Saturday, July 30, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
The first Nokia Windows Phone devices will hit consumer shelves in a world very different from the moment when Steve Ballmer and Stephen Elop first sat down to discuss a partnership.
And it’s in fact amazing juts how much the mobile devices market has changed in the last year alone.
Back in March 2011, CEO Steve Ballmer and CEO and President Stephen Elop announced the Microsoft and Nokia marriage, sacrificing Symbian on the altar of Windows Phone.
Elop said at the time that Nokia had considered adopting Android, but opted for Windows Phone instead. The billions that Microsoft agreed to pay the Finnish phone maker had something to do with that, I’m sure.
It’s hard to tell whether Nokia has started regretting the choice made just yet, but there’s still plenty of time. And there’s still the possibility that it will.
Earlier this month, Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer was talking at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 about Microsoft winning in phones.
“We know that mobile is important. We have to do some very strategic things to get our phone volume up. And we've made some huge bets. The first bet we made was with Nokia, which has about 38 percent of the world's smartphone share. We have dreams and aspirations that we can get to 100 million units per annum with that single day. That's the kind of progress we want to drive with phones,” he said at the time. (emphasis added)
Now, there’s winning, and there’s Charlie Sheen winning. The two, I’d argue, are somewhat very different things, but then again it might be a matter of perspective.
Strategy Analytics published the results of its latest research of the smartphone market in the second quarter of 2011, and surprise, surprise, Nokia’s dominance is shattered.
Nokia managed to ship just 16.7 million smartphones in Q2 2011 down from 23.8 million in Q2 2010, and has been surpassed by both Samsung and Apple. Samsung’s smartphone shipments exploded in the last year from 3.1 million to 19.2 million, and Apple’s iPhone experienced a comparable growth from 8.4 million to 20.3 million.
Both Apple and Samsung are selling considerably less devices compared to Nokia when it was king, but they’re now the new no. 1 and 2.
Furthermore, Nokia’s smartphone vendor marketshare dropped dramatically between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011, dipping from 38.1% to as little as 15.2%. In the same period of time, Apple’s share of the smartphone market increased from 13.5% to 18.5% and Samsung’s went up from 5.0% to 17.5%.
In all fairness, Nokia’s huge drop is understandable. Some might be tempted to blame the transition to Windows Phone and the core shift at Nokia, but although this was an expected collateral result of the deal with Microsoft, it’s not the only factor.
I mean, look at RIM, the company’s one foot in the grave cannot be blamed on Windows Phone, as such, it must be something else instead.
If you were to ask me, is Nokia’s constant and continuous failure to provide valid alternatives to the iPhone and new devices from the likes of HTC and Samsung is a key part of the problem.
I remember when Nokia N97 came out not that long ago. This was the phone that I was going to buy, until I got to test it for about five minutes. Then I started looking at HTC devices. I purchased one almost immediately. Previously, I had owned a number of Nokia phones, never one from HTC, but the decision was simple, and one of the best I made in my life.
As far as I’m concerned Nokia N8 and Nokia E7 were the first devices from the Finnish maker worth a second look as smartphones. But they both fell, or should I say, crashed, in the too little, too late category.
Then there’s Symbian. Evolving slow, bringing no innovation at all year after year, the epitome of everything that’s not user-friendly, Symbian also has its part of the blame. But it’s already a thing of the past, so there’s no real sense of speaking ill of the dead.
And then, there’s Nokia’s monumental failure at creating a comprehensive application and service ecosystem for Symbian. I still remember what it took to find, download and install an app on a Nokia phone. A kind of a never-again experience.
There simply isn’t room for Nokia’s share of the smartphone market to drop another 22.9%. Nokia would fall off the map entirely. They might as well reinvent themselves as a fishing company.
And although Windows Phone is innovative and evolving rapidly, user-friendly and with a growing ecosystem, it might not be a parachute big enough to stop Nokia from its free fall.
The conclusion is clear: consumers are buying fewer Nokia smartphones and more Apple iPhones and Samsung devices. It will be extremely difficult for Windows Phone if not impossible, Mango or no Mango, to breathe new life into Nokia and to reverse the current trends on the smartphone market.
Especially when the strong growth that Apple and Samsung are experiencing is rapidly closing the window for Nokia Windows Phone device.
