues ($120 million in 2011) the long-rumored move became a reality with the SEC Filing that makes for such good hard-data reading.

The part we like the best in Ruckus’ S-1 is this bit about how big the market is getting for what Ruckus calls its “carrier class” Wi-Fi products:

According to Infonetics, the market for Wi-Fi networking solutions for carriers is expected to grow from $296 million in 2011 to $2.8 billion in 2016, representing a 57% compound annual growth rate. According to Gartner, the market for Wi-Fi networking solutions for enterprises is expected to grow from $3.4 billion in 2011 to $6.9 billion in 2016, representing a 15% compound annual growth rate. Carrier-class Wi-Fi addresses the needs of both of these markets.

Stadium and sports deployments probably fall somewhere in the middle of those markets, since many such deals are being done as partnerships between enterprises (teams) and carriers. But the good news for vendors like Ruckus is, there’s no getting away from the need for Wi-Fi. And the gear needs to be better than earlier technology to handle the needs of big events.

Qualcomm Stadium Gets AT&T DAS; N.Carolina State, U of Kentucky also get upgrades

We’ve always found it more than a bit ironic that Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, namesake of the chip giant, didn’t have any Wi-Fi to speak of and from what we heard, it had bad cell coverage too. That should change going forward at least a little bit thanks to a new DAS (Distributed Antenna System) deployment AT&T has installed at the home of the Chargers, which will bring AT&T’s new 4G LTE network to football fans in SoCal.

AT&T is also putting some cellular upgrades into college stadiums, including N.C. State’s Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C., which is getting some of the cool new multi-beam antennas. The University of Kentucky’s Commonwealth Stadium in Lexington, Ky., is also getting an upgrade via an AT&T DAS, so SEC fans should be able to get their mobile game on better while cheering on the Wildcats.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, DAS, NFL, SEC, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: New Tablets from Google, Acer

October 8, 2012 by

The latest rumor, about Google anyway, is that it is preparing to release another member of its Nexus 7 tablet family. The latest is expected to have 32GB of storage, a big leap up from the 16GB that is the current maximum storage available for users. For those looking to mark their calendar the rumor mill says it will be Oct. 24.

AT&T is planning on selling Windows 8 tablets
AT&T has announced that it will be offering a pair of tablets that will be running on the soon to be announced Windows 8 operating system. The company will offer the Asus VivoTab RT, a tablet that will be able to handle 4G LTE cellular communications. The second tablet will be the Samsung ATIV SmartPC, a system that has a removable keyboard and can be configured as either a clamshell notebook or a tablet.

AT&T is also venturing into selling antivirus by offering an app and a service that will work to keep smartphones free from infection. While AT&T Mobile Security is now only offered to businesses it has plans for a consumers offering as well.

Motorola wins one in Germany against Microsoft
The Mannheim Regional Court has ruled that Motorola Mobility did not violate a Microsoft patent on a “method and radio interface layer comprising a set of application programming interfaces (APIs).” The court gave no reason for its ruling and Microsoft is expected to appeal. This is only one of the issues that the two are fighting about in court.

Oracle readies for next round in fight with Google
Oracle has appealed the Google case, the one where the jury found that code in the Android operating system was not stolen, as Oracle had claimed. The case dealt with both patent and copyright infringement and while the jury found very minor infractions the court did not award anything to Oracle.

Acer’s Iconia W700 Tablet to cost $799
We have been a bit lax on reporting on the upcoming AcerW700 Iconia tablet so here is a quick snapshot. The Tablet will be released on Oct. 26 as part of Microsoft’s Windows 8 launch. With an expected $799 price tag it will feature an 11.6-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution. The tablet will include a Bluetooth keyboard, a choice of Intel processors including a Core i5 chip and will have 64GB or 128 GB of solid state storage.

Alcatel joins tablet space
Speaking of tablets it looks like communications player Alcatel has developed a 7-inch tablet that will compete with the likes of Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire families. The One Touch T10 Android tablet looks like it is designed for budget users and will include a 800 x 480 display and 4GB of flash storage.

MobileCon 2012 is this week
For the mobile minded the show formerly known as Fall CTIA has been renamed to MobileCon 2012 and will start Oct. 9 and run until Oct. 12 in San Diego. It should be good for some interesting handset offerings as well as most likely a host of product leaks.

