Nokia is looking to sell the $300,000 diamond encrusted phone designer Vertu. The Vertu brand is popular among rich Chinese and Russians. Permira is buying this Nokia business for $260 million.
Vertu’s most expensive phone ever was 2006’s “Signature Cobra,” priced at $310,000. The phone featured two diamonds, two emeralds and 439 rubies. The problem I think with combining technology and jewelry is that tech. is considered old so fast. That once cool 2006 state-of-the-art cell phone , now looks like junk. If that outdated phone has jewelry on it cool turns to laughable. It seems like they are doing well so if you have that kind of disposable income more power to you.
The $260 million price-tag values Vertu at about 65% of 2011 sales.
Microsoft Seeks Patent For Remote Control Based Pricing
Microsoft, just like all large tech companies out there, regularly file patents for new ideas or concepts. One recent patent however was noticed by several people. The patent is titled “Control-based Content Pricing” and deals with how a remote control allows users to select various settings and preferences when they are watching TV, or doing something on their entertainment devices. By knowing what these preferences are, a content provider could then set prices that would vary as a consequence.
For example, many TVs and cable boxes now have remote controls that feature an ad skipping function. What if this function was visible to the content providers, and the price of the movie or TV show you rent would vary? If you choose not to skip the ads, you could get the current price, but if you decide to use that function, then the price would go up, because the advertisers wouldn’t be seen by you. It’s a fairly ingenious technique, but like for any other patent, the question is whether or not it’s been thought about before. The movie industry is always looking for new ways to monetize content, and these types of remote control functions infuriate them. It’s very likely that they’ve wanted to implement such a variable pricing model before, but the problem is a technical one. There’s no way for the cable networks or other content providers to know what functions you use on your remote. It would require new technology that isn’t deployed yet. So while a lot of people immediately jump on the ad-skipping function as a frightening thought, we don’t have much to worry about just yet.
However, Microsoft may have different reasons to file such a patent. Let’s not forget that they own the Xbox, which is a brand that the company has been trying hard to morph from a game console to an entertainment system. This device allows people to play games, watch movies, TV shows on Netflix, and more. Right now, settings are stored locally, but it’s no secret that the Xbox has a deep connection with Xbox Live. There’s also rumors that Microsoft is working on the next version of the Xbox, known as the Xbox 720, and it’s not inconceivable that they could implement something like that. Do you want to skip ads in your TV show? That’ll be $0.99 extra. Do you want to play a game that has in-game advertising turned off? Again that’s some more money. Right now it’s possible to do this type of variable pricing up front, but not while the content is being consumed. Can you imagine a game that has a billboard with an in-game ad, and the remote controller could sense whether or not you turn your virtual character to look at it?
Of course, right now it’s all speculation. Microsoft says that it routinely files for patents for things they end up not using in any Microsoft product, and that’s true. Still, it’s also true that companies want to nickle and dime as much as possible, and this could become part of some future monetization plan.
Microsoft’s research department has come up with an innovative way to use their motion sensor device Kinect to expend beyond the home and video games. Indeed, the company apparently started running tests in cooperation with Whole Foods Market to install these devices on trolleys, so that the motion sensor capabilities will detect products as you put them in, then keep track of your grocery shopping list. The result is a fairly weird looking trolley, along with some high tech equipment that serves a purpose that may ultimately be better off done by something else. Let’s see how good the result truly is.
The company ran an event recently at their Redmond headquarters where they were eager to showcase how far the technology had come. It’s not quite ready for mass production yet, and it’s clear that no one would want a trolley that looked like this one did, with a full screen and big sensor device on top of it, but Microsoft still wanted to show what will be possible thanks to their development on Kinect. The result was a trolley that could look at the various things you would throw in it, and detect products. The idea is that as you bring products in, it could keep track of your grocery list, and mark items off on it, so you don’t have to keep track of it yourself. The demonstration itself went pretty well, except at one point where the trolley apparently refused to recognized the host was even there, but as products got added, it started filling up the shopping list, and reminding the host about the food that was still missing.
As to how practical such a setup would be, that’s hard to say. It’s clear that there’s some value to having a computer remind you audibly about products you need to buy, but this all seems like a very expensive and cumbersome solution to a very simple problem. There’s no question that grocery stores will be very reluctant to paying additional money to outfit all of their trolleys with something like that, technology that could break easily or be stolen, even if Microsoft manages to reduce the huge size of this current device. Plus, it’s not like this is the first device attempting to help you keep track of your shopping list. There’s many more cost effective solutions to do that, like a bar code scanner, or using RFC chips. While there’s no doubt that this solution from Microsoft is impressive to see, and shows what’s possible thanks to technology, not everyone is convinced that this is something that’s going to turn into a real product.
The event concluded with talk amongst the attendee on how much fun this would be, but most people suspect that it will be some time before we can start getting trolleys equipped with technology like this, if it ever becomes financially worthwhile to do so.
Windows Phone Predicted to Overtake Apple’s iOS by 2015
If there’s one thing analysts love, it’s mobile phones. That may be because the landscape is so competitive, and things change so fast. Regardless what it is, ever since the iPhone came out, it’s been a focus of all tech pundits. Now, since last year, Microsoft truly entered the market with its Windows Phone 7. Unfortunately for them, they haven’t seen much success in the market, remaining at a very low adoption rate of 1.9%. Still, research firm IHS iSuppli is now predicting that Windows Phones will overtake iOS in the smartphone market within 3 years. Crazy prediction, or bold move? Here’s the details.
First, there’s no question that so far, Windows Phone 7 has seen very little success, despite a large marketing effort from Microsoft. Ever since the first version came out, critics have pointed out various flaws in the system, and updates have been slow to come through the various carriers. Worse, it almost seemed like mobile phone stores didn’t even want to sell these phones. With the iPhone and Android taking all the real estate, it was very hard for Microsoft to find a spot on the shelve. But last year they made a very significant move, by partnering with Nokia, the largest cellphone marker in the world. Now, they will be making Windows Phones as well, and that might be enough to propel this system ahead. This is in fact what the research firm is basing it’s predictions on. The very first Nokia phone to hit the US soil running Windows Phone 7, the Lumia 900, was a big hit at CES. That’s why IHS iSuppli thinks this is just the beginning, and that the path for Microsoft and Nokia is wide open. They are predicting a 15% market share by next year.
But there’s several problems with that theory. First, of course Nokia is the largest phone maker, but the main reason is because almost all low end phones, those you typically find in Africa, part of Asia and even many European and South American markets are all using cheap Nokia phones. Those aren’t smartphones, and they won’t be running Windows Phone 7. Nokia smartphones have never been a success in the US, or many other industrial countries. So the power Nokia adds to Windows Phone 7 is not that great. Then, being a success at CES and being a success in the market place are two different things. The fact is people who go in mobile phone stores look for an iPhone or an Android phone, primarily. It’s doubtful that a lot of tech press coverage from CES is going to change that. The idea that suddenly, this one phone will propel Microsoft ahead of the market is fairly dubious.
Overall, anything could happen. The iPhone and iOS could become stale, uninteresting, and we could see a mass of customers switching within a year. But that’s doubtful. Chances are, Nokia won’t bring much to Microsoft, at least not in the US.