And it’s in fact amazing juts how much the mobile devices market has changed in the last year alone.
Back in March 2011, CEO Steve Ballmer and CEO and President Stephen Elop announced the Microsoft and Nokia marriage, sacrificing Symbian on the altar of Windows Phone.
Elop said at the time that Nokia had considered adopting Android, but opted for Windows Phone instead. The billions that Microsoft agreed to pay the Finnish phone maker had something to do with that, I’m sure.
It’s hard to tell whether Nokia has started regretting the choice made just yet, but there’s still plenty of time. And there’s still the possibility that it will.
Earlier this month, Kevin Turner, Chief Operating Officer was talking at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2011 about Microsoft winning in phones.
“We know that mobile is important. We have to do some very strategic things to get our phone volume up. And we've made some huge bets. The first bet we made was with Nokia, which has about 38 percent of the world's smartphone share. We have dreams and aspirations that we can get to 100 million units per annum with that single day. That's the kind of progress we want to drive with phones,” he said at the time. (emphasis added)
Now, there’s winning, and there’s Charlie Sheen winning. The two, I’d argue, are somewhat very different things, but then again it might be a matter of perspective.
Strategy Analytics published the results of its latest research of the smartphone market in the second quarter of 2011, and surprise, surprise, Nokia’s dominance is shattered.
Nokia managed to ship just 16.7 million smartphones in Q2 2011 down from 23.8 million in Q2 2010, and has been surpassed by both Samsung and Apple. Samsung’s smartphone shipments exploded in the last year from 3.1 million to 19.2 million, and Apple’s iPhone experienced a comparable growth from 8.4 million to 20.3 million.
Both Apple and Samsung are selling considerably less devices compared to Nokia when it was king, but they’re now the new no. 1 and 2.
Furthermore, Nokia’s smartphone vendor marketshare dropped dramatically between Q2 2010 and Q2 2011, dipping from 38.1% to as little as 15.2%. In the same period of time, Apple’s share of the smartphone market increased from 13.5% to 18.5% and Samsung’s went up from 5.0% to 17.5%.
In all fairness, Nokia’s huge drop is understandable. Some might be tempted to blame the transition to Windows Phone and the core shift at Nokia, but although this was an expected collateral result of the deal with Microsoft, it’s not the only factor.
I mean, look at RIM, the company’s one foot in the grave cannot be blamed on Windows Phone, as such, it must be something else instead.
If you were to ask me, is Nokia’s constant and continuous failure to provide valid alternatives to the iPhone and new devices from the likes of HTC and Samsung is a key part of the problem.
I remember when Nokia N97 came out not that long ago. This was the phone that I was going to buy, until I got to test it for about five minutes. Then I started looking at HTC devices. I purchased one almost immediately. Previously, I had owned a number of Nokia phones, never one from HTC, but the decision was simple, and one of the best I made in my life.
As far as I’m concerned Nokia N8 and Nokia E7 were the first devices from the Finnish maker worth a second look as smartphones. But they both fell, or should I say, crashed, in the too little, too late category.
Then there’s Symbian. Evolving slow, bringing no innovation at all year after year, the epitome of everything that’s not user-friendly, Symbian also has its part of the blame. But it’s already a thing of the past, so there’s no real sense of speaking ill of the dead.
And then, there’s Nokia’s monumental failure at creating a comprehensive application and service ecosystem for Symbian. I still remember what it took to find, download and install an app on a Nokia phone. A kind of a never-again experience.
There simply isn’t room for Nokia’s share of the smartphone market to drop another 22.9%. Nokia would fall off the map entirely. They might as well reinvent themselves as a fishing company.
And although Windows Phone is innovative and evolving rapidly, user-friendly and with a growing ecosystem, it might not be a parachute big enough to stop Nokia from its free fall.
The conclusion is clear: consumers are buying fewer Nokia smartphones and more Apple iPhones and Samsung devices. It will be extremely difficult for Windows Phone if not impossible, Mango or no Mango, to breathe new life into Nokia and to reverse the current trends on the smartphone market.
Especially when the strong growth that Apple and Samsung are experiencing is rapidly closing the window for Nokia Windows Phone device.
How to watch free channels on DStv Africa. Channels & Settings.
