Author Archive: Matt

Blu-ray Titles Outsell HD DVD

As a Playstation 3 owner and one with a new Full HD plasma TV I thought this was an interesting article.

According to a press release from CES a few days ago, Blu-Ray titles are outselling HD DVD titles but up to 3 to 1! Good new for PS3 owners I suspect.

While I can’t comment as to whether Blu-Ray is better than HD DVD or not as I don’t have an HD player (If someone wants to send me one for review then that’s fine!) but here is the press release from CES:

Blu-ray Disc movie titles outsold HD DVD in the United States by a nearly 2-to-1 margin last year, according to sales figures from Home Media Research, an independent market research firm.

Blu-ray titles outsold HD DVD in the United States every single week of the year, according to HMR. And Blu-ray editions of titles released on both formats consistently outsold their HD DVD counterparts by significant margins. Sales of the Blu-ray edition of “300,” the bestselling high-definition title to date, have outpaced sales of the HD DVD version by 2-to-1.

According to the European based market research firm, GfK media control – OCC, high-definition movie title sales in Europe were nearly 3-to-1 in favor of Blu-ray. And in Japan the margin was an overwhelming 14-to-1.

Sales of high-definition playback devices were even stronger in Blu-ray’s favor – more than 3 -to-1 in the United States, 10-to-1 in Europe and more than 100-to-1 in Japan.

The strong consumer preference for Blu-ray was cited by Warner Bros. as the principle reason for their January 4th decision to publish solely on Blu-ray Disc beginning in May of 2008.

Posted By: Matt

[Post tag(s): smartphone blog, Pocket PC blog, Tracy & Matt, Blu-Ray, Playstation 3, HD-DVD]

Neonode news

Great news for Neonode fans out there, Neonode have joined forces with a US sales chanel company to form Neonode USA. Hopefully this should mean that Neonode devices, such at the recently released N2 should make a mainstream appearance.

We’ve mentioned Neonode devices in the past, such as the excellent N1 released several years ago. I’ve always thought it a shame that so few people recognise the Neonode brand but fingers crossed that the new partnership should address this.

The Neonode N2

Here is the official press release:

Swedish mobile phone manufacturer, Neonode, today announced that it has joined with U.S. sales channel development and supply chain company, Distribution Management Consolidators Worldwide LLC (DMC), to form Neonode USA. The new entity will market existing and new innovative products within North America, Latin America and China, and will commercially market the Neonode technology globally.

DMC leverages more than 40 years of experience managing all aspects of a brand development and sales channel program for international manufacturers looking to break into the Chinese, North and Latin American markets. The company works closely with its partners to ensure that products are a cultural fit, seamlessly manages the entire supply chain, and can provide sufficient financing to ensure a rapid market penetration. The whole experience reduces capital expenses and increases the speed to market for new consumer products.

Neonode N2 is a technologically advanced multimedia mobile phone incorporating the proprietary “zForce” optical touch screen technology and the “neno” user interface. When launched by Neonode USA, these proprietary technologies will be marketed exclusively by Neonode USA around the globe to widen the distribution of Neonode’s intuitive solutions.

“Neonode USA will leverage the groundbreaking technologies developed by Neonode, while utilizing DMC’s marketing and brand building experience, distribution channel relationships and supply chain management expertise. Collectively we expect this partnership will bring Neonode N2, and a number of other Neonode products, to the market efficiently and effectively.” said Mikael Hagman, CEO and President of Neonode Inc.

Neonode USA will market existing Neonode products and its intellectual property, and will develop new products that incorporate the power of “zForce” and “neno”.

“We have seen the critical acclaim the Neonode N2 has received in Europe, and believe there is a great demand for this multimedia mobile handset in North America, China and Latin America. Neonode has introduced technologies that have the power to change the nature of more than just the mobile phone industry, and can be embedded into a wide-range of desirable consumer products. DMC will fully leverage Neonode’s valuable resources in order to maximize the opportunities to market these uniquely intuitive technologies across many product categories and business sectors,” said Andrew Lowinger, President and CEO of DMC.

Neonode and Neonode N2 made its United States debut at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in the Central Hall 9817. Neonode USA’s main office will be located in New York.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): Tracy & Matt, Smartphone News, Neonode, N2, CES]

SanDisk Announces 12GB microSDHC Card

SanDisk just announced the release of their 12GB microSDHC memory card. Here’s what SanDisk had to say at CES:

SanDisk 12GB microSDHC

SanDisk today announced it has begun to sample 12-gigabyte microSDHC flash memory cards to major phone manufacturers for testing and evaluation. The 12GB card represents a 50 percent boost in card capacity from SanDisk’s industry-leading 8GB microSDHC cards, which are currently available worldwide, and highlights the growing popularity of mobile phones with storage-intensive features that include music players, digital cameras, video recording and playback and GPS capabilities.

“Mobile phones have become a key part of consumers’ lifestyles around the globe,” said Jeff Kost, senior vice president and general manager of the Mobile Consumer Solutions division at SanDisk. “What many people tend to overlook is the important role that removable storage cards play in enabling the key features of these fully featured mobile phones. In fact, many people are not even aware that their phone has a card slot which is why SanDisk recently launched its Wake Up Your Phone(TM) campaign.”

A 12GB microSDHC is ideal for storing large quantities of music, photos and video. For example, it will be able to store a combination of 1,500 songs, 3,600 photos and 24.5 hours of video.

SDHC is the designation for any SD or SD-based card that is larger than 2GB and adheres to the new SD 2.00 specification required for cards and hosts to support 4GB to 32GB capacities. The specification was developed by the SD Association, an industry standards board, which has also created three classes to define minimum sustained data transfer speed. These cards adhere to the SD Speed Class 4 Rating.

Posted by: Matt

[Post tag(s): Tracy & Matt, SanDisk, Cruzer, M2, microSDHC]