NTIA's Institute for Telecommunications Sciences recommends future spectrum efficiency (SE) studies zero in on receiver efficiency. The report looks at the history of SE studies back to 1964, saying much work has been done on terrestrial fixed and mobile wireless radio, but systems in other services received less attention. “Technical features that have barely been considered in many past studies, because they have only recently become widely available, should be significantly included in future SE studies and metrical developments,” ITS said. “These include [software-defined control] of transmitters and receivers that can take advantage of intelligence about local environments; smart or intelligent antenna designs including electronic beam steering and gain control; and dynamically controlled frequency agility.” Receiver selectivity "characteristics are just as important as transmitter [out of band emissions] and spurious characteristics,” the lab said. Director Keith Gremban said “spectrum efficiency will only grow more important as spectrum sharing increases and network operators look to utilize ultra-dense networks to build capacity.” Gremban noted this year’s International Symposium on Advanced Radio Technologies meeting will focus on “technical, economic and regulatory challenges associated with network densification.”
Case-Mate began shipping the Power Pad, a Qi-based wireless charger for the iPhone 8 and X models and and the latest Samsung Galaxy phones. The charger includes a stand that displays a phone in portrait or landscape mode, said the company. Price is $60, and charger comes with a two-year warranty, it said.
The LGBT Technology Partnership said the infrastructure changes proposed by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai (see 1803010047) are important to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. “Technology, through smartphones and wireless broadband networks, connects and empowers the LGBTQ community regardless of their geographic location,” said Carlos Gutierrez, deputy director-legal & policy affairs, Friday. “The internet has been a lifeline for LGBT people in smaller towns and remote communities, in particular. With no one-size-fits-all solution for bringing broadband to unconnected communities across the U.S. currently available, regulators and policymakers need to examine whether structures and frameworks currently in place are impeding the deployment of digital infrastructure to the areas that need it most.”
Without a “marketing spend” to revitalize its name, Sony will remain a niche brand in smartphones, said IHS analyst Ian Fogg in a Mobile World Congress recap. Sony has been “a genuine leader” in new mobile technologies in recent years, but “it has failed to convert technology leadership positions into market leadership,” Fogg said. Sony bowed at MWC the Xperia XZ2 smartphone with a 5.7-inch, 18:9 display and 4K HDR video recording, a first for a phone, and a 5-inch version of the phone with a 1080p display. It also launched the Xperia Ear Duo, open earbuds compatible with Android and iOS. Sony’s 2017 mobile market share was 1 percent vs. 1.1 percent the year before with shipments of 13.7 million, said IHS. Sony has improved its design “but not enough to stand out in the market,” Fogg said. Sony’s innovations in the 2018 smartphones will “set the tone for the smartphone market for the next few years,” said the analyst, saying other smartphone OEMs will deliver similar capabilities in the future, including “copying Sony’s 4K HDR video capture.” The CE company reached the market first with 960-frame-per-second slow-motion video capture last year, which Samsung came out with last week in the Galaxy S9, and Sony was first with on-phone noise cancellation, high-quality audio formats and the first 4K display, Fogg noted. “But Sony has failed to market these features to consumers and use these differentiated features to re-grow its business."
Toyota and its automotive components subsidiaries Aisin and Denso will invest a combined 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) to start a new company this month that will “further accelerate” developments in automated driving, said Toyota in a Friday announcement. Within the newly established Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development (TRI-AD), the three companies will pursue joint development of fully integrated, “production-quality” software for automated driving and will hold “further discussions,” in the future, “aiming to conclude a concrete joint development contract,” it said. "Building production-quality software is a critical success factor for Toyota's automated driving program," said James Kuffner, current Toyota Research Institute Chief Technology Officer, who will head TRI-AD in a statement. The new company’s mission “is to accelerate software development in a more effective and disruptive way,” by staffing the project with “world-class software engineers,” he said. “We will recruit globally.” The new company, of which Toyota will own 90 percent and Aisin and Denso 5 percent each, will have 300 employees at the start, growing to about 1,000 through “external recruitment,” said Toyota. Though the company will be based in Tokyo, English will be its primary “business language,” it said.
Amazon executives said they met with Commissioners Mike O’Rielly and Jessica Rosenworcel at the Mobile World Congress to talk spectrum. Amazon discussed “how additional spectrum resources, especially in the 3.5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, can benefit consumers by making more spectrum available for unlicensed and shared uses,” said a filing in docket 14-177. “The Amazon representatives commended the Commission for maintaining unlicensed use in the 64-71 GHz band and for examining bands above 95 GHz. Lastly, the parties urged the Commission to move forward on its spectrum agenda.”
GSMA and ICANN signed a memorandum of understanding, with the goal of raising awareness of local and regional internet governance issues. Wednesday, GSMA Director General Mats Granryd and ICANN CEO Göran Marby signed the MOU in Barcelona, site of Mobile World Congress (see 1802260047 and 1802270047).
Global wearables shipments rose 7.7 percent to 37.9 million in Q4 from the year-ago quarter, a record as Apple overtook Fitbit and Xiaomi, with the top share, at 21 percent, IDC reported Thursday. Tastes in smartwatches “have become more sophisticated over the past several quarters,” and Apple “pounced on the demand for cellular connectivity and streaming multimedia” in its latest Apple Watch, said the researcher.
Best Buy is sticking with smartphones even as it closes the remaining 257 stand-alone Best Buy Mobile stores by May 31, CEO Hubert Joly told a Thursday earnings call. The retailer began opening those stores “more than a decade ago before the iPhone was even launched,” said Joly. “The mobile phone business was in a period of rapid growth and margins were high. Fast forward to 2018 and the mobile phone business has matured.” The company remains “committed” to the category, said Joly: “It makes more sense for us to grow this category in our big-box stores and online.” Hundreds of the big-box stores “now include dedicated vendor experiences associated with carriers and manufacturers like Apple, AT&T, Samsung, Sprint and Verizon and we're adding more of these this year,” he said. Same-store sales rose 9 percent in Q4 ended Feb. 3. The stock closed 4 percent higher Monday at $75.30.
The FCC released the text of the spectrum horizons NPRM approved by commissioners 5-0 last week (see 1802220048). Comment deadlines will follow when it's published in the Federal Register. “We focus this Notice on providing licensed and unlicensed spectrum use opportunities in the 95 GHz to 275 GHz range, with additional provisions for experimental licensing up to 3000 GHz in a manner that would not foreclose future federal and non-federal access to opportunities and technologies,” said the NPRM posted Wednesday.