According to TelecomTV, 3G is unlikely to take off this year even if prices fall below the $200 mark � a price point championed and cited by Qualcomm and others as the tipping point for popular uptake of the technology. This is the stark warning from Ron Garriques, the president of mobile devices at Motorola. Mr. Garriques says, "People continue to say if you could only hit a certain price point things could take off and fly. But I say low prices alone are not enough to make the market take off in the second half of this year." Mr. Garriques said 3G handsets must become simpler and lighter before mass acceptance will kick in. "I believe that size, weight, battery life, compelling applications and design are just as important as price points," he said, suggesting most subscribers are actually already very satisfied with 2G and 2.5G services. Motorola intends to sell a 3G version of its slim RAZR handset in the fourth quarter this year.
From my vantage point, few areas are evolving as rapidly and with such profound implications as the space sector. For decades, satellites were essentially fixed hardware – powerful, expensive, but ultimately immutable once launched. That paradigm is undergoing a transition driven by Software-Defined Satellites (SDS). A recent market study by ABI Research underscores this transition, painting a picture of technological advancement and a fundamental reshaping of global connectivity, security, and national interests. LEO SDS Market Development The core concept behind SDS is deceptively simple yet revolutionary: decouple the satellite's capabilities from its physical hardware. Instead of launching a satellite designed for a single, fixed purpose (like broadcasting specific frequencies to a specific region), SDS allows operators to modify, upgrade, and reconfigure a satellite's functions after it's in orbit, primarily through software updates. The ABI Research report highlights ...