BenQ Mobile to die off
You may or may not be aware that BenQ Mobile (or BenQ Siemens as it was) went bankrupt at the end of last year. BenQ had purchased the ailing Siemens group in 2005, but failed to turn the business around.
Well administrators have failed to find a buyer and so the company will close down, meaning almost all jobs will go. All assets will be auctioned in Hamburg to be set against liabilities (a massive $1.16bn).
It seems that competition from the big players, noticably Nokia, were too much for the outfit to make things work. Which is a shame because the loss of the brand further reduces the pool of choice.
It’s amazing that such a brand could fail so easily - with the likes of LG going from strength to strength, it is certainly possible to make an impact against the big four, and all it would have taken is a ‘hero’ product (like the LG Chocolate, Motorola RAZR).
RIP BenQ Siemens.
O2 announces Social Networking service
The week following Vodafone’s announcement regarding MySpace, O2 has unveiled its own offering - My BlueBook. Not the most creative of brands in my opinion, but I guess it’s descriptive.
The O2 service puts the emphasis on user generated content - photos, videos and profiles, all of which can be shared amongst other registered customers (with 3G enabled handsets of course). It all sounds pretty fancy, but what it really comes down to is providing online server space for O2 customers.
It does have some nice features like being able to backup contact lists and numbers - hopefully spelling the end of those irksome SMS backup devices (I never have found one I liked or that worked well).
O2 is actually just the latest network provider to utilise NewBay’s Lifecache system, joining Orange, Alltel Wireless, T-Mobile and Swisscom.
It’s difficult to imagine a social networking producing working in the current environment - 3G usage isn’t as high as it could be, and tends to still be expensive. But it is a sign of things to come, with popular internet services gradually migrating onto mobile devices.
Camera phones look to liquid lenses
Varioptic makes its lenses out of oil and water rather than normal methods. Sounds crazy? Well it’s actually a far better way of producing lenses - it’s more reliable, enables closer focus (5m or so) and it focuses more quickly than a standard lens. And it’s expected to be cheaper once production ramps up.
Of course, camera phones aren’t the only application - it can also be used for standard digital cameras, barcode readers, telemetry products and more.
Motorola’s face fitting slider
Remember the Nokia 8110, you know, the one used in the Matrix? Well after a long absence of ‘banana’ phones, Motorola has unveiled the RIZR, a slightly odd looking handset that curves around your face.
The RIZR will have 90mb of onboard memory with support for 4GB SD card, and a 2mpx camera.
Other handsets shown off by Moto are simply RAZR/SLVR clones - the KRZR K3 and SLVR L9. I won’t show pics because you know basically what they look like …
Samsung goes even slimmer
Samsung has showcased a few new handsets at the 3GSM conference, with one claiming to be the “slimmest phone in the world”.
And here it is - the U100:
Also launched were two skinny sliders, the U600:
And U700:
And finally, an iPhone lookalike, the symbian based F700:
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Welcome to xibro.com, where you'll find the latest technology news, along with my take on it. I work in the technology industry and keep constant track of the biggest tech stories, so I decided to share them on this site. Enjoy.
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