Intel V-Pro – Next Gen. Remote Computing Or Hackers Party?

Remote system access has been around since the time of Microsoft’s NetMeeting and PC Anywhere. These are software which allow the IT staff to take over a system’s mouse and keyboard across a LAN or Internet connection and operate on the system as though they were right there in front of the machine itself, seeing what’s on the user’s screen. Countless problems have been resolved this way. Still, this approach does have one major downfall. If the user’s OS is corrupted or crashed, then the remote connection does not work. Enter Intel vPro technology.

Targeted at businesses and not at consumers for now, Intel vPro technology is a set of technologies built into the hardware of the laptop or desktop PC with focus on three areas – e-Discovery and investigations, data protection and loss prevention and automatic system health and updates.

A PC with vPro includes Intel AMT, Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT), Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT), a gigabit network connection with a minimal Core 2 Duo or Quad processors or Centrino 2 processors. Intel AMT is a set of remote management and security features designed into the PC’s hardware and which allow a sys-admin with AMT security privileges to access system information and perform specific remote operations on the PC. These operations include remote power up/down (via wake on LAN), remote / redirected boot (viaintegrated device electronics redirect, or IDE-R), console redirection (via serial over LAN), and other remote management and security features. In essence, vPro allows IT technicians to protect, maintain, and manage notebook and desktop PCs, even if the PC’s power is off, its OS is unresponsive, hardware (such as a hard drive) has failed or software agents are missing.

This “embedded” technology ensures that IT administrators can quickly identify and contain more security threats, remotely maintain PCs virtually anytime, take more accurate hardware/software inventories, quickly resolve more software and OS problems down-the-wire, and accurately diagnose hardware problems, all without leaving the service center. This allows the businesses to save millions through increased productivity and reduction of administrative overheads and associated costs.

Intel claims that because the vPro security technologies are designed into system hardware instead of software, they are less vulnerable to hackers, computer viruses, computer worms, and other threats that typically affect an OS or software applications installed at the OS level (such as virus scan, antispyware, inventory, and other security or management applications). For example, during deployment of vPro PCs, security credentials, keys, and other critical information are stored in protected memory (not on the hard disk drive), and erased when no longer needed. VPro even allows a PC user to press a few keystrokes, even in the midst a total operating system crash when not even the mouse pointer is responding. This sends a dispatch to IT indicating the user needs help. Interestingly, this also shows that the motherboard is monitoring all keystrokes all the time. But is that all what vPro is doing?

Such ‘Trusted’ computing technology raises many potential security concerns for users especially the fact that there is apparently no way to disable vPro on a PC along with the fact that most users cannot detect outside access to their PC via the vPro hardware based technology.

This combined with the fact that vPro operates on the main system bus via the Q45 chipset (enables Remote Alerts, secured access in Microsoft NAP environments, Access Monitor, Fast Call for Help, and Remote Scheduled Maintenance) and on the CPU via Core 2, it theoretically provides access to all hardware including memory, the CPU to special software and compute abilities and communications which allows it to send and receive behind the scenes. This means that a remote user could theoretically gain access to the entire system covertly through vPro and then it’s just a matter of snooping through memory and hard drive files until whatever they’re looking for is found and transmitted using the Gigabit ethernet connection through which even 16 GB of RAM content could be transmitted in about two minutes. It’s worth mentioning here that disgruntled and ex-employees usually pose the biggest security threats to enterprises.

Intel doesn’t release details but if the vPro snoop software was built on AI or is at least smart, it could also send the typically used 800 MB or so of OS RAM and program data in under 10 seconds along with other data. This is the area of memory which contains the cipher keys and encrypted data, and information about paged data which could then be retrieved from the hard disk. All of this can theoretically happens remotely and covertly without the typical user ever knowing anything about it.

Though the claims of the industry are that it’s a secure platform, pretty much as anyone in security arena recognizes, any bit of “secure” computing is only secure for a limited period of time. Eventually, the security is cracked. It has happened with vPro technologies in January of last year when security researchers from Invisible Things Lab created a software that ‘compromised the integrity’ of software loaded using Intel’s vPro Trusted Execution Technology. TXT is supposed to help protect software e.g. a program running within a virtual machine from being seen or tampered with by other programs on the machine. The researchers said they created a two-stage attack, with the first stage exploiting a bug in Intel’s system software and second exploiting a design flaw in the TXT technology itself.

It’s a question worth asking that when something so powerful is made possible through this technology, will really go unexploited by the black-hats and those that crave for power. Intel vPro still has a long way to go before it can win trust.

What To Expect In Pakistan’s Technology Sector in 2010

Published Dawn, Sci-Tech, January 3rd, 2010

With growth expected to return to the global IT industry in 2010 with 3.2% expected increase for the year, returning the industry to 2008 spending levels of about $1.5 trillion (Source: Gartner), BRIC countries growing 8–13% and Pakistan’s GDP crossing the US $160 Billion mark, technology industry will do well for 2010.

The upcoming year appears poised to build on the strength of trends already in place: greater mobility, greener technologies, mobile technologies, more powerful hardware and web-enabled products and applications that focus on collaboration and interoperability. Here’s what we think is in store.

Hardware Gets Smaller, More Powerful and Greener

This is a no brainer. Intel Pakistan has announced that its new 32nm architecture codenamed Sandy Bridge will arrive in 2010. It will succeed the 45nm Nehalem architecture and will have up to eight cores on the same die, 512KB L2 cache and 16MB L3 cache. Also new will be the addition of Instruction AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions) which might be as significant as the introduction of SSE in 1999. To complement this Intel will also introduce the new Clarkdale family across the mid-range segment. With clock frequencies from 3.2GHz up to 3.46GHz, It will be Intel’s first 32nm processor and will grab the baton from the Core 2 Duo/Core 2 Quad series. This will bring a revolution in gaming, applications, HD & multimedia and at a price that is really sweet.

Online Reaches Critical Mass

Pakistan is among the five dynamic economies of developing Asia in terms of increased penetration of mobile phones, internet and broadband says the Information Economy Report, 2009 published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). In the area of internet penetration, Pakistan is placed at the third position and for broadband penetration the country is at the fourth position in Asia. With Wimax taking off and providers such as Wateen already boasting of 100,000 connections, we can safely predict that internet in Pakistan will reach critical mass this year (up from its current 11.6% penetration) and move from being a niche channel to figure more prominently in our lives.

The Year Of The Mobile: m-Commerce, Mobile Web and Micro-lending

Expect the mobile phone to further its hold over our lives. 2010 will see it being used for micro-lending, micro-payments, reporting violence and human rights abuses and crowd-sourcing crisis information.