Written by Oluniyi D. Ajao on 2 July 2010 & has 87,548 views
For those who do not know already, there a few unencrypted channels on Eutelsat W4 and Eutelsat W7, both located at 36° East. DStv was formerly on W4 but is now beaming its signals from W7. The information I am sharing relates to how to view the unencrypted channels that share the same satellite as Multichoice’s DStv, and not how to illegally hack into DStv’s encrypted channels.
DStv decoders are designed, manufactured and sold to receive Multichoice services only. Therefore, I offer no guarantee that all the channels I am sharing would necessarily work on your DStv decoder. The DStv HD decoder for example, does not offer a “Public bouquet” and even for the single view decoders that do, one might be unable to watch the unencrypted channels once subscription is overdue. It would thus make the most sense to simply buy a good MPEG4-compatible digital satellite receiver and connect same to your satellite dish. There would be more on that later.
Some unencrypted TV channels currently available on Eutelsat W4 & W7.
Some unencrypted TV channels currently available on Eutelsat W4 & W7. Image: davidajao.com
The free channels from China
The easiest unencrypted channels to watch are the following 3 TV channels from China Central Television (CCTV), the major state television broadcaster in mainland China:
CCTV News (formerly CCTV 9): this channel is targetted at an English-speaking international audience and mainly broadcasts news and current affairs programmes
CCTV-F: programming targetted at a French-speaking international audience
CCTV-4: an international channel broadcast in Chinese language
Any DStv decoders can view the CCTV channels whether your subscription is expired or not. So long your satellite is pointed towards 36° East.
If you are using a good Free-To-Air (FTA) digital satellite receiver, a blind scan should reveal the CCTV channels. Else, enter the following parameters to your receiver:
In South Africa – Frequency: 11637 Symbol rate: 22000 Polarization: Vertical FEC: 3/4
Rest of Africa – Frequency: 11940 Symbol rate: 27500 Polarization: Horizontal FEC: 3/4 and Frequency: 11862 Symbol rate: 27500 Polarization: Horizontal FEC: 3/4
The free channels from East Africa
In recent times, a few channels have emerged on Eutelsat W7 from Kenya, and beamed at the African continent:
NTV Kenya: a leading TV channel in Kenya offering news and general entertainment
KBC Channel 1: a TV service from the wholly-state owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
K24: a news and current affairs channel from Kenya
KTN Kenya: an all-round channel in Kenya. Arguably the leading TV station
NTV Uganda: a general entertainment channel targetted at Uganda
Parameters:
Frequency: 11731 Symbol rate: 8751 Polarization: Vertical FEC: 3/5
Frequency: 11716 Symbol rate: 3141 Polarization: Vertical FEC: 3/4
The free channels from Francophone West Africa
A bouquet of mostly French-speaking African channels exist on Eutelsat W4.
La Chaîne de Futur (LCF): a tv channel from Togo
Mboa TV: an entertainment TV channel based in France and exclusively dedicated to black-afro artists
RTS 1 (Senegal): Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise (RTS) is the Senegalese public broadcasting company
2STV: a TV channel in Senegal broadcasting mainly cultural programmes, interviews with local music and other artistic stars, and talkshows
Touba TV: a privately-owned TV channel in Senegal
ORTB TV: Office de Radiodiffusion et Télévision du Bénin (ORTB) is a the mainstream terrestrial television channel and radio operator in Benin
LoveWorld Plus: Christian-themed programming in English language from Nigeria
Parameters:
Frequency: 12437 Symbol rate: 23437 Polarization: Horizontal FEC: 3/4
Kindly note that the channels are subject to change without notice. Thus, re-scanning your receiver regularly ensures that you are constantly in the loop as to the current channels.
As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome.
For those who do not know already, there a few unencrypted channels on Eutelsat W4 and Eutelsat W7, both located at 36° East. DStv was formerly on W4 but is now beaming its signals from W7. The information I am sharing relates to how to view the unencrypted channels that share the same satellite as Multichoice’s DStv, and not how to illegally hack into DStv’s encrypted channels.
DStv decoders are designed, manufactured and sold to receive Multichoice services only. Therefore, I offer no guarantee that all the channels I am sharing would necessarily work on your DStv decoder. The DStv HD decoder for example, does not offer a “Public bouquet” and even for the single view decoders that do, one might be unable to watch the unencrypted channels once subscription is overdue. It would thus make the most sense to simply buy a good MPEG4-compatible digital satellite receiver and connect same to your satellite dish. There would be more on that later.
