UPDATED 07:01 EDT / APRIL 26 2012

Samsung Announces Quad-core Processor, Sued By 18 Olympians

Today’s mobile news roundup includes Apple’s announcement regarding their upcoming conference, Samsung’s first quad-core application processor, Blackboard’s augmented reality offering and more.

Samsung’s quad-core offering

South Korean company, Samsung Electronics, introduced the Exynos 4 Quad, the industry’s first quad-core application processor built on the High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) low-power process technology.  The processor boasts unprecedented performance capabilities exceeding 1.4GHz based on the ARM(R) CORTEX(TM) A9 quad-core.  The Exynos 4 Quad allows system-level architects to integrate maximized power efficiencies into smartphones and tablets, doubling the processing power at a 20 percent lower power bill over its predecessor, the 45nm process-based Exynos 4 Dual.

“The quad-core processor offers phenomenal multitasking abilities surpassing any single or dual application processor. Since all the cores must share a single battery, the power management and efficiency in the limited battery capacity are indispensable for mobile computing devices,” said Taehoon Kim, vice president of System LSI marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics.

“Given the diverse functionalities consumers are demanding from their mobile devices today, the Exynos 4 Quad meets those high-performance needs while keeping power consumption very low.”

In other Samsung news, the company is being sued by 18 Olympians because of the “Samsung Olympic Genome Project” application on Facebook.  The said app uses the athletes names and images without permission.

The complaint was filed in a Los Angeles court.  The athletes who filed the complaint include swimmer Mark Spitz, diver Greg Louganis, and track and field star Jackie Joyner-Kersee.  The athletes stated that the app made it seem like they were endorsing Samsung, since the app also includes an ad for the Samsung Galaxy.

Samsung stated in their response that they followed the U.S. Olympic Committee’s procedure to communicate with athletes, who had the opportunity express their opinions and make a decision on whether to participate.

Apple’s June event

Apple announced their plans for their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at San Francisco’s Moscone West on June 11-15, 2012.  WWDC caters to developers who want to learn more about the future of iOS and OS X .  The conference will also feature more than 100 technical sessions presented by Apple engineers as well as the popular Apple Design Awards, a showcase of the most outstanding apps from the past year.

“We have a great WWDC planned this year and can’t wait to share the latest news about iOS and OS X Mountain Lion with developers,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The iOS platform has created an entirely new industry with fantastic opportunities for developers across the country and around the world.”

Blackboard offers augmented reality technology in campuses

Blackboard Inc., a leader in enterprise technology and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students and learners around the world, announced the addition of augmented reality technology to their Blackboard Mobile Central platform, used in hundreds of institutions nationwide.  The company also launched Explorer for iPhones, an app that brings augmented reality to their iOS device so users can better explore the world.

The announcement stated that the augmented reality interface uses the iPhone’s camera, GPS, accelerometer, gyroscope and compass so users can explore the things around them.  With the use of their smartphone’s camera, students can learn so much about a local government building, for example.  Or with just a tap, a student can scrutinize the things around them and even see what’s happening a few blocks away in real-time.

“Our focus at Blackboard Mobile has always been to use mobile devices to make the experience of interacting with one’s university as delightful as possible,” said Kayvon Beykpour, General Manager of Blackboard Mobile. “We saw augmented reality as an opportunity to take one of our most used features, Maps, and make it even more useful. These updates are just another example of our dedication to making it simple for institutions to deploy powerful and sophisticated mobile applications for their campuses, and to provide an awesome user experience for students and other university constituents.”

Former Nokia exec doubts Elop’s abilities

Lee Williams, Nokia’s former SVP of Series 60 software, sees Nokia CEO Stephen Elop as a man without a plan, pointing at the company’s ongoing struggle.  Plus the recent negative credit ratings from Fitch and Moody, it’s not a stretch to say Nokia’s in the slumps.

“Elop hasn’t delivered a roadmap. He’s been there for two to three years and there’s really no roadmap,” says Williams. “There’s no overarching vision for this company. That to me is akin to stepping completely out of the leadership role and running behind the bus now… Before Elop, Nokia would never give up that leadership position and role in the marketplace, would always talk about the future.”

Williams also pointed out that Nokia is being engulfed by Microsoft, like the Finnish company is their toy and they can do pretty much whatever they want with it.  Williams stated that Nokia shouldn’t put all their focus on Windows Phone since Symbian played a huge role in Nokia’s success before.

“Symbian is shipping on around 20 million new units a quarter as of today. When I was at the company it was responsible for seven of 10 of Nokia’s highest gross margin products. Think of those volumes. There were dozens of products that shipped in the tens of millions,” he adds. “For some perspective, everyone is thinking Lumia and Windows Phone when they look at Nokia now, and from what I can tell they have yet to have a product with this configuration ship close to two million units.”


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