It will also become the default charity tool. For a while now, we’ve been able to leverage the immediacy of being able to donate instantly to a cause through SMS text to give campaigns. Expect NGOs to further improve these platforms in 2010, allowing you to donate instantly.

The mobile Web is also starting to emerge in Pakistan as a low-cost way to deliver simple mobile applications to a range of devices. Expect more financial institutions to take initiatives in this field and more consumer oriented ventures such as music platforms to be announced this year.

The next big thing in mobile however will be location based social networks (marriage of mobile and social networks) and real time web – also known as cloud computing. We’re expecting some company to announce a venture in this field this year.

Enterprise Computing: Green IT & Sustainable Computing

Rising energy costs, the rise of the carbon credits market and pressure from the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference will make sustainability a source of opportunity for the Pakistani IT industry in 2010 locally and globally. We predict that new IT companies dealing with Carbon Management Software will be setup and existing enterprise software vendors will announce forays into the field. This market stands to become bigger than the global financial software market, so it’s impossible to think firms will not take advantage of this.

Intel Core i5 750 – First Look

Intel took a big leap forward in the design department when it launched Core i7 900-series processors last year. Just a few of these improvements included a new triple-channel memory controller integrated into the chip, a new QuickPath Interconnect system to replace (and improve upon) the front-side bus architecture of old and the return of hyperthreading that split the chip’s four physical cores into eight virtual cores for increased system performance.

The Core i7 900-series chips were based on a new Intel X58 chipset and LGA1366 socket, therefore aspiring enthusiasts had to invest in new motherboards to reap the benefits of the Core i7 900-series platform. This rig was also expensive, so Intel recently launched a more mainstream processor – the Core i5.

The Core i5

The new Intel Core i5 750 is the first release in a series of processors based on a mainstream version of the Core i7 platform. It is a quad-core part based on the “Lynnfield” architecture, fabricated using a 45nm process ( Intel’s newest processor architecture known as Nehalem) and utilizes the new LGA1156 platform (note: Different from the Core i7’s LGA 1366). The Core i5 750 CPU is set to cost around the Rs. 16,000 mark and will operate at a 2.66GHz speed. It will feature a whopping 8MB L3 cache, but no Hyper-Threading support will be present.

Like the i7, the Core i5 CPU also run on Intel’s latest P55 chipset, which necessitates a new motherboard purchase for use. What’s changed, however, is that the Core i5 CPUs has adopted a different permutations of the fanciest of the Core i7 900-series’ features.

What has been dropped

To make it more economical Intel has removed the QuickPath Interconnect and triple-channel memory controller and replaced it with a Direct Media Interface (DMI) and dual-channel memory controller. The difference is that QPI is like hyper transport with bandwidth of 25.6GB/s. It is the new “front side bus” being a direct link from the CPU(s) to the north bridge. DMI on the other hand is a connection between the north bridge and the south bridge with bandwidth of 2-4 GB/s. Does it matter? Not much. Most software don’t require such heavy power just yet offered by QPI and given the minute performance differences between current dual- and triple-channel memory configurations this is not much of a loss. This is however bad for future proofing. If you were to go out, and buy an Core i5 rig right now, a year down the road, when prices drop and you’d like to purchase the i7, you’ll have to buy another motherboard and new ram from scratch. It is not designed with the upgrade consumer in mind. But even remaining on the same platform means plenty of options such as future offerings including the 32nm Clarkdale Core i5 processors that will have a thermal design power of just 73 watts, 23% less than that of the 45nm Lynnfield architecture. Also meant to use the same platform are the Core i3 series and let’s not forget the Core i7 800 series.

Secondly, an integrated PCI Express graphics controller on this Lynnfield CPUs can either deliver 16 lanes of bandwidth to a single PCI Express 2.0 videocard or split this connection into two x8 lanes for an SLI or CrossFire setup. Although it’s a cut from the full 32 lanes (for a dual 16x or quad-8x configuration) provided by Core i7’s X58 chipset, the bandwidth reduction should only affect those who SLI or CrossFire dual-GPU videocards.

Third, like we mentioned earlier, the core i5 has no hyper-threading. While Core i7 is a quad-core, it appears in Windows as having eight cores. This further improves performance when using programs that make good use of multi-threading. Core i5 products, however, will not have this feature, which means operating systems will recognize the processors as having four core and no more. This will have no affect on the performance of most applications, like web browsers and even games, but it will be a blow to those who use 3D rendering software and other such programs that excel with multi-threading.
Performance

For the most part, the Core i5’s internal workings are identical to existing Core i7 processor and offsetting the superficially dumbed down feature set is a more aggressive implementation of Intel’s auto-overclocking feature known as Turbo Boost. Whilst the Core i7 900-series CPUs will only increase their multipliers to a maximum of two additional steps according to system demands (effectively taking a 3.33-GHz processor to 3.6-GHz depending on how many cores are in use), the new Lynnfield Core i5 750 processors are able to jump up four multiplier steps (2.66-GHz to a maximum 3.2-GHz) with Turbo Boost enabled. With over-clocking you can easily expect to hit the 3.6 GHz mark and even up to 4.3 GHz if you know how to. This chip has a lot of room to spare.

Our Test

Instead of using a high-end system, we decided to put the Intel Core i5 750 to the test using a real-world system that mostly anyone can afford and running just a gaming test for lack of other options.

System Configuration:

Manufacturer: Intel
Family: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 750 @ 2.67GHz
Architecture: 64-bit
MultiCore: 4 Processor Cores
Capabilities: MMX, CMov, RDTSC, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, PAE, NX, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2
Cache
Level 3, 8 MB
Level 2, 256 KB
Level 1, 32 KB

Graphics Card: 1GB PCIe NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (Microsoft Corporation – WDDM v1.1)
DirectX Info: Version 10.1
RAM: 2 GB DDR2

Test Results

Benchmark Results

Checking the scores online shows that the Core i5 750’s score of 12624 falls right around the scores set by competing PCs that use Core i7 920 processors and is better than the scores set by the Core 2 Duos and most of the Core 2 Quads of the world.

CPU Test 1 Score: 1794.93 Plans / sec

AI: The AI test features a high-intensity workload of co-operative maneuvering and path-finding artificial intelligence calculations. The test setting is an airplane race course crowded with planes, all attempting to navigate through a series of gates while avoiding collisions with each other and the ground. The test load consists of the movement planning for each airplane. The workload is entirely parallelized, and can utilize multi-core CPUs to the fullest. Faster CPUs will be able to compute more frequent and timely movement plans for the airplanes, resulting in smarter flight routes.

The CPU tests run at a fixed resolution of 1280×1024, and most of the graphics options are drastically reduced. There are almost no post-processing effects, no complex shaders, no shadows, and none of the world outside what you see on screen is modeled. The idea is to limit the impact of the GPU so much that even budget, entry-level cards can display the tests so easily that they’re entirely CPU-limited.