Some unencrypted TV channels currently available on Eutelsat W4 & W7.
Some unencrypted TV channels currently available on Eutelsat W4 & W7. Image: davidajao.com
The free channels from China
The easiest unencrypted channels to watch are the following 3 TV channels from China Central Television (CCTV), the major state television broadcaster in mainland China:
CCTV News (formerly CCTV 9): this channel is targetted at an English-speaking international audience and mainly broadcasts news and current affairs programmes
CCTV-F: programming targetted at a French-speaking international audience
CCTV-4: an international channel broadcast in Chinese language
Any DStv decoders can view the CCTV channels whether your subscription is expired or not. So long your satellite is pointed towards 36° East.
If you are using a good Free-To-Air (FTA) digital satellite receiver, a blind scan should reveal the CCTV channels. Else, enter the following parameters to your receiver:
In South Africa – Frequency: 11637 Symbol rate: 22000 Polarization: Vertical FEC: 3/4
Rest of Africa – Frequency: 11940 Symbol rate: 27500 Polarization: Horizontal FEC: 3/4 and Frequency: 11862 Symbol rate: 27500 Polarization: Horizontal FEC: 3/4
The free channels from East Africa
In recent times, a few channels have emerged on Eutelsat W7 from Kenya, and beamed at the African continent:
NTV Kenya: a leading TV channel in Kenya offering news and general entertainment
KBC Channel 1: a TV service from the wholly-state owned Kenya Broadcasting Corporation
K24: a news and current affairs channel from Kenya
KTN Kenya: an all-round channel in Kenya. Arguably the leading TV station
NTV Uganda: a general entertainment channel targetted at Uganda
Parameters:
Frequency: 11731 Symbol rate: 8751 Polarization: Vertical FEC: 3/5
Frequency: 11716 Symbol rate: 3141 Polarization: Vertical FEC: 3/4
The free channels from Francophone West Africa
A bouquet of mostly French-speaking African channels exist on Eutelsat W4.
La Chaîne de Futur (LCF): a tv channel from Togo
Mboa TV: an entertainment TV channel based in France and exclusively dedicated to black-afro artists
RTS 1 (Senegal): Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise (RTS) is the Senegalese public broadcasting company
2STV: a TV channel in Senegal broadcasting mainly cultural programmes, interviews with local music and other artistic stars, and talkshows
Touba TV: a privately-owned TV channel in Senegal
ORTB TV: Office de Radiodiffusion et Télévision du Bénin (ORTB) is a the mainstream terrestrial television channel and radio operator in Benin
LoveWorld Plus: Christian-themed programming in English language from Nigeria
Parameters:
Frequency: 12437 Symbol rate: 23437 Polarization: Horizontal FEC: 3/4
Kindly note that the channels are subject to change without notice. Thus, re-scanning your receiver regularly ensures that you are constantly in the loop as to the current channels.
As always, your comments and suggestions are welcome.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Africa's World cup seeding
Africa's World Cup seedings announced
Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup
The seedings for Africa's 2014 World Cup first and second qualifying rounds have been announced.
This comes after football's world governing body Fifa unveiled its latest monthly rankings on Wednesday.
The 2014 World Cup qualifying draw will be held on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil will host the competition from 12 June - 13 July 2014.
A total of five Afican nations will qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
Burkina Faso are the only one of the top seeds to have never contested a World Cup before, while 2006 finalists Togo could be knocked in the very first round.
FIRST QUALIFYING ROUND
Pot 5 (countries ranked 29-40): Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo, Liberia, Tanzania, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Namibia, Burundi, Madagascar
Pot 6 (ranked 41-52): Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Swaziland, Comoros Islands, Lesotho, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sao Tome e Principe
The 12 countries in Pot 5 will be drawn against the 12 from Pot 6, who will play at home first. Aggregate winners from November's two-legged ties will advance to the second round.
SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND
Pot 1 (ranked 1-10): Ivory Coast, Egypt, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Cameroon, Algeria, Tunisia
Pot 2 (ranked 11-20): Gabon, Libya, Morocco, Guinea, Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Mali, Cape Verde Islands
Pot 3 (ranked 21-28 plus two others): Benin, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Niger, Angola, The Gambia plus two first round pairings
Pot 4: the remaining 10 qualifiers from the first round
The 10 four-team groups will be formed by drawing together one team from each pot and each country plays three opponents at home and away.
