By Dan Gallagher 

Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iPhone and iPad and Sony Corp.'s (SNE, 6758.TO) PlayStation 3 may turn out to be the top-selling consumer-electronics products this holiday season, according to a new type of market research that tracks consumers' stated buying preferences over social networks.

A business intelligence firm called WiseWindow has designed a service called the Holiday Preference Index for consumer electronics. Updated daily, the index measures what the firm dubs as "purchase interest" in various products, using posts made on approximately 300,000 websites, blogs and social-network services such as Facebook and Twitter.

What the service has found is that, as a product category, smartphones have remained the most popular item since data began to be acquired in mid-November--before the kick-off of the holiday shopping season. Smartphones were given an index ranking of 83 on Monday--relatively on par with their ranking before Black Friday.

Among smartphones, the most popular is Apple's iPhone. The index also ranks BlackBerry smartphones from Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM, RIM.T) in the top 10 as a group. The most popular device in that family is the slide-out, touch-screen BlackBerry Torch.

"Smartphones seem to be the number-one thing that people want," said Marshall Toplansky, president of WiseWindow, in an interview.

Videogame consoles have also remained near the top of the preference index. The PlayStation 3 from Sony was the top-ranking product on the index on Monday--compared to an eighth-place slot before Black Friday. The Wii from Nintendo Co. (NTDOY, 7974.TO) and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) are also high-ranking items.

Tablet computers as a category have declined in popularity, from an 86 rating at Thanksgiving to the current ranking of 61. The highest-ranking device in the category is the iPad from Apple, which, at 72, has come up significantly since its pre-Black Friday ranking of 44.

WiseWindow has deployed this sort of technology before. In the recent mid-term elections, the service joined with the Daily Beast political blog for a feature called the Election Oracle, which used the same sort of data to predict winners for each race. The site claims it called 36 of the 37 Senate races correctly along with 98% of the House races.

The firm also provides market research for movie studios and record labels. Toplansky said the company's Mass Opinion Business Intelligence, or MOBI, tools have been useful at predicting box-office share and demand for new album releases.

"We're hoping this type of research will open the door to a much more valuable set of data that companies can use to make better decisions in real time," Toplansky said.

-By Dan Gallagher, 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com

Nokia unveiled a range of new super-efficient smartphones at the recent Nokia World event, in London.

The new Symbian platform will bring significant enhancement to the phone’s performance and to user experience. Nokia’s new smartphones are also fully compatible with the company’s improved Ovi services and applications.

The new smartphone family supports Nokia’s vision for the future mobile industry, which will be based more and more on social networking and location-based devices and experiences.

Three new smartphones – the Nokia E7, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6 – which join the previously announced Nokia N8, from a family of Symbian products. The latest version of the Symbian platform brings more than 250 new features and improvements to the platform’s basic qualities.

Along with the Nokia N8 smartphone, the Ovi Store will become an even more versatile experience. The user-friendly appearance and general feel have been developed further and the Ovi Store offers an even wider selection of applications and games.

Niclas Savander, executive vice-president: markets at Nokia, said at the Nokia World event: “Today, our fight for smartphone leadership shifts into high gear. Although new competitors have entered the market, the Symbian platform is still the world’s most widely used smartphone platform. Members of Nokia’s new smartphone family operate on the latest version of the Symbian platform, which is even faster, easier to use and more effective.
“The Nokia E7, Nokia C7 and Nokia C8 smartphones are expected to be available in the market before the end of 2010.”

Former Paper Mill Now a Supercomputer Data Centre
One of the world’s most eco-efficient data centres will be established on the premises of UPM’s former paper mill, in Kajaani, Finland. The project is executed jointly by the CSC Information Technology (IT) Centre for Science and UPM.

The data centre, which will be completed in early 2012, is located at the Renforsin Ranta business park and will provide a state-of-the-art environment for supercomputers, data storage and other demanding IT systems.

The electricity required by the energy-efficient computer room will be generated by hydroelectric power plants locally, and the cooling water will be drawn from a nearby river.

