Worldwide sales of mobile phones skyrocketed to 1.5 billion in 2007, according to research firm Gartner, a 16 percent increase from 2006 sales of 990.9 million. Sales at the end of the year matched a trend that has demand spiking in the fourth quarter. Fourth-quarter sales reached 330 million.

"Emerging markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people bought their first phone," said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner. "In mature markets, such as Japan and Western Europe, consumers' appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite functions, touch screens and high-resolution cameras."

...The market saw three new players in the top 10 for the fourth quarter -- Research In Motion, ZTE and Apple. Analyst Avi Greengart said along with the new entrants, HTC, Kyocera and Sanyo are the ones to watch. Sanyo and Kyocera are vying for market share as a joint company and are expected to make a push, while HTC is pushing its own brand rather than manufacturing strictly for OEMs.

"HTC is branching out away from just being a Windows Mobile company and is taking on the mantle of Google Android as well. In some ways it's actually a dangerous move for them," Greengart said. "Right now there's a lot of interest in Google Android, but if it doesn't prove to be very popular, it could end up being a distraction for them. They are doing well in the Windows Mobile market and diversifying away from that has its pros and cons." More at Yahoo.

Yesterday I enthused about the Centro design and the way the hardware has been put together, and today I am going to delve a little deeper into how it performs under normal usage and when it is pushed a little harder than the average user would contemplate.

Email- I use MS Exchange and so far have had a few problems with the Centro in this area. It is still slow and often times freezes for a second or two whilst it recovers from the terribly tiresome tack of actually receiving an email. Like the Treo 680, it does not seem powerful enough to cope with this task adequately.

GPS- TomTom Navigator 6 runs provided you have installed the updated patch from www.palm.com, but I have yet to pair a GPS receiver with the Centro. I have tried two different receivers and neither of them are recognized at all. It may be a fault, but I don’t appear to be the only one. Navigator 6 is also quite slow in general use on the Centro which at times can make the experience frustrating.

I decided to ask Palm for help, so here follows the conversation I had-

Gary(Tue Feb 26 09:55:53 UTC 2008)>Hello Shaun_McGill, Thank you for contacting Palm Technical Support. My name is Gary. How may I help you?
Gary(Tue Feb 26 09:55:56 UTC 2008)>Hello.

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 17:56:10 UTC 2008)>Hi there. I have a Palm Centro and cannot get it to pair with any GPS receiver- am trying two receivers.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 09:57:47 UTC 2008)>I understand that you are facing an issue pairing the GPS Navigator with Centro.

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 17:57:49 UTC 2008)>correct

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 17:58:27 UTC 2008)>I am using TomTom Navigator as my GPS software, but the Centro does not even see the receivers in the standard Bluetooth application

Gary(Tue Feb 26 09:58:46 UTC 2008)>I will be glad to assist you with it.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 09:59:34 UTC 2008)>Please give me a minute while I look for the compatibility.

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 17:59:29 UTC 2008)>ok

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:03:41 UTC 2008)>Sorry for the delay.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:03:54 UTC 2008)>Thank you for staying online.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:04:17 UTC 2008)>Did you purchase GPS for Palm?

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:04:41 UTC 2008)>I have two- a freedom GPS keyring receiver and a TomTom GPS receiver. Both work with my Treo 680 and other PDAs.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:05:40 UTC 2008)>I am sorry, Tom Tom Navigator is not compatible with Centro, but it is compatible with Treo 680.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:06:37 UTC 2008)>You can use the TeleNav Naigator which is available with Sprint Carrier.

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:06:28 UTC 2008)>Well, it works fine with the Centro using your TomTom 6 update, but the receivers were are not discovered even before I installed TomTom, using the Bluetooth application.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:09:41 UTC 2008)>Are you access the application using the SD card or installed it on device?

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:10:08 UTC 2008)>It has to be on microSD because of it's size, but the actual 'start' file is in RAM.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:13:41 UTC 2008)>Centro is only compatible with TeleNav that is the reason it is not pairing with any other receivers,

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:15:25 UTC 2008)>most resellers are selling TomTom for the Centro- "The new Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 is now FULLY COMPATIBLE with both TomTom 5 and TomTom 6 Navigator Software with your Centro, Treo 755p, Treo 750, Treo 700p, Treo 700wx, Treo 700w, Treo 680, or Treo 650."  http://shop.treonauts.com/content/accessories/9-57--2869.htm

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:16:06 UTC 2008)>Are you saying that the Centro would not be able to see a bluetooth receiver unless it is the one sold by Palm?

