LITTLE ROCK — Standards for smaller SIM cards stall
Apple Inc. and Nokia Oyj’s proposals for smaller SIM cards face a second round of debate after talks stalled following the Finnish mobile-phone company’s threat to withhold its patents.
A two-day meeting in Sophia Antipolis, France, to adopt a standard from competing proposals by Apple and Nokia finished Friday without reaching a decision, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute said in an e-mailed statement.
The tiny smart cards that identify wireless subscribers are standardized to reduce industry costs and give consumers freedom to switch handsets and networks. Smaller versions permit the design of thinner phones. Nokia said before the meeting that it would not permit its patents to be used in the Apple standard, said Mark Durrant, a Nokia spokesman.
The European Telecommunications Standards Institute began to develop a standard last year for identity cards at least 25 percent to 40 percent smaller than the mini-SIM standard, according to its website. The decision could be made at a meeting starting May 31 at a new meeting with 30 days’ notice, the institute said.
Alan Hely, a spokesman for Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple, didn’t return calls or e-mail seeking comment.
AT&T to sell Nokia-Microsoft phone
AT&T Inc. plans to start selling a Nokia smart phone with Microsoft Corp. software for half of what it charges for the iPhone, as the device’s makers seek to break Apple Inc. and Google Inc.’s dominance of the U.S. market.
The Lumia 900, which runs on AT&T’s network using faster, so-called long-term-evolution technology, will start selling for $99.99 on Sunday, the second-largest U.S. wireless carrier said in a statement.
Nokia is counting on Microsoft’s Windows Phone software to reignite sales in the U.S., where the iPhone and Android makers such as Samsung Electronics Co. control 78 percent of the market. Microsoft is trying to increase its share of the mobile software market to expand beyond the slower-growing personal-computer market.
The Lumia 900 has a 4.3-inch screen, larger than that of the iPhone, and an 8-megapixel camera. Customers can order it online now, Dallas-based AT&T said.
HTC marketing fast-snapping phone
TAIPEI, Taiwan - HTC Corp. is marketing a new smart phone that can take four digital photos per second, a model the Taiwanese company hopes can help reverse its falling revenue.
The company last week announced the HTC One X.
It allows users to snap pictures while watching videos or movies.
HTC executive Jack Tung said the model integrates various consumer demands while maintaining its user friendliness.
He said the quad-core phone with a 4.7-inch screen will be a chief revenue generator, judging from a strong pre-order response. It runs on Android’s latest Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and sells for $705.
HTC has reported a 26 percent profit drop in the final quarter of 2011.
Vestas stays top wind-turbine maker
Vestas Wind Systems A/S remained the world’s largest wind-turbine maker last year, Navigant Consulting Inc.’s BTM Consult unit said in an annual study that lowered its forecast for the market through 2016.
Vestas retained its top spot with 12.9 percent of the market in 2011, topping Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co. with a 9.4 percent share. General Electric Co. was third with 8.8 percent, Gamesa Corp. Tecnologica SA was next at 8.2 percent and Enercon GmbH fifth at 7.9 percent, BTM said last week.
Wind installations reached a record 41.7 gigawatts last year. While BTM said the market will continue to grow, it reduced its cumulative forecast for the five years through 2016 by 14 percent to almost 270,000 megawatts.
Business, Pages 20 on 04/02/2012