The data centre project is extremely important for Finland. It will strengthen the international competitiveness of Finnish research by providing an eco-efficient location for Finland’s new supercom- puter and the services it provides, says Education and Culture Minister Henna Virkkunen.

The CSC IT Centre is an organisation administered by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. One of the aims is to produce internationally com- petitive supercomputer and IT services.

Renforsin Ranta is a business park located in the town of Kajaani. It was established on the premises of a former UPM paper mill in 2008. One of its strategic growth areas is measurement and IT.

Wire-Free Charging
Finnish wire-free charging system Powerkiss, which can be integrated into furniture, has attracted wide international interest and is now ready for global launch. The business idea developed by young designers has been supported by notable collaborators like Artek, Isku and Martela.

According to Powerkiss founder and CEO, industrial designer Marja Itkonen, the company has received enquiries about the device from over 40 countries. The wire-free charging system requires a ‘heart’ transmitter, which is installed underneath a table, and a ‘ring’ receiver, which is plugged into the mobile device, such as mobile phone or a portable computer. The device charges automatically when it is placed on the table within range of the transmitter. Charging takes place at the same speed as when an ordinary socket is used.

Powerkiss offers a range of adapters, suited, for instance, for new models of Nokia, Samsung and Apple smartphones.

Most Powerkiss devices are used in public places like airports and hotels.

Edited by: Martin Zhuwakinyu

Among all the exciting products unveiled at CTIA Enterprise and Applications, the Motorola Droid Pro smartphone managed to stand out from the crowd.  With a very nice form factor and plenty of features on offer, the Droid Pro on Verizon Wireless might even give Blackberry a run for its money in the business marketplace.

OK, lets get one thing out of the way right away – the Motorola Droid Pro doesn’t have a large screen.  In fact, at only 3.1 inches in size and 480 x 320 pixels in resolution, it is definitely on the small side.  However, while this small screen might be enough to turn off many users, there are plenty of other large features that more than make up for it.

The Motorola Droid Pro is a 1GHz smartphone that runs on Android 2.2.  Most of the features seem designed for business users, including easy access to corporate directories, QuickOffice Mobile, and the inclusion of corporate level security.  Similar to the other Droid phones – the Droid 2 and Droid X – the Droid Pro can also be used as a wireless hotspot for up to 5 devices.

One thing that does let the Droid Pro down is the lack of a HDMI port for multimedia connectivity, although it is possible to stream content via the DLNA link.  Bluletooth is included, as is USB 2.0 HS, PC Sync, and GOTA.  Because it uses Android 2.2, Flash is supported, as is all the usual messaging and web apps such as Yahoo Mail, Google Mail, Java, SMS, MMS, and EMS.

There is a 5MP camera on-board that includes auto focus, dual LED flash, and digital zoom features, and a number of location services such as GPS and Google Maps integration.  However, the one thing that many people will like most about the Motorola Droid Pro^[1] is the Touch QWERTY Bar, which is certainly going to help this phone become a very serious competitor to Blackberry and similar business smartphones.

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References

1. ^{^} Motorola Droid Pro (www.motorola.com)

Motorola's co-CEO Sanjay Jha has a busy selling season ahead, and it's going to involve more than just hawking the five phones he unveiled on Oct. 6 to consumers just before the critical holiday shopping crush.

Jha also faces a huge after-Christmas sale: He's got to convince investors to buy in after Motorola splits in two^[1] and he takes over as CEO of Motorola Mobility. That transformation is currently slated to occur early in the first quarter, and it leaves investors with the question: Is it time to jump into Motorola's stock?

For Jha, the new role will mean a mandate to deliver strong earnings and revenue growth on the wings of the company's mobile handset and cable set-top box business, especially since Motorola Mobility will no longer be weighed down by the profitable but slower-growth side of Motorola that makes two-way radios and networking equipment, which will be renamed Motorola Solutions.

