Futurum’s Olivier Blanchard covers Google’s acquisition of Fitbit and how it could deliver the missing piece in Google’s product ecosystem — and perhaps make Apple nervous in the process. Why? Aside from Google’s wearables business suddenly absorbing Fitbit’s nearly 30 million active users worldwide, Google also finally has the tools to become an implementer of its own Wear OS platform.
Mobile News from CES: Qualcomm Powers Samsung’s Galaxy S21 Lineup, Featuring the Snapdragon 888 5G Platform
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888 5G platform powering the Galaxy S21 lineup confirms Samsung’s focus on remaining leader in premium mobile experiences. It is reassuring to note that Samsung chose not to cut corners by selecting a slightly lower-tiered mobile platform for its S21 lineup. Samsung clearly wants to remain a leading player in the premium Android space and isn’t beyond potentially cutting into its own margins this year to protect its enviable market-share in order to achieve that goal.
Qualcomm’s New Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform Expands the Company’s Portfolio Into Budget Tier
Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 480 5G Mobile Platform expands the company’s portfolio in the budget tier, offering price points at mid- and high-tier levels that seem pretty certain to expand its market share ahead of competitors. This is a smart business strategy for a chipmaker looking to leverage 5G early to accelerate revenue growth with minimal friction from competitors. It’s also a smart ecosystem strategy, as Qualcomm can use this opportunity to prove to handset makers that it can become their single source of 5G mobile SOCs at every price point.
Pexip’s New Private Cloud — The Missing Piece in Video Conferencing’s Security vs Scalability Conundrum
Scalability, enterprise-class security, geographic specificity, and data portability define Pexip’s impressive new Private Cloud for video conferencing. Every organization that was looking for a way to quickly scale its video-conferencing deployments but didn’t have confidence that public clouds could provide adequate levels of data security and privacy, no longer has to choose between scalability and security. They can have both. Here’s an overview of the specifics of the Pexip Private Cloud.
Cisco WebexOne: Cisco Injects Webex with a Massive Dose of Exciting AI-powered Features
At the Cisco WebexOne event, Cisco rolled out some exciting AI-based upgrades to Webex, suggesting more smart automation in the product’s future. Combine these newest enhancements with Cisco’s commitment to security across its ecosystem, and you’ve got a real winner. If Cisco wanted to show that it too could be one of the cool kids, mission accomplished!
Qualcomm’s New Snapdragon 888 5G Mobile Platform Blurs the Lines Between Smartphone Shots and Pro Photography
Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 888 5G mobile platform blurs the lines between smartphone shots and pro photography with its new Spectra 580 ISP, capable of processing up to 2.7 gigapixels per second. That is an astounding performance capability, especially for a chipset small enough to fit into a phone. This triple concurrency feature also allows a user to capture three 4K HDR videos at the same time.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G’s Slick New Integrated X60 5G Modem-RF System Sets a New High Bar for Global Premium-Tier Smartphone Connectivity
Qualcomm’s slick new integrated X60 5G Modem-RF system sets a new high bar for global premium-tier smartphone connectivity. Featuring both a welcome return to an integrated modem design, as well as a focus on global connectivity in the 5G era, as far as I can tell, the X60 delivers the world’s fastest commercially available 5G speeds. 7.5 Gbps is pretty impressive this early into 5G deployments and gets us a lot closer to 10 Gbps than I expected to be in 2020.
Qualcomm Snapdragon Summit, Day 1: Qualcomm’s Powerful New Snapdragon 888 5G Chipset Will Define Premium Mobile Experiences in 2021
Qualcomm opens the week at its Snapdragon Summit with a focus on premium mobile experiences, 5G, and the dawn of an entirely new era for mobile in 2021. Many of the technologies showcased today will naturally trickle down vertically to other Snapdragon tiers, as well as outward to adjacent growth segments for the chipmaker, like Always-On, Always-Connected laptops, XR devices, Edge/Cloud AI products, and 5G Fixed Wireless solutions, among others.
Qualcomm Exonerated by 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Court Declines Final FTC Petition
The FTC’s clumsy antitrust fishing expedition against Qualcomm’s technology licensing business comes to an embarrassing end. The FTC had requested an en banc review of the appeal, but the 9th Circuit has declined to honor the request, meaning that the FTC’s case against Qualcomm is now over.
5G Milestone: Verizon, Ericsson and Qualcomm Join Forces to Demonstrate Peak Speeds of 5 Gbps Data Speeds for First Time
Verizon, Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies join forces to demonstrate 5G peak speeds of 5.06 Gbps for the first time.