The i5 blew past this test with flying colors better than a 3.0GHz Core 2 Extreme 9650 quad-core CPU would perform (score: 1678).

CPU Test 2 Score: 15.52 Steps /s

Physics: The Physics Test features a heavy workload of future generation game physics computations. The scene is set at an air race, but with an unfortunately dangerous configuration of gates. Planes trailing smoke collide with various cloth and soft-body obstacles, each other, and the ground. The smoke spreads, and reacts to the planes passing through it.

The test spawns one pair of gates for each CPU core. So, four gates in a quad-core CPU. If there’s a hardware physics card in the system, subtract one from that number and then add four (seven gates in a quad-core system). Each pair of gates is its own independent physically simulated “world” and does not interact with the other pairs of gates.

Since we didn’t have a PhysX card, the system performed at normal levels expected for the configuration.

Our Evaluation

Gaming

The tests of Core i5 indicate that its gaming performance will match or is better than that of the Core i7 920. This, more than anything, is likely due to the Lynnfields’  improving on the Turbo Boost feature. However, if you already own a high-end Core 2 Duo or Quad, upgrading only on the basis of gaming performance isn’t the best idea. If you are in the market for a new one, definitely buy the Core i5.

Power

We couldn’t test this feature ourselves, so we’ll take Intel’s word for it. Intel has been going to great lengths to ensure their processors use as little power as possible. Core i5 is no exception. The new power management feature throttles down the cores automatically when they aren’t being used. This, along with a general refinement of the manufacturing process has resulted in a processor that just sips at power. It is our guess that a Core i5 system, even when paired with a high-end graphics card, will idle at under 100 watts – for the entire system. This is an impressive achievement.

Overall:
The Core i5 750 looks to be a solid winner. Its true strength lies in the Turbo Boost Technology. With it, the processor can automatically overclock all four of its cores independently to match the workload at hand. Down-clocking works equally as well thanks to new power saving features. The only thing it is lacking compared to the other Lynnfield processors is hyper-threading.

This system is highly recommended for those looking to dip their toes into the Nehalem platform without breaking the bank. The Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad parts will eventually die out, putting an end to the LGA775 platform, so it only makes sense now to buy  this far superior system than invest a new in an old one.

Cheat Sheet:

If you’re as confused as a whole lot of us with all this information over-load, here’s a cheat sheet for use to compare different Intel’s offerings. (source: PC World)

Beyond The Core – Intel Roadmap 2010

Ashar H. Zaidi, Country Manager, Intel Pakistan recently shared Intel’s Vision for 2010. One of the more interesting things shared was a roadmap of Intel’s Tick Tock development model until 2012. Each tock is the introduction of a new architecture while each tick is the introduction of a smaller production process. Currently Intel is introducing the 45nm Nehalem “tock” and in 2010 you can expect a 32nm shrink of Nehalem

codenamed Westmere.

A new architecture will also arrive in 2010, that tock will introduce the 32nm Sandy Bridge. Sandy bridge is the 32nm architecture will succeed the 45nm Nehalem architecture in 2010. Sandy Bridge (formerly also known as Gesher) will have up to eight cores on the same die, 512KB L2 cache and 16MB L3 cache. Also new will be the addition of Instruction AVX (Advanced Vector Extensions) which might be as significant as the introduction of SSE in 1999. According to Intel the introduction of AVX will enhance the performance of certain matrix multiplication instructions by 90 percent.

Even though Asher didn’t go into further architectures, the next actually after that will be the introduction of a 22nm shrink of Sandy Bridge. Most of you will probably already have heard about these upcoming processors, but if you haven’t, than know that in 2011 you can expect the 22nm Ivy Bridge and one year later you can expect the new 22nm Haswell architecture. The 22nm architecture is expected to replace the Sandy Bridge architecture in 2012. This architecture is probably still four years away from us in Pakistan but early information tells us that this processor architecture will have a native eight-core design, a whole new cache architecture, “revolutionary” energy saving technologies, the FMA (Fused Multiply-Add) instruction set and possibly on-package vector co-processors.

Asher also talked about the chip giant’s plans for the Value, Mid-range, Performance and Extreme segments. Already in the works is Intel’s Lynnfield (LGA1156) platform will start out with a trio of processors, two Core i7-8xx models and one Core i5-7xx model (i5-750 review coming up next). However, by 2010 Intel will introduce the new Clarkdale family across the mid-range segment. With clock frequencies from 3.2GHz up to 3.46GHz. It will be Intel’s first 32nm processors and grab the relay baton from the Core 2 Duo/Core 2 Quad series.

It is expected that in 2010, Intel will also announce the six-core Gulftown processor that is listed after Core i7-Extreme in this presentation. Rumor have suggested that Intel will make this processor the Core i9 series. Asher said to keep tuned for a January announcement.

Asher talked a great deal about the upcoming Westmere. Like Nehalem, Westmere will support Intel technologies incorporated into Nehalem like Hyper-Threading, Intel Turbo Boost, and an integrated memory controller. When it launches, two Westmere-based cores will be offered: Clarkdale for desktops (mainstream/ value segments), and Arrandale for notebooks (mainstream/ value segments).

Both Clarkdale and Arrandale will sport two processing cores with Hyper-Threading, bringing support for up to four threads to run simultaneously, and they’ll also be the first Intel CPUs to feature integrated graphics on the CPU package (although it won’t be on the same piece of silicon as the CPU die). Intel also says both CPUs will support dual-channel DDR3, with 4MB cache. In another first, the new processors will also support Intel’s new AES instructions: these are 7 new instructions focused on delivering accelerated encryption/decryption. This should reap benefits for users concerned about data security who would like to encrypt their hard drive.

The performance benefits for these chips will largely come from the improved bandwidth and reduced latency Intel obviously reaps by integrating the CPU and GPU closer together on the same package, as well as higher clock speeds. Unlike the 32-nm Westmere CPU, the graphics chip used will be based on Intel’s existing 45-nm process.

This move will make life tougher for someone like NVIDIA, which has touted their superior graphics performance before with integrated graphics products like GeForce 9400M, which has won numerous design wins including Apple Macbook. But with graphics moving off of the chipset and directly onto the CPU itself, it’s more efficient for someone like Apple, Dell, or HP to just use the integrated graphics provided by the CPU rather than going to the expense of using an NVIDIA chipset. Fortunately Clarkdale and Arrandale support switchable graphics, so a discrete GPU could be combined with the CPU to deliver superior 3D performance when needed for apps like gaming, and then switch back to the integrated graphics to conserve power.

Finally Intel has also talked about  a renewed emphasis on packing more features–such as better graphics–into mobile chips, particularly those going into laptops.