One reason there might not be quite as many new products as expected is because just a short time later, on Oct. 29 to be exact, Microsoft will be officially launching its Windows 8 phone platform, a few days after it introduces Windows 8 for tablets.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Amazon, Android, Asus, AT&T, Google, Lawsuit, Microsoft, Motorola, Oracle, Windows 8 Tagged With: , , , , ,

Wednesday Wi-Fi Whispers: Cal’s Memorial Stadium Gets Multi-Beamed

October 3, 2012 by

It’s not necessarily Wi-Fi but when it comes to bringing more wireless capacity to stadiums who are we to quibble? While at an event at the AT&T Foundry in Palo Alto last week where Ma Bell was showing off a bunch of innovative wireless stuff we saw in the flesh (well in the silicon and plastic, I guess) some of the new multi-beam antennas AT&T developed earlier this year.

Turns out those suckers are pretty big. See this picture with the helpful person standing next to it for perspective.

An AT&T multibeam cellular antenna. Shown next to real-life person. Credit: MSR.

In case you didn’t read through our earlier story the multi-beam antennas are great for stadium situations because they shoot their signals out on a very narrow beam, allowing for greater density in capacity. Basically what that means is with a multibeam antenna operators can direct the signals better, instead of just broadcasting out in a circle and hoping for the best. These whiteboard drawings below might help you understand how this all works.

We missed the presentation but I think you can figure out what this means.

Not as clear but the idea is, multibeam antennas serve a slice of the crowd.

If you are attending any football games at the University of California’s refurbished Memorial Stadium in Berkeley this fall you might be able to spot a few of these bad boys, since AT&T has installed them there to improve cell coverage, according to an AT&T rep we met at the event.

Best Wi-Fi at AT&T Park? Try Section 336

With his team having clinched the National League West, it made sense that San Francisco Giants CIO Bill Schlough was in a good mood at the AT&T event last week (where he was telling folks all about the wireless wonderland inside the stadium walls). We got a chance to ask Bill where the best reception was in the park, and he gave a surprising answer — Section 336, way up in the upper deck at the corner of the left-field line.


According to Schlough that part of the park is absolutely blanketed with Wi-Fi antennas because it is the area where the team puts overflow media members during the playoffs. To make sure the sportswriters have a great signal the team saturates the section, making it also a good place for fans with tablets and smartphones.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, AT&T, Baseball, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , ,

Wednesday Wi-Fi Whispers: Panthers (and Fans) Love Their New Wi-Fi Network

September 19, 2012 by

Panthers President Danny Morrison

When it comes to in-stadium wireless networks, most NFL teams and their fans are still looking to the future as to when high-speed Internet access will be available. Not so the Carolina Panthers, whose stadium sports what is arguably one of the NFL’s best Wi-Fi networks, with more than 460 access points providing free wireless access to every seat in Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium.

Mobile Sports Report got a call from Panthers president Danny Morrison last week, and the head cat in Charlotte couldn’t be prouder of the network bringing bandwidth to Panthers fans, a deployment done through a partnership between the team and telco giant AT&T. According to Morrison the Panthers started talking with AT&T about an in-stadium network after seeing what AT&T helped build at Cowboys Stadium for the Super Bowl in February of 2011.

“We entered into a partnership [with AT&T] and did a soft launch last season,” Morrison said. After testing and tweaking (including a full-bore tryout at a Kenny Chesney concert in June) Morrison said the network was ready to go this season, along with a new team app designed by YinzCam, a relatively unknown Pittsburgh firm that has quietly become the stone cold leader in NFL and sports-team app development. [Editor’s note: Look for a YinzCam profile soon!]

“The app is fantastic, you can grab all kinds of video from the [game production] truck, different replay angles, everything,” Morrison said. Even though we asked politely, Morrison didn’t disclose the terms of the network-building deal between the team and AT&T, other than to call it an “excellent partnership.”

Though the stadium also has an upgraded Distributed Antenna System (DAS) to help with straight cellular connectivity, the Wi-Fi network is the star of the show, and according to Morrison it’s all there to increase the enjoyment of the ticketholder. When we asked him if the network was put in perhaps to help drive revenue — sell more concessions, help with team operations like ticketing — he said all that matters right now is making fans’ phones work better so they can enjoy the unique experience of a live gameday that much more.

“When fans go to games, they want to send pictures to their friends, and see data from other games,” Morrison said. “That’s the world we live in. But there’s nothing like the experience of being inside the bowl at an NFL game. If you can add to that experience, it bodes well.”

Cisco Scores at Barclays Center

This is a late update (we just saw the press release blog) but it is good news for Cisco’s Sports connectivity group, a big win for the stadium Wi-Fi and digital signage biz at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. We are on the horn to Cisco folks and will try to get a more in-depth interview for next week’s column so stay tuned.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Apps, AT&T, DAS, NFL, Wi-Fi Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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