The top-three Japan-based telecom operators, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI au and SoftBank Mobile, have adopted different approaches to promote smartphones for the winter season, according to Digitimes Research.NTT DoCoMo will offer multiple models for the winter season, including Sony Mobile's Xperia Z3 Compact and Samsung's Galaxy S5 Active, while upgrading its services by adding VoLTE and Hi-Res Audio.NTT DoCoMo has also expanded its offerings to include smartwatches for children as well as smart sportswear and related services.KDDI au has launched two models for winter, but none of them are exclusive. This indicates that KDDI will focus more on a Firefox OS-based model to be launched in December.SoftBank Mobile has tied up with Sony Mobile to launch the Xperia Z3, the first cooperation project between the two companies in 10 years. SoftBank has also stepped up its efforts to promote Android-based models by introducing Sharp's Aquos Crystal-family products.Meanwhile, Sony Mobile has strengthened its presence in the Japan market by teaming up with the top-three telecom operators to promote its Xperia-series smartphones. Previously, the Xperia phones are sold mainly through NTT DoCoMo. Sony Mobile may also be able to expand its sales in the US market through Sprint Nextel, which has been acquired by SoftBank.

Global notebook shipments, which are expected to decline 2.1% on year in 2014, will further drop 1.7% in 2015 to reach 168 million units, despite Microsoft's attempts to stimulate demand in the PC market.Microsoft's termination of support for Windows XP will provide limited incentives to boost PC demand from the enterprise market, while enterprise- and niche-purpose tablets are also expected to undermine demand for conventional notebooks.Microsoft's Windows 10, which will become available in the second half of 2015, is also unlikely to drive PC growth in 2015.Digitimes Research estimates that global notebook shipments will see slight annual declines through 2018.Notebook prices will continue to drop in 2015. In addition to Chromebooks, which may see their ASPs drop below US$170, Microsoft's US$249 Bing SKU project and Small Screen Touch (SST) project, which is expected to expand shipments for US$199 11.6-inch notebooks, will heat up the price competition in the notebook market in 2015.Since Microsoft has placed extra limitations on its Bing SKU project for 2015 as well as raised the project's licensing fee, Digitimes Research expects the project to only achieve a performance far weaker than its original goal. On the other hand, the Chromebook, which is expected to achieve about seven million in unit shipments in 2014, will stand a good chance of reaching 12 million in unit shipments in 2015.With the tablet market gradually trending towards larger-size devices and ones for the enterprise and niche segments, tablet shipments are estimated to rise in 2015. Among the tablets in 2015, Apple's 12.9-inch iPad and Intel's Education Tablets for the education sector in emerging countries are expected to become the spotlights, but they will impact notebook' shipment performance in the long term.

Major China-based handset vendors including Coolpad, Lenovo and Xiaomi Technology are unlikely to reach their shipment goals set for 2014 due to slow sales of 4G models in the third quarter and gloomy prospects for the fourth quarter, according to Digitimes Research.The conclusion comes after Digitimes Research researchers and analysts made a visit to dozens of upstream and downstream makers in China's handset supply chain during the August-September period.China-based handset vendor had been hoping that sales of 4G smartphones will improve significantly starting the third quarter after experiencing a period of sluggish sales in the first half of 2014. But most vendors saw their sales of 4G phones remain in doldrums in the third quarter.Coolpad shifted its entire production lines to the production of 4G models in the first half of 2014 and ramped up its 4G smartphone shipments during the January-April period, resulting in a pile-up of 4G models in retail channels. Coolpad reduced its orders for upstream suppliers sharply after suffering flat sales in the third quarter.Lenovo began to offer 4G models at the end of the second quarter but failed to ramp up 4G shipments in the third quarter due to an excessive stockpile of 3G models in the first half of the year. The vendor has since turned more conservative about the prospects for the fourth quarter.Affected by slower than expected sales of 4G models in the third quarter, Xiaomi also saw its shipment momentum begin to decelerate in the quarter after its shipments and position in vendor rankings advanced significantly in the first half.Digitimes Research believes that the smartphone market in China has reached its peak period and that efforts by China-based telecom operators to boost 4G smartphones in the fourth quarter would be limited.Additionally, the promotion of 4G smartphones will also further squeeze the market share of 3G models, making most vendors unlikely to reach their 2014 shipment targets.