My Own Thoughts.

It seems that the recession is biting Intel. How else can you explain the increased focus on the mainstream and value segments, than the extreme. Gulftown e.g. is not launching till late 2010. Intel knows that one of Core i7’s key weaknesses is cost. All Core i7 CPUs require Intel’s X58 platform, and pricey DDR3 memory, and as any enthusiast can tell you, motherboards based on Intel’s X-series chipsets have never been cheap. While X58 motherboard price have come down considerably since launch, X58 motherboards still start right around the Rs. 24000, with the price quickly going up from there on more feature-rich motherboards.

To address this issue, Intel is planning to introduce mainstream derivatives of Nehalem. These processors will utilize a new CPU socket and 5-series chipset, making them incompatible with the X58/Core i7 platform and vice versa. They’ll also utilize a dual-channel memory controller rather than the triple-channel controller used on the Core i7.

But I also believe that Intel realizes that it’s very much ahead of the competition.  AMD’s quad-core Phenom II parts are more competitive with today’s Core 2 Penryn CPUs than Nehalem, so again, there’s no rush to introduce new parts in this space when your existing lineup should be more than adequate enough to outperform the competition. Intel isn’t even bother with Quad Core versions of Arrandale & Clarksdale, it’s so far ahead.

Anyway, here is a quick summary guide for those who got lost in the tick-tock wave (Source: Wikipedia):

Typically, the same dies are used for uniprocessor (UP) and dual-processor (DP) servers, but using an extra QuickPath link for the inter-processor communication in the DP server variant

Mobile	Desktop UP Server	DP Server	MP Server
Dual-Core 32 nm Dual-Channel, PCIe, Graphics Core	Arrandale 80617	Clarkdale 80616
Quad-Core 45 nm Dual-Channel, PCIe	Clarksfield 80607	Lynnfield 80605	Jasper Forest 80612
Quad-Core 45 nm Triple-Channel		Bloomfield 80601	Gainestown 80602
Six-Core 32 nm Triple-Channel		Gulftown 80613	Gulftown 80614
Eight-Core 45 nm Triple-Channel				Beckton 80604

For the presentation:

Google Wave – First Look

Published Dawn Scitech, November 22nd, 2009

What Is Google Wave?

Announced by Google at the Google I/O conference in May, 2009, Google Wave is a web application and computing platform designed to bring together e-mail, instant messaging, wiki, and social networking. It was designed with a strong real-time collaboration focus in mind and that mixed with real time spellchecker and translator extensions makes it a next-gen platform. But will the wave leave us gasping for breath as we surf cyber-space better than before or will it crash and burn. As one of the lucky 100,000 global users who were given the invites, we decided to take a closer look?

The Need For The Wave

Everyone uses email and instant messaging on the web now, but imagine if you could tie those two forms of communication together and add a load of functionality on top of it. At its most fundamental form, that’s essentially what the Wave is. Google calls it a cross between conversation and document that allows users to do with one tool what they currently do with many people discussing and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. It works in a Web browser on the desktop or on mobile phones, like Apple’s iPhone or Google Android devices.

Google Wave is powerful because it is a product, a platform, and a protocol simultaneously. Just as Ajax technology blurred the identity of Web sites by allowing content to be embedded on any Web site, Wave blurs the distinctions between communications modes and between content creation applications.

A New Web

The Wave has been centered around the key fundamentals Google is focusing on with HTML 5: The canvas element, the video element, geo-location, App Cache and Database and Web Workers. Integrating Web Workers capability especially is a great move because it allows a developer to run background processes outside of the browser so it doesn’t slow to a crawl whilst running very rich apps. Web Workers will help turn the browser into a more full-fledged launch pad for the next generation of web apps and wave is leading the way.

The Wave Experience

Writing a wave is a lot like typing text into Gmail, Google Docs, blog posting. To the left of the right-hand column featuring the discussion, there’s an in-box with other Waves and to the left of that, there’s a navigation pane atop a list of contacts that looks very similar to Gmail’s layout.

Instead of a typical “I send you a message, you receive it and you reply” type of exchange, however Wave encapsulates conversations between people and shows real-time responses in line, more like threaded comments than individual messages. If you and I are having a conversation in Wave, you see me type out my responses, typos and all, as I pound out a reply. To respond to my note, just click below the last message and extend the thread. This is taking the functionality of editing in groups on Google Docs, one step further, but as anyone who has ever tried it knows that this group-edit can be tricky. The wave however offers a nice UI and real-time edit updates to ensure that even a few people editing something in a wave don’t step all over each other. When someone is editing something, you see their name outlined by a brightly colored box next to the edits they are making in real-time. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos and Google maps. Other example of things you can share in Wave include games, event invitations and more. If you get confused, you can just use the Playback feature to jump around and see the edits. You also have the ability to ping somebody and have a 1-1 conversation in the middle of any wave or in a dedicated side exchange.

Wave As A Web Communication Tool

Google isn’t just thinking of Wave as another web app that it creates and you use on one site — it wants you to be able to use it across all sites on the web. If e.g. you have a blog, than as a post, you could share a wave with the public and allow others to see what you and the other people in your wave are doing. These visitors to your blog could even join in directly right from your blog and all the information would be placed right into the original wave. This functionality can be extended to any kind of site.

The Crash Report

With such powerful integrated features, you can imagine the Achilles heel of Google Wave is that it’s very very noisy. New waves can pop into your in boxes from anywhere, anyone and anytime. So while you may initiate one conversation, you could be dragged into another one that already has 60 entries and then Twave (Twitter Entries) can follow suit just as you’re getting accustomed. If you are in enough active threads, even the playback button doesn’t help and the act of watching each one can be time consuming and an enormous task. Also staying on top of all active waves can be a tremendous challenge. It’s like having multiple chat windows open. You cannot reply to all people simultaneously.

Meanwhile, until Google Wave is integrated into GMail or other Google services, checking your Wave becomes yet another place to go so you’re not missing conversations directed your way. So for somebody like me, who has a personal e-mail address, a work e-mail address, a GMail address, and e-mail addresses for company clients, Wave is yet another inbox and place to go to check in.

Our conclusion…

Wave has the makings of a killer app, like e-mail before it but it will take time and patience to learn the technology and get the noise in control. Small teams will definitely use the Wave for real-time collaboration as its very nature offers an opportunity to further eliminate distance and improve information exchanges. If you’re diving into this new technology, expect to exert a lot of energy to stay on top of it, because messaging just got accelerated and when at work, it will take incredible discipline to control the power of the wave.

