Apple Unveils New MacBook Pro Lineup

Apple has unveiled its new lineup of MacBook Pro laptop computers.  These new laptops feature Intel’s new Sandy Bridge CPUs, improved graphics capability, the newest in I/O interfacing technology, a new Face Time HD camera, a multi-touch trackpad, and longer battery life (up to 7 hours of wireless web surfing).

New MacBook Pro

Processor: The 13″ version comes either with an Intel Core i5 dual core processor, or the fastest dual core processor available – the 2.7GHz Core i7 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.4GHz.  The 15″ and 17″ models are available up to a quad core Core i7 at 2.3GHz, with Turbo Speeds up to 3.4 GHz, and includes up to 8MB of shared L3 Cache memory.  The result is that the new top-of-the-line MacBook Pros will now run close to twice as fast as their top-of-the-line predecessors.

Graphics: The upgraded on-chip GPU of the Sandy Bridge architecture (Intel HD Graphics 3000), is present across the new line of MacBook Pros and is used to quickly and efficiently encode and decode video, which allows the new HD resolution for Face Time video calls, as well as allows longer playback of DVD and other videos.  In addition, the 15″ and 17″ models include a discrete high performance AMD Radeon GPU (up to 3x the performance of predecessors) that handle more intensive tasks such as gaming and HD video editing/processing with greater speed and responsiveness than before.

I/O – Thunderbolt: Perhaps the most interesting feature of the new MacBook Pro lineup is the new I/O interface, which is the first implementation of Intel’s new Thunderbolt technology (for those who remember Intel’s “Light Peak” nomenclature, this is the re-naming of that technology).

Thunderbolt was conceived as a solution that would provide incredibly fast bi-directional data transfers and that just about anything could plug into.  Thunderbolt is based on PCI Express and DisplayPort technologies.  By connecting RAID arrays or video capture solutions through Thunderbolt, you can for the first time get PCI Express performance.  Thunderbolt also provides up to 10W of power to peripherals.  And by using simple adapters, you can connect existing USB, FireWire and Gigabit Ethernet to the Thunderbolt port.

In addition, as Thunderbolt is also based on DisplayPort, you can connect any high resolution display with a mini DisplayPort plug directly into the Thunderbolt port, or you can connect a display with HDMI, DVI, or VGA cables using an existing adapter to the Thunderbolt port.

Thunderbolt is capable up to 10Gbps in both directions, and is >12 times faster than FireWire 800, is 20 times faster than USB 2.0, and is even double the speed of the new USB 3.0 standard.

The Feature Set for Thunderbolt includes:

• Dual-channel 10 Gbps per port
• Bi-directional
• Dual-protocol (PCI Express* and DisplayPort*)
• Compatible with existing DisplayPort devices
• Daisy-chained devices
• Electrical or optical cables
• Low latency with highly accurate time synchronization
• Uses native protocol software drivers
• Power over cable for bus-powered devices

Other Features of MacBook Pro :
* Ability to make 720p HD video calls between new MacBook Pros
* Multi-touch trackpad allows gestures such as pinch to zoom in and out, swipe to scroll, clicking and right-clicking
* 802.11n and Bluetooth wireless

I expect this new lineup of MacBook Pro laptops to be successful among the growing base of Apple fans.

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The Internet of Things

Mobile communications continue to evolve.  We started in the 1990’s by wanting to talk on a phone wherever we happened to be – voice communications.  Over the past 20 years, we’ve worked on shrinking cell phone sizes and increasing talk time/standby time to make the voice-centric devices more user friendly.

In the 2000’s we finally saw Smart Phones take off – it was no longer good enough to talk on the phone – we wanted mobile access to data whether this was email, web access, SMS or social media.  As smart phones progressed with higher data rates/bandwidth and better multimedia capability, we started demanding streaming audio and video to our mobile devices.

The 2010’s have begun with the advent of the Tablet Computer.  Certainly there have been prior attempts at tablets in the past, but none successful until Apple launched their iPad.  Now through tablets, computers are becoming more portable and intuitive with rich multimedia experience.

So what is next?  What will continue to drive connected technological growth?

If you have not heard, the new mantra is “The Internet of Things”.  The Internet of Things essentially allows for the connection of everything to the internet.  Not only will our mobile devices be connected, but our lights, our HVAC systems, our consumer electronics, our cars, our product inventories.  Essentially, this means M2M (Machine to Machine) interface.  And the communications media will involve a variety of wireless connectivity interfaces which could include WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, RFID, GPS, etc.

We have already seen a few examples of this, with TV’s and Blu-Ray players that are connected to the internet.  It is now possible to stream video from your DVR recordings or live satellite TV to your mobile phone or tablet.  This is only the beginning.

Imagine:

* Being able to control your lights, heater or appliances from your mobile phone.

* Energy could be used much more efficiently as buildings connect to the internet and can self regulate things like temperature and lighting based on external factors.

* Companies can reduce or eliminate the chance of running out of stock as their inventory can all communicate to the internet for inventory tracking.