Investors, however, have been eying Motorola (MOT) with a little trepidation. After all, the big mobile-phone maker has struggled to turn a profit over the past four years since the go-go days of its once-popular Razr, and its subscriber market share has steadily dropped over the past year, falling most steeply among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of mobile phones. Within one year, Motorola's installed subscriber base market share has seen its rolling three-month average plunge from 25.3% to 18.8% in August, according to comScore figures.

Adroit Moves With Android Smartphones^[2][3]

But Wall Street is starting to come around and is increasingly feeling bullish about the company's prospects as it focuses on smartphones and the Android operating system. And Motorola's latest lineup of handsets broadens its product portfolio with moderately priced smartphones and an entry into the business sector, where Research In Motion's (RIMM^[4]) BlackBerry has dominated, moves that add to Wall Street's optimism about Motorola.

"We believe [Tuesday's] announcement should be viewed as a slight positive for Motorola," says Deepak Sitaraman, a Credit Suisse analyst, in a research note.

He cited Motorola's consistent execution on new product announcements, which topped 17 in the past 12 months; a move toward lower-price Android smartphones to take advantage of the tiered data service plans carriers are rolling out; and Motorola's expansion of its carrier relationships beyond Verizon, which appears poised to begin offering Apple's iPhone early next year on its network.^[5][6]

Motorola's Android lineup includes three new moderately priced smartphones with a two-year contract to run on the AT&T (T) network: Flipout, at $79.99, set to launch Oct. 17 that provides WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS connectivity; Bravo, at $99.99, expected to hit the market before the holidays and offers a speedy 800 MHz processor; and Flipside, at $129.99, to be available for holiday shopping that features a slide-out Qwerty keyboard and trackpad for navigation.

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"MOT is taking smartphones to the next level with numerous mid-range Android devices. We believe MOT is well-positioned to benefit from 'tiered' pricing plans which will take smartphones into lower price points," says Mark McKechnie, an analyst with Gleacher & Co.

Motorola also unveiled Citrus, an entry-level CDMA Android smartphone that will be offered in the fourth quarter on Verizon. The smartphone comes preloaded with Android Marketplace and Google's YouTube and Gmail.

But one of Motorola's most significant opportunities to boost revenue will be the introduction of its high-end Droid Pro. The Android phone marks Motorola's first effort at luring Corporate America into using its devices as company phones. The Droid Pro includes security features such as remote wipe, complex passwords and virtual private networks, in addition to the consumer-friendly features that come with the Android OS and its app market. The Droid Pro is expected to roll out on Verizon's (VZ) network in the first week of November.

After the split, Motorola Mobility will have estimated revenues of $11 billion to $13 billion, with roughly 66% of sales coming from mobile phones and the remainder from its set-top boxes and other items in its home category.

"While Motorola's overall market share footprint is shrinking because its legacy Razr is fading, its high-end smartphones, which are the most important part of the market, are growing," says Mark Donovan, a senior analyst with comScore.

That bodes well for investors who are eying Motorola Mobility as a potential growth stock once the company splits.

Profitable Fourth Quarter?

"In general, the story at Motorola is it's a company that had been broken for a long time and is on a path toward recovery," says Jay Goldberg, an analyst with Deutsche Bank. "It is improving, so on that merit, it is worth investing in."

After four years of losses, Motorola is forecasting profitability in the fourth quarter of 2010. That prediction comes despite Apple's (AAPL^[7]) rapid rise in the mobile market with its iPhone and iPad.

In an interview with DailyFinance Tuesday, Jha said this about investors weighing a play in Motorola versus Apple:

I am a bad investment advice giver, so I'll not advise any investors. But I will tell you a little bit more about my business. Today, in a report, it said Android was neck and neck with Apple's operating system. We are one of the best proponents of Android smartphones, and I think that it gives us a very good competitive position.

Certainly, the offering that has come out of Cupertino [where Apple is headquartered] has been capable and rational, but I think if you look at our Droid X and look at the feature sets, you will see a larger display [screen], much faster processor, much better browser and much better multimedia.