Intel, which launched the Classmate PC specifically for emerging countries' education markets in 2007, did not achieve significant results with its StudyBook tablet in 2012. But in 2013, it released the Education Tablets, renewing its efforts for the educational segment. Digitimes Research estimates that the Education Tablets' shipments will break one million units in 2014, replacing some demand for notebook-shaped Classmate PCs. The replacement trend will become stronger in 2015, allowing the Education Tablets to achieve an on-year shipment growth of over 100% and account for 60% of Intel's education product shipments (Classmate PCs plus Education Tablets), up from 35% in 2014.In 2014, Intel's Education Tablets all feature a 10-inch display with Mexico and Venezuela being the largest clients initially. Digitimes Research expects countries that have procured Classmate PCs previously (over 80% located in Latin America) to turn to purchase the Education Tablets, causing Classmate PCs' shipments to drop from 2.5 million units in 2014 to below two million units in 2015. At the same time, the Education Tablets' shipments will reach more than three million units in 2015.Orders from emerging countries' education markets are usually heavily influenced by political factors and government budgets.Therefore, it remains to be seen whether the Education Tablets can break Classmate PCs' annual shipment ceiling of 3.5 million units in 2015.

Digitimes Research believes Apple is planning to sacrifice its gross margins to save its tablet business, which has already fallen into decline. Apple's entry into price competition is also expected to impact sales of its competitors' high-end tablets.Compared to the iPad Air's significant upgrades in 2013, the iPad Air 2's hardware improvements are a lot smaller, while the iPad mini 3, except for the addition of Touch ID functions, has almost no changes in specifications or industrial design.Apple's pricing strategy for iPads has become more aggressive. The iPad mini product line, which was the biggest victim of the launch of the iPhone 6 series, is expected to see some recovery in 2014 because of the iPad mini 2's significant price cut and the price comparison effect to the iPad mini 3.Since demand for tablets will stay weak in the second half, while demand for the iPhone 6 Plus is stronger than expected, Digitimes Research has reduced its iPad shipment forecast for 2014 to 64.95 million units.

Despite Intel and Microsoft subsidies, Digitimes Research expects global notebook shipments, not including 2-in-1 models, to drop 4.4% on year and 2.6% sequentially in the fourth quarter, as Windows XP will have less of an effect on boosting demand in the enterprise segment and most of the inventory preparation for year-end shopping sales has already been completed in the second and third quarters.Taiwan notebook makers will see their shipments perform worse than the global average as Lenovo continues expanding its in-house production rate. Lenovo's joint venture with Compal Electronics in Hefei, China supplied two million notebooks in September and the output is expected to remain at the same level in the fourth quarter, according to Digitimes Research's latest ICT reports on the notebook industry.US-based brand vendors' shares in the global notebook market in the fourth quarter will stay at similar levels to those in the previous quarter, but shipments will all decline due to weakening demand.Lenovo and Asustek Computer, which performed outstandingly in terms of on-year growth in the third quarter, are expected to achieve better shipment results than other brand vendors in the fourth quarter and will be only a few of the vendors that will achieve growths both on year and sequentially.Lenovo has been pushing its shipments in Europe, looking to return as the largest vendor in the fourth quarter with around 10 million units in notebook shipments. On the other hand, Asustek has resolved its component shortage and high channel inventory issues and is expected to return as a top-5 in the fourth quarter.As for fifth-place Acer, although the vendor is the world's largest Chromebook seller, the company is expected to suffer a higher shipment drop than those of the others in the top-5, facing pressure from competitors, especially LenovoThe ranking of Taiwan ODMs will not see much change, but the number-three to number-five ODMs will perform slightly better than Quanta Computer and Compal.