Connecting To Your Lifestyle

Published Dawn Lifestyles Supplement, Nov 20th, 2009

Mobile phones already empower people to readily connect to others and things they care for the most, enabling the freedom and excitement of the connected lifestyle, where communication & sharing is instantaneous, entertainment options abounds & power is in the palm of your hands. The new mobile phones launched this year promise to build upon this even more, with ever greater integration into our lifestyle and technology that revolves around our every need, fitting our life like a glove. Which features are right for you? Take a look.

For The Fashion Divo & Diva

Mobile phones have now become every part the fashion accessory perhaps even more than jewelry, watches or shoes. This is why mobile phone manufacturers are sitting up and taking notice of the desire for style to match substance and why some of the world’s leading fashion and design houses have added an extra level of class to the phones this year.

After delighting the fashion world with the Giorgio Armani phone in 2007 and the Emporio Armani “Night Effect” in 2008,

Armani has fashionistas in a tizzy looking out for the Samsung Giorgio Armani B7620, a latest by the famous house. Designed by GiorgioArmani himself, the phone features a side-sliding QWERTY keyboard and a 3.5-inch touch-sensitive screen which utilizes AMOLED technology. Additional features include a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, GPS, 8GB of internal storage space and a microSD slot (supporting cards of up to 32GB in size). It’s only available at selected outlets and if you find it, expect to pay in excess of Rs. 90,000 for the phone. Have we commented how lovely it looks with those Armani Suits.

For mere mortals, looking for style without having to amputate a kidney however, look to the Nokia SuperNova line of fashion phones and stylish accessories like red & pink covers and bluetooth headsets. The 7310 (Rs. 11,200), 7510 (Rs. 14,200) and 7610 (Rs. 15,300) feature good looks and exchangeable covers with mirror finishes to the screen, very handy for lipgloss lovers. The star of the series the 7610, is a slider which matches your mood and never misses a beat, gliding effortlessly into clutch bags. It also sports a decent 3.0 mega pixel camera and 2 GB space for your music.

Also perfect for fashion-forward customers, Jabra accessories are all the rage and if you’d like something special, try the Sennheiser VMX 100 Headset (Rs. 7500).

For The Social Butterflies

Most of us now view our cell phones as the key to our social life. Take it away and it feels as if the threads connecting our social life have been cut or at least worsened substantially. This is the reason is why companies spend so much money on catering to the continuously connected consumer lifestyles.

One of the best phones to incorporate a complete set of messaging features includes RIM Blackberry Curve 8520 aka Gemini(Rs.25,000). A full QWERTY keyboard makes typing and sending messages easy and comfortable, whilst the bright screen displays over 65,000 colors, providing a great viewing experience. With BlackBerry App World, you can also get breaking news and the latest scores, stay on top of Hollywood gossip, enjoy live radio or just play games. The phone also allows you to take photos or videos and upload them to photo sharing sites like Flickr or social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace . You can also send these to friends through MMS, the BlackBerry Messenger or other instant messaging apps. The same features can be found in other messaging phones like the Nokia N97 (Rs. 50,000) but at a much higher price.

For turning heads, look to the Samsung Star (Rs. 14000) also known as the poor man’s iPhone, which offers a 3″ WQVGA touchscreen with Samsung’s widget-enabled TouchWiz and a 3 megapixel camera with smile detection. It can handle microSD cards up to 16GB and with DNSe technology it’s a music player in its own right. The document viewer doesn’t hurt either. Samsung’s announced a WLAN version of the phone which will be available soon too. Nokia’s tried to answer Samsung’s Challenge with the 5530 Xpress Music but at a much higher price.

For The Technophiles

Photography, music and internet are so 2008. Now there is a need for something revolutionary, that caters to the fact that the cell phone is becoming our new form of entertainment provider with both gaming and watching videos being on the rise on the phone and natural linguistic interfaces.

There are many phones which are aiming for taking the innovation lead in the mobile world especially the Samsung Omnia HD (i8910) (Rs. 55,000) with its 3.7″ OLED capacitive full touchscreen, 600 MHz ARM Processor, an 8 megapixel camera that should be able to humble even some digicams and of course the HD video recording in 720p – does it really get any sweeter. There’s also Samsung Jet with its 800 MHz processor.

However, even then our heart still beats faster by the iPhone 3GS, which is still smoother, faster, and more reliable than any of the phones out there. The phone features faster performance than its predecessor iPhone 3G, a video camera, voice control, and GPS maps with compass. Apple this time has supercharged the CPU, jacking up the processor numbers from 412MHz to 600MHz,doubled RAM from 128MB to 256MB and has swapped out the previous graphics chip for a new version — dubbed the PowerVR SGX — which adds support for more robust visuals via OpenGL ES 2.0. The 16GB version of this sweetheart is priced at Rs. 65,000.

However for a more price-performance value equation phone, nothing beats the more powerful version of the N95, the Nokia N86 (Rs. 39,000). The phone is fully loaded, featuring an 8-megapixel camera that takes excellent pictures and include advanced options, such as a wide-angle lens and variable aperture. It’s also a capable smartphone and offers Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, and 3G support along with entertainment options whilst delivering on quality.  A must-mention in this category is also LG’s Renoir (Rs. 34,500). This touch screen phone, features a super-sharp 8 megapixel camera with a list of features which are only found on extremely high-end standalone cameras, such as Schneider-Kreuznach certified optics, a Xenon flash, auto and manual focus, sensitivity up to ISO 1600 and geo-tagging.

For The Professional Lifestyle

Gone are the days of traditional office workers tied to their desktop PCs, ready to clock in their typical eight-hour workdays. Now the shift from the predominantly deskbound workforces to enterprises full of roving employees is a budding reality and phone makers have launched phones catering to these knowledge workers.

At the extreme end of this category are the HTC Touch PRO (Rs. 64,900) and HTC Touch HD (Rs. 71,000) phones. The HTC Touch Pro line brings together elegant touch screen response with the direct precision of keyboard entry, delivering a powerhouse   communication tool in a beautiful, compact design. Both phones feature HTC’s rich, touch-responsive interface, TouchFLO™ 3D, which provides a stunningly intuitive way to zip through common tasks like messaging, calendar checks or making calls.

The 2.8-inch VGA touch screen in PRO provides four times the resolution of most smart devices, making email, documents and web pages sharper and easier to work with than ever before, whilst the Pro HD version sports a 3.8” WVGA screen on which you can enjoy music videos, films and streaming like you never thought possible on a mobile device.

For most professionals however, RIM’s Blackberry range of phones especially the Bold & Pearl are still where it’s at. At the lower end, Nokia’s line of Enterprise Edition phones such at the E75 and the E62 are also worth looking into.

Best of 2000 – Digital Services, Platforms & Companies

Bestof2000

These are the results from the (still ongoing) Poll being conducted by ADWeek Media at http://www.bestofthe2000s.com/brand4.html.