I think it's a decision that a lot of consumers are making. And if you look at the success of the Droid X^[8], it says there is room for multiple devices and multiple offerings in the marketplace.

We are excited about the five devices we launched today and the entrance we have made in supporting business-ready features in our devices ,and we think we have growth in front of us.

Whether investors share that view will be become more clear as the company moves forward toward splitting into two to unlock that always sought-after shareholder value.

References

1. ^{^} Motorola splits in two (www.dailyfinance.com)
2. ^{^} MOT (www.dailyfinance.com)
3. ^{^} struggled to turn a profit over the past four years (www.bloggingstocks.com)
4. ^{^} RIMM (www.dailyfinance.com)
5. ^{^} expansion of its carrier relationships beyond Verizon (www.dailyfinance.com)
6. ^{^} Apple's iPhone early next year on its network. (www.dailyfinance.com)
7. ^{^} AAPL (www.dailyfinance.com)
8. ^{^} success of the Droid X (www.dailyfinance.com)

Google’s Android mobile platform is (yet again) the top-selling mobile operating system among recent cellphone buyers, according to August data from The Nielsen Company^[1].

We predicted this would happen in August when Nielsen’s data showed Android outselling the iPhone^[2], but BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion still held the top spot. Nielsen’s most recent data (see below) shows that RIM’s sales have fallen precipitously — down from 33 percent to 25 percent — while Android sales have skyrocketed to 32 percent. RIM and Apple are now duking it out for the No. 2 spot.

In August, a report from research firm NPD group also showed that Android had surpassed RIM^[3]. Now that both Nielsen and NPD data show Android as the sales leader, I think it’s safe to say that Google has trounced its competitors. Android’s momentum likely won’t be stopped either. New Android phones are constantly being announced, and eventually we’ll see Android overtake other operating systems like Symbian in less expensive feature phones.

As I’ve written previously, RIM’s loss was inevitable. It was originally king of the smartphones when they were favored by business users, but as smartphones approached mainstream popularity — first with the iPhone, and then with Android — RIM found itself unable to innovate.

Even the company’s current flagship device, the BlackBerry Torch^[4], seems somewhat lackluster — it offers little that anyone but hardcore BlackBerry users would be interested in. RIM has an interesting ace up its sleeve with its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet^[5] and QNX mobile operating system, but even that isn’t enough to reclaim the top-selling spot.

In terms of total smartphone market share, RIM still leads with 31 percent, while Apple’s hold remains stagnant around 28 percent. Android, meanwhile, is showing significant overall growth — with an increase in market share from 9 percent in January to 19 percent in August. I suspect that Android’s overall growth will continue, the iPhone will hold its current position, and RIM will fall even further.

Next Story: Foundry Group raises $225M for more early-stage investments
Previous Story: Zynga buys Bonfire Studios and sets up Dallas game studio^[6][7]

Tags: Android, Blackberry, iPhone, smartphones^{[8][9][10][11]}

Companies: Apple, Google, RIM, The Nielsen Company^{[12][13][14][15]}

References

1. ^{^} August data from The Nielsen Company (blog.nielsen.com)
2. ^{^} Nielsen’s data showed Android outselling the iPhone (venturebeat.com)
3. ^{^} also showed that Android had surpassed RIM (venturebeat.com)
4. ^{^} the BlackBerry Torch (venturebeat.com)
5. ^{^} its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet (venturebeat.com)
6. ^{^} Foundry Group raises $225M for more early-stage investments (venturebeat.com)
7. ^{^} Zynga buys Bonfire Studios and sets up Dallas game studio (venturebeat.com)
8. ^{^} Android (venturebeat.com)
9. ^{^} Blackberry (venturebeat.com)
10. ^{^} iPhone (venturebeat.com)
11. ^{^} smartphones (venturebeat.com)
12. ^{^} Apple (venturebeat.com)
13. ^{^} Google (venturebeat.com)
14. ^{^} RIM (venturebeat.com)
15. ^{^} The Nielsen Company (venturebeat.com)