Most 7-inch tablets' prices have dropped significantly during October with several first-tier vendors' 8GB models even dropping to as low as US$99. Meanwhile, 8-inch tablets also seen their prices decrease with stable panel supply and vendors expanding their investments in related products. Among the vendors, Lenovo was the most aggressive about price cuts.Lenovo has taken the initiative to lower retail prices for its A7-40 entry-level 7-inch tablet to US$99 and A8-50 entry-level 8-inch tablet to US$125, down from US$149. Lenovo also announced its second-generation Yoga tablets earlier in October, according to Digitimes Research's findings.Amazon released its fourth-generation Fire series tablets in September 2014 and introduced the first 6-inch model. The company adopted MediaTek's solutions and ODM business model for its new tablets to reduce costs.Since the company's Fire HD 7's hardware specifications did not have any significant improvements from the previous-generation model with the price remaining at US$139, Digitimes Research believes the Fire series tablets are unlikely to continue enjoying good demand as in the past and may enter into price competition in the future since most of Amazon's cloud computing services are also available for Android and iOS platforms.Compared to their competitors, which adopt WSVGA-level (1,024 by 800) TN panels for their devices, Acer's B1-730HD tablet uses a WXGA-level (1,280 by 800) IPS panel and priced at US$99, while Lenovo's A7-40 also adopts a similar level panel and MediaTek's quad-core A7 processor. Both tablets are expected to create strong threat against their competitors and Lenovo is also set to launch a new wave of price cuts for the year-end holidays.As for the 8-inch tablet market, the sector is also seeing a fierce price competition as in the 7-inch one. In addition to Lenovo, Asustek has also cut the price for its ME181 from US$199 in June to US$154 recently.

Following the passing of Japan's 2014 amendment of financial instruments and exchange act, etc. on May 23, 2014, unlisted companies in Japan are now allowed to raise funds through the Internet and the move is expected to prompt Japan's crowd funding platforms to include investment projects, which is expected to help expand the related market.The success of smartwatch Pebble prompted many entrepreneurs to try crowd funding platforms. The platforms not only provide entrepreneurs a chance to expand their businesses internationally, they also help the market to develop actively. US-based research firm Massolution found that crowd funding platforms worldwide together raised US$2.66 billion in 2012, up 81% on year with most projects located in North America and Kickstarter being the largest. Such a trend has also started occurring in Japan.Japan's crowd funding platforms started operating after the earthquake on March 11, 2011 as non-profit organizations used the platforms to help raise funds for rebuilding.But since IT products usually involve complicated R&D, manufacturing and launch processes, which is then amplified by the lack of experience of the creators, a common trend of many projects has been that backers become dissatisfied by the end of the process due to changed specifications, missing features, or huge delays between when the products was originally scheduled for delivery at the time they pledged their money and when the product actually shipped. Therefore most projects on Japan's crowd funding platforms have been non-IT products, and those successful at raising funding have been mostly enterprises and schools. Some well-known vendors have even created projects motivated to advertise and increase awareness of upcoming products, rather than raise cash.Compared to the US, Japan lacks IT-related entrepreneurs and Japan's large IT vendors also only place limited investment on entrepreneurs. Although many IT companies such as Internet service players and telecom carriers have budgeted corporate venture capital to for emerging companies, the emerging companies are mostly unable to benefit due to the long application and approval process.Because crowd funding platforms offer high flexibility and low thresholds to entry, as well as the Japan government's new policies, Digitimes Research expects the platforms to become an attractive fund raising channel for Japan's entrepreneurs.

Cavendish Kinetics, a provider of high-performance RF tuning solutions for mobile devices, and nubia, a smartphone brand of ZTE Corporation, recently announced that nubia's new Z7 includes a third generation smart antenna that is powered by Cavendish Kinetics' SmarTune antenna tuning solution.The SmarTune antenna tuning solution controls the electrical characteristics of the antenna and optimizes its performance by shifting its resonating frequency, so that it is always optimally matched to the operating frequency, indicated Paul Dal Santo, CEO of Cavendish Kinetics.According to Cavendish this allows smartphone vendors to design devices with smaller antennas while achieving a level of radio performance previously reserved for much larger structures.The solution is based on Cavendish's MEMS SmarTuners, which have a near zero insertion loss, and enable antennas to tune across all LTE frequencies. Cavendish's SmarTuners have proven their accuracy and reliability in over 50 billion cycles of testing. In addition, the SmarTuners are only 2 mm2 in size and do not require other components, which makes them easy to implement.

Synapse Design recently announced its Cloud hardware platform based on a Freescale T4240 network processor and natively running OpenStack Icehouse.The cloud hardware platform is a configurable design targeted at medium to high performance cloud appliance storage and compute markets.According to Synapse, the implementation provides 50% lower power for the same compute performance while enabling increased networking throughput with advanced hardware techniques. Deploying this solution at scale will save power when compared to competing architectures with equivalent compute performance.The Synapse Design platform is configurable, with the initial reference platform having 24 processing threads, four 10GbE channels, eight 1GbE channels and supporting 96TB of SSD storage with currently available drive technology. Compute and storage instantiations with a large variety of configurations can be enabled easily and a variety of host and drive side interfaces are available.