So far the iPhone’s charisma still lingers, making it the no.1 device of the decade, whilst on the technology side Google and Apple battle it out for the no. 1 position with Microsoft a distant 3rd. Nokia is nowhere to be seen at 1%.

What do you think? Which are the best technologies and platforms in our part of the world since the year 2000? Going by popularity and number of people affected, my vote would be Facebook as a platform and Nokia as a technology company, though given Microsoft has introduced a lot of innovative services for our market including Microsoft Dynamics (their ERP solution), i’d be torn between the two. There’s also no Intel in the survey otherwise I would have chosen them for Pakistan.  Their new Core i5 chip promises to bring a revolution in gaming and productivity tasks at a price point that’s just so sweet. Core i7 is still the fastest processor around, at least until they launch Core i9.

Anyways, what’s your vote?

A Quick Review Of Telenor’s Internet Data Connectivity on Persona Package

I recently shifted my phone connection to Telenor’s Post-paid Persona Package with Unlimited Data Connectivity. The reason for choosing Telenor was that it offers the widest EDGE connectivity when compared to other operators in Pakistan, supposedly in more than 2000 cities & towns of Pakistan, which is very useful for someone like me who travels a lot.

Secondly, being a heavy user of the prepay version, paying @Rs. 15 per MB was burning a hole in my pocket, the size of  a small Earth.

Here’s a quick recap for those who don’t know about the features of the Persona’s Unlimited Connectivity Package.

• You Get 2GB of data bandwith (which is calculated as Upload + Download) for only Rs. 500 + tax per month.
• Additional data usage will be charged at Rs. 5 per MB w/0 tax = Rs. 6 with Tax.
• Refundable Security is Rs. 1,000.

I have been a very satisfied user of Pre-Paid internet and have always encountered fast speeds, thus I expected the same on the post-paid package, so after buying it, i put it to the test.

My Testing Equipment:

1. Nokia 5730 Phone Connected To My Core 2 Duo Laptop via Nokia Ovi Suite 2.0.

2. Multiple Online Tests Such As www.speedtest.net and download from www.download.com.

3. Areas Tested: Korangi, Clifton, PECHS.

Results:

On the Post-paid package the average speed i’ve encountered is 56 kbps (7 KB per second) to a maximum of 104 kbps (12 KB per second) during bursts.

Maximum Burst Copyright@iStrategem

Most of the time however the speed stays within the 6 KB – 8KB per second limit.

Average Rate Copyright@iStrategem

The Ping & Latency rate on the connection is very high and most times the packets time out. As you can see below, testing with the Sprint servers, the average speed (up and down) is 82 kbps/84 kbps (9.5 KB per second) with a latency of 462 ms. In the real world, this means that services such as streaming music (internet radio) don’t work at all on the connection, whilst watching YouTube videos through the connection  will ensure that the video will constantly buffer.

Conclusion

Coverage:

Generally coverage is quite reasonable. The network offers above average reliability (it always connected fast) and as far as EDGE coverage in Karachi is concerned, it was very good.

General Usability:

Telenor is offering a GPRS level of service at most places. It’s good enough for email or basic surfing but don’t expect to open content rich pages or watch videos on your phone anytime soon.

Conclusion: At most places you will only be able to get a GPRS level of service (48 Kbps) and not the speeds promised by EDGE (384 kbps) and in that manner you are paying a very high price.

Due the comparatively slow and unstable speeds, it is recommended only if you only intend to use it for general/basic Internet activity.

On the whole it certainly makes for an effective remote working or land-line backup connection. which still makes it a useful, if not quite yet a true mass market land-line broadband alternative.

Update: 1st December, 2009

Since the publication of this post, Telenor seems to have updated its service levels. The average speed now regularly hits 18-20 KB per second.

Updated: 22nd December, 2009

It was too much to expect for the service levels to continue. The speeds didn’t last. Whatever it was, it was fun whilst it lasted. Speeds are back to the pre-updated levels hovering between 5-6 KB per second.

Nokia 5230 XM Launched In Pakistan. Nokia X6 Announced.

Nokia’s launched it’s budget line of smart-phones with the 5230 Xpress Music phone in Pakistan on Wednesday,  5th of November, 2009. Following are its specifications:

• 3.2 inch touch screen display with full-screen QWERTY keyboard and handwriting recognition
• 2-megapixel camera
• A-GPS navigation and the latest version of Ovi Maps
  

  Ambiance At 5230 @Copyright iStratagem

• Memory expandable up to 16GB via a microSD card
• 33 hours of music playback time
• Bluetooth 2.0 and a 3.5mm AV connector

Like the 5800 XM, it runs on S60 5th Edition and therefore is touch-enabled. It also means that you get access to the same GUI, with a Media Bar with quick access to your favorite media and applications, such as music, photos. The Contacts bar features thumbnail images for up to 20 close friends and provides easy access to them and their communications history including emails, phone calls, photos or other social media updates. It’s priced between 8000 PKR to 12000 PKR.

 

Shot With A Nokia 5730 Copyright@iStratagem

It was also announced at the launch that the X6, Nokia’s new, top of the range, Xseries mobile phone, will also be launched into the market soon and that along with it, Nokia is trying to launch the  ’Comes With Music’ platform in Pakistan too. The X6 phone was announced by Nokia around two months ago and is likely to cost around the 50,000 PKR price point. Nokia’s broken away from its brick form factors and used a long chassis for the X6 which now (thankfully) supports a healthy

Copyright@Nokia

capacitive 16:9 aspect ratio display, measuring 3.2in along with a built in 5-megapixel camera complete with a Carl Zeiss lens plus a dual LED flash. The built in memory – 32GB, while other features include a TV-out socket, A-GPS, a web browser and support for Flash Lite.

Copyright@Nokia

Nokia’s Head Of Marketing For Live Platform, Cristophe Corsi was also present and gave Nokia’s understanding of the new multimedia platforms that are being enabled due to the digital revolution, though how it’s different from Apple’s Strategy & platform, still beats me. They also have a ‘Music Manager’ (erm!…like ITunes) in place complete with DRM.

Is Nokia The Next Motorola?

Nokia recently posted its Q3 2009 results and to say they’re disturbing would be a gross understatement. While net sales and operating profit didn’t fare well being down 1% and 4.4% from the previous quarter, the real startling figure is how Nokia is doing now compared to the same time last year. With a net loss of some 559€mm ($833.9mm USD) and sales tallying 9.8€bb ($14.62bb USD), YoY net sales were down 19.8% while operating profit plummeted a jaw dropping 57.8%.