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:17:56 UTC 2008)>I am sorry, the above is a third party it is not published by Palm.

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:18:13 UTC 2008)>OK fair enough. So to check- I cannot use any other gps receiver with the Centro apart from the one you sell?

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:18:53 UTC 2008)>I suggest you to contact TomTom support for more assistance on this issue,

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:18:54 UTC 2008)>They said it is compatible with the Centro

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:24:19 UTC 2008)>I am sorry sorry for the delay.

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:24:47 UTC 2008)>ok

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:26:02 UTC 2008)>Did you install Software on SD card using CD?

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:26:37 UTC 2008)>No- it is the original microSD from TomTom- I then added the 680 patch to get TomTom working. Before I did any of this the Centro could not see the GPS receivers in the Bluetooth application

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:27:56 UTC 2008)>Did you try paring receiver manually?

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:27:53 UTC 2008)>yes

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:28:28 UTC 2008)>Okay, let us try it once again.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:28:43 UTC 2008)>Tap on Bluetooth application on Centro.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:28:49 UTC 2008)>Tap on Setup Devices,

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:28:38 UTC 2008)>ok

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:31:09 UTC 2008)>Is it searching for nearby devices?

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:31:05 UTC 2008)>yes

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:31:22 UTC 2008)>have clicked find more but it sees nothing

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:32:10 UTC 2008)>Is Bluetooth On on receiver?

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:32:17 UTC 2008)>yes

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:33:19 UTC 2008)>Okay, perform a Soft Reset on Centro and try again.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:33:26 UTC 2008)>To perform Soft Reset remove battery and replace it back.

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:33:54 UTC 2008)>ok

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:35:47 UTC 2008)>same problem after the soft reset. I did a hard reset earlier today as well and have no third party applications installed currently

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:37:04 UTC 2008)>I am sorry, as it is not pairing it could be a Bluetooth compatibility with Centro.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:37:19 UTC 2008)>Are you able to pair it with Treo 680?

Shaun_McGill(Tue Feb 26 18:37:54 UTC 2008)>yes and many people can pair the freedom and TomTom GPS receivers with the Centro, but mine won't see them.

Gary(Tue Feb 26 10:43:42 UTC 2008)>Since this is the case I suggest you to contact Voice Support for advance troubleshooting on this issue.

And that was it. To be fair he tried, but there seems to be no answer to this one currently.

Speed- no complaints in the area. The mix of Palm OS and the specifications included do a good job of powering the Centro along during normal use.

Battery- sadly the Centro is no improvement on the Treo 680 where the battery is concerned. I have read comments on other sites saying that the battery on the Centro is good, but that is simply not my experience. Heavy use will easily take you to 0% in under a day and that is no good for the majority of people. Hardened smartphone users will use power hungry applications and new smartphone users will be expecting much more than a day from any phone, be it smart or not.

UPDATE: I am continuing to look at this particular issue, because there are many conflicting reports concerning battery performance on the Centro. I have found that using a T-Mobile SIM improves battery life a lot, which is quite bizarre. To add to the confusion I managed a few calls today with GPRS on all day and only went down to 60%- it's hard to tell if the battery is a problem or if there is a consistency issue.

Extras- there is an application called ‘My Centro’ built in and with it you can download free copies of Astraware Solitaire, Astraware Sudoku, Palm Files and Vox Mobile. A nice addition in my view.

Voice- voice quality is actually very good and even the speaker phone is crisp. In general the voice experience beats my TyTN II easily.

Internet- Blazer is showing its age a little now, but the overall experience is good for quick look ups and general browsing. A few web pages came up with error messages even though I could view them on my PC and TyTN, which is a bit of a drawback.

Screen- I mentioned the problems with the edges of the screen yesterday but they are not a huge issue. The clarity of the screen outdoors is slightly more disconcerting because in bright sunlight it is very difficult to see information. It is no worse than many other smartphones, but an anti-glare screen protector is recommended.

The Centro consists of brilliant styling married with some great software and some small issues that I am trying to address. I’m still undecided about the Centro but it could be the perfect device for new smartphone users and some will love it. I will sum up my thoughts on Monday.