The matches will start in June 2012 and conclude in September 2013.
THIRD QUALIFYING ROUND
A draw will split the 10 group winners into five two-leg ties, with the aggregate winners qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The first leg of these decisive matches will take place in October 2013, concluding a month later.
N.B. Non-entrants Mauritania and non-ranked Sao Tome e Principe have not been included in the draw.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
HOW TO ACTIVATE VOICE IN ANY USB MODEM
UNLOCK AND UPGRADE THE FIRMWARE.
VISIT http://www.dc-files.com for your downloads
FOR ALL YOUR DASHBOARD AND FIRMWARE UPDATES
EXAMPLE VMC K3565:UNLOCK AND UPGRADE WITH EI60X FIRMWARE AND YOU ARE DONE
POST ANY QUESTION AND I WILL GET IN TOUCH
VISIT http://www.dc-files.com for your downloads
FOR ALL YOUR DASHBOARD AND FIRMWARE UPDATES
EXAMPLE VMC K3565:UNLOCK AND UPGRADE WITH EI60X FIRMWARE AND YOU ARE DONE
POST ANY QUESTION AND I WILL GET IN TOUCH
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
mobile number portability issues to Ghanaians
Problems of Mobile Number Portability in Ghana to users
While Mobile Number Portability is a great technology, it may cause a few problems to the users. They might be as follows:
1. The switching from one operator to another requires you to not pay anything so who bears the cost. Just like some say it, "Nothing comes for free". So you have to pay nothing charge to the new operator for using their service. It is expected that operators would find ways to charge you the maximum amount for changing to their service. While this is not certain, even the possibility of the same is a disadvantage.
2. You still have to follow the same old procedure of going to a shop, getting a new SIM and so on: If you thought that you would just send a SMS and you will change your operator which you are in the train, you are wrong. You still have to go to the shop and get a new SIM. So you cannot retain your old SIM (and all the phone numbers and messages stored in it). So we suggest, you get a habit of storing your contacts in your mobile phone memory instead, if you are going to use Mobile Number Portability service soon and again.
3. It takes time for the switch to take place: So if you want it to happen immediately, you cannot do it. Nothing is in your hands after you have started the process of changing the operator. One would have to wait for about 4 days for the switch to happen in the worst case. In the best case, it would still take about an hour.
4. Since it has not been made clear that when can a person use his new SIM card after applying to the new operator, it may cause problems to the users in some scenarios: Today you get a new SIM and start using the moment you buy it. This will not be possible since the new SIM you buy will not be active unless the number is transferred to the new operator, which may take time of the old operator is snail paced.
Problems of Mobile Number Portability in Ghana to operators
While the operators gain the most out of this service, they also lose it the most! Following are some of the things which make the matter complicated for the operators:
1. Technology change: Since Mobile Number Portability in Ghana will ask the telecom operators to use a slightly different technique that what is already in use, they will have to invest in a newer (and perhaps even more costly) equipment to support Mobile Number Portability.
2. More competition with other companies: The competition between operators will become fierce as they can lose the customers anytime.
3. Underlying network changes: Changing the current call routing scheme (that is technical needs some readjustments in the networking within the operator's own network. This is challenging especially when they do not want the service to be disrupted which the technology is being changed under the hood. It would be like changing the engine of the car while it's running! This is certainly going to be a problem for the backend team of engineers who will do the real technical job here.
Problems of Mobile Number Portability in GHANA for Government
Once again, there are some quite new problems this technology will invite for the government when implemented. Some of them are:
1. Loss due to dropdown in number of mobile numbers: Since many people maintain two numbers just because they cannot change the operator who serves the number they have used till now, but want cheaper and better plans and features may remove the additional numbers, implementation of Mobile Number Portability in short, reduce the total number of mobile phone numbers from Ghana and hence will the revenues from the companies drop. Not only this, the number of people change their mobiles will also get slightly reduced due to various related issues.
2. No More number series reservations: Since numbers can be reused and the 'mobile number series' aspect will be removed after Mobile Number Portability in Ghana is implemented, government is sure to lose the revenue that came to it for the maintenance of those number series. (Note that this might not be entirely true but is very much expected to happen)
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