* Health care will improve by sensors that monitor bodily functions and communicate the information to central health records and can alert doctors if there are any abnormalities.  Pill bottles can tell us when it’s time to take our medication.

This is the vision of the future of mobile/internet technology – everything connected to the internet.  Of course there are many issues to overcome including cost effectiveness, power consumption, not to mention non-technical issues such as privacy concerns.  But many believe that this is our future.

At this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs stated that by 2014, 70% of all consumer electronics devices will be connected to the internet.  This will help fuel growth in infrastructure, semiconductors, and software.

These are indeed exciting times – we have only begun to scratch the surface of wireless connectivity.

Feel free to post your comments or thoughts.

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Samsung Announces Galaxy Tab 10.1 At Mobile World Congress

Today, Samsung announced its Galaxy Tab 10.1 which, like Motorola’s Xoom, is based on Google’s Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) OS running on NVidia’s Tegra 2 dual core ARM applications processor with integrated GeForce GPU.  Kudos go to NVidia for working with Google to have its processor chosen for the reference design for Honeycomb.  This gave NVidia a leadership position in the initial Honeycomb platform launches.

Now on to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1.  Features include a 10.1″ touch screen display with 1280×800 pixel resolution, support for 1080p HD video recording at 24 frames per second/playback at 30fps, an 8M pixel camera on the back, a 2M pixel camera on the front for video conferencing, quad-band GSM (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) with support for HSPA+ 21.1Mbps, WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, USB2.0, gyroscope, accelerometer, digital compass, proximity sensor, and storage capacities of either 16GB or 32GB.  Vodaphone will be the carrier for this device for Europe and Asia in the spring, though no announcement was made for the US market.

Samsung, Motorola and Google clearly have their sites on the Apple iPad.  However with the momentum that the iPad has to date coupled with the soon-to-be launched iPad2, I expect that 2011 will still be one dominated by the iPad.  However with these new Android 3.0-based tablets being introduced from these major competitors, I anticipate strong positioning for a battle for market share in 2012 and beyond.

Feel free to post your comments or thoughts.

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Gartner Announces 2010 Mobile Handset Numbers

Overall global handset sales totaled 1.6B units in 2010, an increase of 31.8% from 2009.  Smartphone sales were up 72.1% and accounted for 19% of total handset sales.

The leading manufacturers of mobile phones in 2010 were Nokia, Samsung, LG, RIM (Blackberry), and Apple – in that order.  For the first time, Apple, which grew handset sales 87.2% from 2009 to 46.6M units, surpassed both Sony-Ericsson and Motorola.

Nokia sold 461M units in 2010 (28.9% share), which was a 7.5% drop in market share from 2009.  Samsung took 17.6% of the market (1.9% drop in share), LG had 7.1% of the market (a drop of 12 points of share from 2009).  RIM actually increased their shipments by 38.2% in 2010 to 47.5M units, though share of the market increased only from 2.8% to 3.0%.  RIM’s strongest growth reportedly came from Southeast Asia and Europe.

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New iPad2 Enters Production

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Apple’s new iPad2 has entered production.  The specs are still a bit sketchy, but the device is supposed to be thinner and lighter, come with a faster processor, more memory, and a more powerful graphics processor.  It is also rumored to include a front-facing camera for video-conferencing, though supposedly the display resolution will be similar to the first iPad.  There are also rumors that this new iPad will be capable of GSM or CDMA, such that the same basic hardware unit can be sold through AT&T or Verizon.  Expectations are that the new iPad2 will start shipping this spring.

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Smartphones with Intel Inside?

Though Intel has dominated the PC market with its processor architecture since the beginning of the IBM PC days, they have largely been absent from the mobile market, which is dominated by the ARM architecture.  Intel is now preparing to challenge ARM’s dominance in the mobile handset space.

Intel recently demonstrated at an Intel sales conference a smartphone featuring an SoC based on their Atom architecture – which is codenamed Medfield.  The Medfield SoC is due to be released later this year.  It was unclear who designed this phone or which Operating System it uses.

In late 2010, Intel’s CEO, Paul Otellini, stated that Intel had already produced its second generation smartphone chip (Medfield), and that it is currently in customer sampling.  The plan is for Medfield to be shipped in phones later in 2011 and into 2012.

Intel has in the past struggled at penetrating the cell phone market, one key reason of which has been power efficiency.  However Intel claims that Medfield will be able to challenge ARM-based SoC power efficiency.

In a separate but related event, Intel just closed the deal on their purchase of Infineon’s wireless business unit, a deal worth $1.4B.

Intel is indeed serious about trying to penetrate the wireless market as they must since the future lies in mobility with internet connectivity anywhere and everywhere.

The question is, can Intel make inroads into the heavily-dominated ARM-based market, where handset companies have already made massive software investments in the ARM architecture?  Intel certainly has the financial wherewithal to mount a challenge, but will that be enough?

Feel free to post your opinion as a comment…

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