Is the business of Making Native Apps for Mobile Devices Dying? is a must read over at PIC- "Michael Mace has published a new editorial on his Mobile Opportunity blog. The fascinating piece is less editorial and more of an up-to-the-minute analysis of the ailing mobile software industry from the perspective of a seasoned mobile tech executive. Long-time Palm watchers will recognize Mr. Mace as the former CCO and VP of Product Planning at Palm, Inc. as well as VP of Strategic Marketing at PalmSource and director of Mac Platform Marketing at Apple.

While I highly recommend anyone with even a passing interest to not only the Palm-conomy but the wireless industry in general read the full piece, Mr. Mace’s summary analysis is that he feels the influence of the carriers is choking what little momentum native mobile apps possessed in the halcyon days of the late 1990s and early 2000s. In short, Mr. Mace advocates any remaining mobile developer to move to web-based services due to the myriad of competing carriers, numerous semi-interoperable standards, and a glut of feuding OSes.

A major portion of the article contains a compelling summary by Elia Freedman, CEO of Infinity Softworks (giving consent to Michael Mace to present this information) of the difficulties facing mobile software developer in today’s market. Infinity Softworks will most likely be familiar to long-term Palm OS users via their superb PowerOne calculator app that was regularly bundled with nearly all new devices from Palm in the earlier part of this decade. Mr. Freedman has now decided to exit the mobile software business based on the overwhelming obstacles facing developers in the carrier-dominated age of today..."

So, we could see over 90 million 4G subscribers by 2013, about 10% of the number of phones sold in 2007.

The total number of 4G subscribers worldwide, including both LTE and WiMAX, is expected to exceed 90 million in 2013, but a number of milestones must be passed en route, according to a new forecast from ABI Research. At the end of 4Q 2007, says the firm, there were nearly 3.4 billion mobile subscribers worldwide, with 2.7 billion on GSM/EDGE/GPRS networks.

Worldwide WCDMA subscriber numbers hit 180 million in 4Q 2007. ABI Research expects migration to HSPA+ to begin in early 2010, and migration to LTE will commence by the middle of the same year. Vice president Asia-Pacific Jake Saunders comments, "We forecast the total number of WCDMA subscribers (including HSPA) to approach 720 million in 2013." More at cellular-news.

UK regulator Ofcom has ruled that O2 isn't rolling out its 3G network fast enough. The network operator reached only 76 per cent of the population by the end of 2007, rather than the 80 per cent required by its 3G licence.

The length of the firm's licence could be cut unless O2 reaches its target.

O2 said while the other four licensees have met their commitments on paper - providing open air coverage - it has been concentrating on its superior indoor coverage, so is actually providing 3G coverage to more people as most of us spend our time indoors.

But the firm does accept that the terms of its licence require it to reach 80 per cent of the population, so has promised to improve coverage by the end of June. More at The Register.

With more than 1 billion phones sold globally for the first time, 2007 was a banner year for mobile phone sales. As sales continue to grow, the big questions this year are whether global market leader Nokia can expand in North America, and whether Motorola can stop its slide.
 
Worldwide sales of mobile phones ended up surpassing 1.15 billion units in 2007, a 16 percent increase from 2006 sales of 990.9 million, according to figures from Gartner.

Emerging markets, especially China and India, are now the driver for growth, with many people in the countries now buying their first phone. More at Yahoo.

Today's free eBook is The Sagan Diary "As per your instruction in your memorandum of 341.10.07, we have begun processing the BrainPal memory stacks of Colonial Special Forces members who have left that service, whether by death or (rather more rarely) by discharge from service. In both cases BrainPal retrieval was initially via method previously established in our CDF BrainPal retrieval protocol, but per the new directive of 341.10.09 we abandoned physical retrieval of CSF BrainPals and instead began processing BrainPal memory transcriptions as provided by the Special Forces’ own IRI office.

Let me reiterate again here in this memorandum what I have expressed to you verbally, which is that processing CSF-provided transcriptions is a massively unsatisfactory solution. The first seven CSF memory stacks we processed were rich in information that we then placed into our analysis matrix, and which were beginning to yield intriguing results before we were ordered to remove the data from the matrix and delete all analyses featuring the data..."