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Nokia is considering inking exclusivity deals with European operators for Windows Phone 8 smartphones, promising a financial stake in the success of the next-gen handsets, in an attempt to boost its profile. Partnerships with specific carriers in European countries would be paired with a promised share of the sales proceeds, a source tells the Financial Times, to encourage in-store promotion. The whispers don’t come as a huge surprise, however; CEO Stephen Elop said in the aftermath of the company’s last quarter financial results that Nokia would trim its European carriers to mimic the deal with AT&T in the US.

Nokia has already begun talks with potential carrier partners, the insiders claim, with France Telecom named but apparently not yet inking a deal. Negotiations are described as “exploratory” and potentially unfounded, and there’s the possibility of a more broad-ranging deal with T-Mobile’s owner Deutsche Telekom that could see handsets crop up on Everything Everywhere in the UK too.

The move would be a considerable departure from Nokia’s sales strategy to-date, including its Windows Phone 7 Lumia handsets, in Europe. Nokia has traditionally pushed for the broadest possible availability, relying on saturation to boost demand. However, according to Elop, the complete opposite approach undertaken in the US – pairing up with AT&T on the Lumia 900 for a concerted and focused push into a market dominated by iPhone and Android – has been more successful.

Exactly by what metric that success is measured is unclear, though it’s presumably in bang-for-buck terms. Actual sales of Nokia devices in North America totaled just 600,000, dwarfed by sales in other regions, including Europe. However, it’s not clear how much Nokia (and Microsoft) spent in promotion per handset sale across regions.

The goal, it’s believed, is to encourage carriers to push Windows Phone devices through in-store promotions, retail staff  training and advertising, by giving them a greater-than-average kick back based on the platform’s success. In contrast, Apple is believed to be relatively miserly with its deals with carriers, relying on the iPhone’s existing allure for sales, while the market for Android devices is growing increasingly saturated.

Nokia in Windows Phone 8 carrier revenue sharing talks say insiders is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Well, look who decided to make a sudden appearance yet again. Not long after receiving a quick, unexpected visit from the legendary (and very crafty) Mr. Blurrycam, the purported Sprint-bound LG LS860 has decided it was time for another showing. This time around, though, the Cayenne’s a little more revealing than during its previous exhibition, flaunting its powered-on 4-inch, WVGA screen and what appears to be a flavor of Android 4.0 running on the background — this would allegedly be paired alongside a dual-core, 1.2GHz S4 CPU, which is a slight change from what we’d previously heard. As far as whether or not LG’s Cayenne will be involved in the next wave of LTE-enabled slabs headed to The Now Network — for that, our friends, we’ll have to wait to find out.

Filed under: Cellphones

Sprint’s rumored LG LS860 ‘Cayenne’ shows up once more, reveals hint of ICS originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 18:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Freshly installed Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has urged staff to “keep moving” as the company attempts to find its footing, with a leaked internal memo pleading with employees “please don’t stop.” In the memo, illicitly acquired by AllThingsD, the ex-Google exec says she is “sensitive” to the amount of strategy changes Yahoo employees have had to cope with over the past few months, but insists the firm is “an internet icon” which she has been a fan of since since she was a Stanford student back in 1994.

“Yahoo! is an Internet icon – in terms of brand, reach, user following, in its products and service. There is an enormous amount of opportunity in front of us … The company has been through a lot of change in the past few months, leaving many open questions around strategy and how to move forward. I am sensitive to this. While I have some ideas, I need to develop a more informed perspective before making strategy or direction changes. In the meantime, please do not stop. You are doing important work. Please don’t stop. If you have questions or concerns about whether to continue or not, please ask. However, with the exception of a few things that might heavily constrain us in the future, the answer is most likely: “Yes, keep moving.”” Marissa Mayer, CEO, Yahoo

Countering employee apathy is likely to be a significant challenge for Mayer in the months to come. The company has struggled to find its place in the online ecosystem, having made little use of expensive acquisitions such as Flickr, and axing products like the Livestand digital newsstand which had seen high-profile launches only a matter of months before.

Meanwhile, embarrassing hacks which saw hundreds of thousands of user accounts compromised only served to remind many of those registered with Yahoo that they might want to delete their little-used logins. Mayer’s goal, she says, is to find products and services that “inspire and delight” both the users of Yahoo and potential advertisers.

“Joining was an easy decision, because of the strength of Yahoo!’s talent and the whole team here is apparent” Mayer writes. “We will continue to invest in talent, so we can produce the most compelling and exciting use experiences anywhere.”

“Please don’t stop” Yahoo CEO pleads with staff is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Faster Thunderbolt connections will have to wait until 2014, according to new talk on Intel’s high-speed interconnect tech, with the next-gen version expected to stick to the 10 Gbps of the existing link. Thunderbolt, which was co-developed by Intel and Apple as a replacement for USB, display connections and more, will see an upgrade to the third-gen “Redwood Ridge” chip in Q2 2013, DigiTimes reports, with support for 10 Gbps as well as the latest DisplayPort standards.

Those standards include DisplayPort v1.1a and DisplayPort v1.2 Redriver, a version which supports strengthening of signals over longer stretches of cable. However, it had been hoped that Intel might coax more raw data speed out of the new Thunderbolt version.

That won’t happen until 2014, the sources say. Codenamed “Falcon Ridge” the new chips will be boosted to 20 Gbps through two channels, making the interconnect even more suitable for daisy-chaining multiple high speed devices such as RAID arrays, high-quality audio and video interfaces, and monitors.

Redwood Ridge Thunderbolt will arrive alongside Intel’s Haswell “Shark Bay” processors, themselves expected sometime in the first half of 2013. Currently Thunderbolt is still seeing only minor adoption, usually in high-end desktops and notebooks, with Apple them most enthusiastic having replaced its Mini DisplayPort connections on all MacBooks with at least one Thunderbolt port.

No Thunderbolt 20Gbps until 2014 is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve seen a bevy of leaks and reports regarding the next iteration of Apple’s iPhone, and now some more information has come to light regarding the manufacturing of the sequel to the iPhone 4S. BGR reports that the next-generation iPhone is currently in the EVT3 phase. That means that engineering samples are still being used at this point in time, with the “design verification tests” still needing to be passed before the phone can go into full-scale production.

Even when the phone hits DVT, it can go through multiple iterations as engineers try to iron out any problems with the phone. The main piece of information to take away is that the iPhone hasn’t yet entered final production, so the leaked backplates that we’ve seen may not be the final story. Additionally, BGR has confirmed that the next iPhone will feature LTE connectivity, as well as NFC support. RAM has also reportedly been doubled from 512MB to 1GB.

Several reports have indicated that Apple plans to increase the size of the next iPhone to the 4-inch range. The resolution of the display will also be increased to 1136×640, marking a shift to a 16:9 ratio. Core iOS 6 apps will be redesigned to take advantage of the additional vertical space, and Apple will reportedly encourage developers to do the same when it unveils the change. Leaked backplates for the next iPhone have suggested a design not too far removed from the iPhone 4S, but with a two-toned aluminium back. The phone will also feature a smaller 19-pin dock connector and redesigned speaker holes.

Next iPhone reportedly features LTE, NFC, and 1GB of RAM is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.