Last year too in the smartphone category,in Q4 2008, Nokia’s smartphone sales had dipped a whopping 17 percent to 15.6 million units. As always, one company’s loss is another’s gain and no two companies highlighted this fact more than more than RIM and Apple. Both more or less doubled their smartphone market share, which than stood at 19.5 percent and 10.7 percent respectively. Apart from the big three, sales of HTC devices were then up 20 percent while Samsung saw its sales increase by an amazing 138 percent to 1.6 million units. Still, they each only commanded modest stake in the smartphone market at 4.3 percent and 1.8 percent respectively at the time.

This year, In terms of market share, Nokia neither lost nor gained ground having managed to hang on to its estimated 38% market share despite pushing approximately 108.5 million devices. Still, this does not change the fact that Nokia’s handset sales are down 8% as the world’s consumers focused their attention on devices made by other manufacturers.

The biggest gainer overall this year…Apple. Its financial results for the fourth quarter 2009, have beat out the predictions. This quarter has seen Apple hit its best results in the history of the company, boasting a rather hefty $1.67 billion profit. The results, found here, show that Apple managed just short of $10 billion in revenue, at a total of $9.87 billion. Apple sold 3.05 million computers during the quarter, giving it a 17 percent unit increase over the previous Q4 results. Additionally, the company sold 10.2 million iPods and 7.4 million iPhones, representing an eight percent unit decline and a seven percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter, respectively. Even LG’s managed better. Now with Palm’s amazing Pre and Android taking over almost all manufacturers, will Nokia will go the same way as Motorola especially since their initiative to make Symbian OpenSource has thus far proven ineffective?

This was the reverie I was in whilst at the launch of the new Nokia E72 Handset at Karachi, Sheraton today. Anyway, first the formalities:

Summary

Built on S60 3rd Edition FP2, the Nokia E72 is optimized for messaging and e-mail with a full messaging keyboard and support for EGPRS, WCDMA, HSDPA/HSUPA (3.5G) and WLAN. The device features two customizable Home Screen modes, active noice cancellation and a 5 Mpix autofocus camera. You can write messages with intelligent text input, enjoy videos, music, and graphics on the 2.36” QVGA display. Additional features include GPS and Nokia Maps 3.0, UPnP, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, and USB 2.0 High-Speed.

About Nokia E72

The E72 builds on the formula from the hugely successful Nokia E71, Nokia’s best selling QWERTY device to date. This latest arrival in Nokia’s Eseries family maintains essential elements of its predecessor, whilst still improving its capabilities in a number of areas.

“Despite the outstanding market performance of the Nokia E71, we still continually look for ways to enhance the device,” said Trude Gajland, Category Head Nokia Eseries, MEA. “So we included the desktop like email experience from the Nokia E75 and gave it a new optical navigation key for more intuitive scrolling through menus, emails and fast panning of images. We also upgraded the camera to 5 megapixels and added a standard 3.5 mm audio jack.”

On top of these developments, for the first time, owners will be able to set up instant messaging (IM) accounts provided by Nokia Messaging direct from the homescreen. In just a few steps, device owners will be able to connect to their favorite IM accounts such as Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk and Ovi, amongst many others.

These new IM features are complimented by Nokia’s range of email solutions with a lifetime license for Nokia’s mobile email and IM service, Nokia Messaging, as well as onboard clients for Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler. Accessing popular accounts such as Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, Windows Live Hotmail, Ovi Mail and thousands of other email service providers is simple through improved on-device email setup, with the same easy to use UI integrating all of the owner’s corporate email accounts as well.

Other notable features which have been included in the Nokia E72  include A-GPS and compass with integrated Maps, including lifetime walk and 10 days of turn-by-turn navigation if activated within the first three months. Conversations are also clearer with active noise cancellation, and a torch can be activated with a single press of the spacebar key. The office capabilities have been updated with a new version of Quickoffice, which delivers Microsoft Office 2007 compatibility as well as free version upgrades when new features become available.

For further information, the RAM is 256 MB and the processor is clocked up to 600mhz but it is still an arm 11. Finally Nokia arrives to the 600 Mhz category and even then half-heartedly. Whew! Now let’s review what I think of the launch.

According to the Imran Khaild, GM Nokia, Nokia is not trying to displace the 25000 or so Blackberry users in Pakistan. Instead Nokia wants to use a 40,000 PKR phone to cater to the ‘Consumer Market’ as well as the ‘Corporate’……

Correct me if i’m wrong here. It’s one thing that Nokia’s having trouble penetrating the Pakistani corporate market (and even international i’m supposing) due to international policies, IT Policies and the first mover advantage by BB with the Pakistani telecoms. However, the belief that the E-series can cater to a  consumer market requires serious re-thinking. In a world dominated by affluent teens and young adults who thrive on IMs, SMS and increasingly social networks on their phone (incidentally Facebook App on Nokia is the worst i’ve used) are being targetted via a 30 year old technology whose behavior requires that a person think

10 Points For Guessing Right. Which Is The New Phone? Copyright@SenseApplied 2009

and reply in a more fuller answer than 160 characters. Not the behavior observed in our youth.There’s also a reason why though 300 million people have tried mobile email, only 10% have retained their accounts there (source: Gartner). Mobile behavior is just not conducive towards email messaging beyond short messages and reading. Yet Nokia believes it can cater to the 80% of the people who still don’t have email accounts when they (the people) have already jumped to technologies like SNN and SMS for most of their needs. Anyways, let’s see if this strategy would work.

The other thing observed at the launch was regarding the nature of the questions and general discussion over lunch. The most popular questions asked at the launch were direct comparisons to the iPhone or its features especially touch (to which Imran replied they want to produce touch for the mass market than an elite market…..). This reminded me about Apple’s recent stunt. In a question as to how Apple viewed its increased competition for the iPhone, Apple COO Tim Cook said “they’re still catching up with the first iPhone”. Nokia… you just cannot do Touch. Touch is a nightmare on Symbian, no matter how cheap it is. I’ve used both the 5800 XM and a 5530 XM in my lifetime and neither gets marks for ease of use or accessibility. Both still require a stylus to use properly.

One of the FAQs often thrown at Nokia’s events is regarding number of iPhone Apps vs. number of Nokia’s Apps. Nokia’s answer usually is that we have countless apps and thus more than Apple. However, that is side stepping the issue very neatly. Apple just crossed the 100,000 Apps for ONE PHONE only. Nokia’s apps are spread over so many series and models, that none of the phones probably has more than 10,000 at best. I counted around 4000 for my Nokia 5730 on www.getjar.com.

Also If i were the brand manager at Nokia, i’d be getting serious nightmares. Instead of one of my phones being the benchmark / standard in the industry (e.g. N72 vs. Nokia 97) or even the current E72 phone being launched thought cool enough to define a new standard, i’m nowhere in the tech leader’s category. Instead for free my main competitor is gaining publicity at my expense. Though the questions were handled very deftly (full marks to Imran), it just shows that people belief that Nokia’s losing its technology lead to its competitors. Even during lunch the general conversation centered around a lot of topics but what was launched.

The problem is being multiplied moreso. The upcoming phones by Nokia are just more of the same. These include the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6 and Nokia 5230.

Now I agree completely that most of the sales for Nokia comes from mid-low end phones especially in the sub-continental and Chinese markets. Unlike the west also, we simply can’t afford iPhones or most smart-phones. We pay full price for ‘Unlocked’ phones rather than having them subsidized through telecom packages, thus Nokia’s offerings really makes sense in our price conscious markets. However, does the strategy of keep pumping out so called “new models” with minor differences (e.g. 6303, N95, N86, 7310, 7510 etc…) really work? Do potential customers of these phones really care if the cam has been “upgraded” or not? If sales are increasing whilst profit is shrinking, so does it still make sense to keep pumping out so called “new models” constantly? More importantly when YOY the sales results are showing that the strategy is not working, why is the strategy not being changed.

In marketing, we have a saying that ‘Less Is More’. Yet Nokia is increasingly trying to ‘cater to all markets’ and segments, not noticing that these are not the markets of a decade ago. GM had the same problem with low end Japanese imports (Chinese mobiles anyone) and premium brands and tried to get out of the situation then by launching Saturn.

Fundamentally, there are two ways to increase sales: (1) Expand the brand, or (2) Expand the brand’s market share.

Most companies focus on the first way, expanding the brand. While this might seem to work in the short term, expanding the brand will eventually weaken the brand and leave it in worse shape than before the process began. While it’s more difficult to expand a brand’s market share, this is the better way to go. The larger the market share, the more powerful a brand becomes. When a brand reaches 50 percent or more market share, it becomes so dominant that it is almost impossible for a competitor to overtake.

Perception dictates reality. Does Starbucks coffee tastes better because the consumer thinks it tastes better or is it really better?

The larger the market share, the more dominant the brand, the greater effect the brand has on the consumer’s perception of reality. All candy bars are pretty much alike, because no one brand dominates the category. Every one percent increase in a brand’s market share does two things, both favorable. One, it increases the power of the brand in the mind of the consumer and two, it decreases the power of competitive brands.

The ultimate goal of a marketing campaign should be to dominate the brand’s category so the brand itself becomes a generic name for the category.

Which brings up the sad saga of Saturn.

Here is a brand introduced by GM less than 20 years ago in a highly competitive category. In 1994, just four years after its introduction, Saturn hit its high-water mark, selling 286,003 cars. That year, the average Saturn dealer sold more vehicles than the average of any other brand. That was the year the Saturn spirit was in full bloom. That was the year 44,000 owners and families attended a ‘homecoming’ at the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee. So what did Saturn do next? Did it try to expand its market share? Or did it try to expand the Saturn brand into larger and more expensive vehicles? You’re right. Expand the brand.

A typical quote from that year: ‘Many analysts feel that Saturn will eventually need a bigger model to retain customers as they older and more affluent’, reported The Wall Street Journal in its June 17, 1994 issue. In the February 9, 1998 issue of Automotive News, Ron Zarella, then vice president of GM’s North American sales, service and marketing, was quoted as saying, We’re doing everything we can to get them a wider product range. In the March 9, 1998 issue of Automotive News, Charles Child, news editor, said: GM has to bite the bullet and let Saturn spread its wings. That is, give Saturn a full line of cars and light trucks as soon as practical. In January 1999, Cynthia Trudell took over as head of Saturn and as you might expect, one of the first things she said was that Saturn is definitely looking for ways to expand the portfolio. (Ms. Trudell was the first woman to head a car division at any domestic or foreign auto maker.) Two years later, Ms. Trudell was gone and Annette Clayton took over. The strategy didn’t change, however. My focus for the immediate future, said Ms. Clayton, is to prepare us for the SUV launch and to position us to grow the portfolio. The larger Saturn (the S series) was introduced in 1999. The sport-utility vehicle (the Vue) in 2002 and a replacement for the original Saturn (the Ion), also in 2002. When Bob Lutz arrived at GM as vice chairman responsible for product development, he sounded the same tune. In the December 13, 2004 issue of Fortune, he was quoted as saying: We’re investing in Saturn’s future because the inherent health of the brand is quite good. It just needs a bigger, more exciting product portfolio. Nothing helped. Saturn sales fluctuated over the years, but never reached the high-water mark of 1994. Then in 2004, in spite of the fact that Saturn dealers had three models to sell, as opposed to the original one, sales were only 212,017 units, down 26 percent from 1994. Average sales per dealer were only 483 units, half the level of a decade earlier.

The E-series is starting to sound like GM’s Saturn. In catering to the Corporate Category, Nokia’s losing its focus on the consumer markets (My Nokia 5730 does not sync with OVI Store and doesn’t work with OVI Suite 1.4 out of the box). Worse, it’s not even doing corporate well. There’s virtually no distinction between the different phones in the E-series. The hyped up Nokia-Seimens venture NSN is going the Nortel way. (Do read up on http://www.cn-c114.net/577/a452043.html). The technologies being deployed are starting to sound old. On the consumer smartphone front, Samsung Star has swept the market in our part of the world because of which Nokia’s launched a mega-campaign promoting the 5530 to contest it. Nokia Pakistan is also not bracing for the fact that operators are starting to bundle phones with their packages and whilst it’s going to be impossible to route Nokia from the low-end phones market in the immediate future (they make up over 80% of Nokia Pakistan’s Revenues), over time the sexier technologies being bundled with Chinese (TV anyone?????) and other OEMs manufacturer will create a dent in the market share as the category shifts from voice to other forms.

Granted there’s a huge difference between cars & phones and markets and times… however in my opinion Nokia is starting to sound the same tune. They’ve lost what made them Nokia in the first place ‘Connecting People’ and are trying to expand the brand into areas where it doesn’t belong using the same technologies over and over, pushing them to death in all their series until there’s virtually no differentiation – a death knell for the brand. Here’s an excerpt from their press release ‘… we make a wide range of devices for all major consumer segments and offer internet services that enable people to experience music, maps, media, messaging and games….’. Sounds like a serious lack of strategy. For what customers really think about their Flagship N97 check out http://www.intomobile.com/2009/10/27/video-dear-nokia-the-nokia-n97-blows-and-you-know-it.html. Toshiba’s recently announced that they’ll be mass producing a 14.6 megapixel CMOS sensor for fones in Q3 2010. Compare that to the highest Nokia 8 megs.

With the new enterprise / corporate trends like cloud computing devices, Enterprise 2.0, android, Winmo 7 (i’m really excited about this one), mobility computing, social applications, HD on phones and so much more, where do we place Nokia’s products in the upcoming smarter world especially its E-series?