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Affordable Smartphones and LTE ............................................... 2

Wearables Are the Next Design Frontier ..................................... 2

The IoE Is Hot ............................................................................ 2

A Watershed MWC ...................................................................... 3

Virtualization .............................................................................. 3

Managed Services ........................................................................ 4

5G ............................................................................................... 4

RAN Virtualization ..................................................................... 5

21st Century DAS ....................................................................... 6

Backhaul and Virtualization ....................................................... 7

Spotlight on Small Cells ............................................................... 7

NFC versus HCE ......................................................................... 9

Ready or Not, Here Comes NFC (at Last) as Wallets Evolve ..... 10

User Experience, Not Technology, Is Now at the Forefront ....... 10

The End of Usernames and Passwords Is Nigh! .......................... 11

Security Is Coming to the Fore .................................................. 11

M2M and IoT ............................................................................ 12

IoT Network Architectures: Living on the Edge Gets Less Edgy 13

Your Next Big IoT Driver: De-arrested Development ................ 13

Mobility Announcements: Samsung ........................................... 14

Oracle Announcing Mobile Security Suite .................................. 15

Intel Announced Device Protection Technology ......................... 15

Android Device Lethargy and Firefox at US$25 ......................... 15

Wearable: Hype Continues to Exceed Reality ............................ 16

Attack of the Big Smartphone Drones ........................................ 17

Modems Are Ready for Enabling 300 Mbps Mobile Broadband

Services ..................................................................................... 18

Chipset Manufacturers Widening their Ambitions for Mobile

Turnkey Designs ........................................................................ 19

64-bit Mobile Processors, Genuine Innovation, or Just “Me Too”

Strategy? ................................................................................... 20

CSR’s Mesh Bluetooth ............................................................... 20

Wilocity’s WiGig Chip for Mobile Devices .................................. 20

5G Announcements Are Still Vague ........................................... 21

MWC 2014: Automotive and Location ....................................... 21

Contributors .............................................................................. 23


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Mobile World Congress (MWC) retains its position as the preeminent mobile show on the calendar, but it is plain to see

that things are changing in the market and this is reflected in the focus of discussion at the show. Some major themes at

the show included:

The drive to affordable smartphones and affordable LTE

Wearables as the next design frontier

The Internet of Everything (IoE) is the hottest new opportunity

Mobile big data services for non-mobile brands is the new big opportunity

Affordable Smartphones and LTE

Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer

Despite the drum banging and furor regarding the launches of the Galaxy S5 and the Sony Experia Z2, the real

takeaways from the show were that there was little wow factor regarding the “big” phone announcements. In reality,

the most important announcements were Mozilla’s US$25 smartphone, Nokia’s foray into Android to satisfy the entry-

level user, and new cost-optimized platforms for high-capability smartphones that support LTE from Mediatek and

Qualcomm.

So, what do all of these mean? Fundamentally, this shows that the smartphone is now commoditized and we are in a

race to the bottom. Margins will be squeezed, OEMs will suffer, and we will see business model changes. Look out for

more home grown silicon as OEMs try to consolidate parts of the ecosystem and more white label products, as carriers

look to do the same. Despite the fanfare, it is official that the halcyon days of massive revenue supported by good

margins in a growing smartphone market are over.

Wearables Are the Next Design Frontier Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer

In direct contrast to the experiences of the device market, the wearables market is exploding in both the size of the

opportunity and also the diversity of the wares on show. An indication of this diversity was seen in the Huawei

TalkBand, a novel product that combines the attributes of a Bluetooth headset with a smartwatch.

Along with product announcements, there were also a number of companies championing platforms that will enable

ODMs and OEMs to get to market quicker. Cutting through all the hype, it is clear that there is still much confusion in

this market. Vendors really do not have a handle on what consumers want and are “over-featuring.” Use cases are still

very loose and price points are all over the shop.

Probably the most significant missing piece, to date, is the lack of presence in this market of big brands in the

apparel, fashion, sports, content, and retail markets. These brands will be the key to driving smart functionality into

wearables, not the dark suits from the mobile market.

The IoE Is Hot Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer

Nearly every exhibitor at the show had some sort of IoE connotation to their message. In fact, you would have been

hard pressed to find an exhibitor at the show that did not have IoT or IoE written somewhere on their modernistic

displays. In reality, not a lot of what was on display was groundbreaking. It was either shown before at events like CES

or even a year before at MWC. When talking to people at the show, it is clear that there are many faux pas being

repeated over and over again with regards to the IoE. Most notably:


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IoE Is Consumer-centric: It is not only about your home, car, and smartphone! There will be billions of connections

that do not touch a consumer product in the future and these will be the key to enabling the connection of critical

processes and managing the connected world of the future.

IoE Revenues Will Be about Connectivity: This is fundamentally flawed; connectivity and connectivity management

will only take a maximum of 30% of the revenues on offer from the IoE. The real money is further up the stack in

service management, applications, big data, etc.

There Is One IoE: IoE is a common marketing concept that describes multiple sub-systems in markets like the

connected car, smart home, etc. The opportunity of the future is to tie these vertical siloes together and break the

boundaries for data.

A Watershed MWC Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer

Whatever way you look at MWC 2014, it was a watershed. We have seen the show pivot from a smartphone-centric

show to new frontiers. You only needed to see the trending topics on Twitter. Wearables, the IoE, and the connected car

occupied the top three spots, not smartphones. The sheer volume of auto vendors in attendance is also a massive sign

that times are changing. The final message to take from this all is directed at those that have bet the house on

smartphones (mobile carriers and OEMs).

The market is changing and with change comes disruption and the opportunity for new entrants. Your place at the top

of the tree is being challenged/undermined/obfuscated NOW and if you do not move positively, quickly, and

aggressively in the right direction, you will be the Polaroid of the future, the very near future.

Virtualization Joe Hoffman, Practice Director

Always a busy and hectic week, MWC is the place to catch what is happening in this industry. But with over 1,700

firms participating, there is no way for anyone to take it all in. Here are my three take-away items from the trade

show.

Every vendor has a pitch on virtualization; some parts of the core network, such as IMS, are currently ramping up to

production deployments. Infrastructure vendors will have Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) commercially

available next year. The leading telecom vendors have come around to accept that EPC and other virtualized

elements will deploy on commercial IT equipment. While the common deployment will be for vendors to act as

system integrators for the entire virtualized solution, including the commercial IT equipment, the largest operators

may require deployments of vEPC and Gi-LAN into their virtualized data centers.

The original NFV white paper envisioned many benefits from virtualization, but the one seized by operators’ CFOs

everywhere was a huge CAPEX savings from low-cost, even white-box commercial IT servers. The industry has

mostly dismissed that idea, mainly because the recognized value in the infrastructure equipment is in the software,

systems integration, and support. That leaves the real drivers of virtualization, namely OPEX savings and WebScale

business transformation. By WebScale transformation, ABI Research means the transformation from telecoms bound

by network ossification into the nimble firms that rapidly innovate, embrace outside innovation, and can keep pace

with Moore’s Law.

Virtualization poses a major risk to the current order of things in the core network. The transformation of the core

network from proprietary and purpose-built hardware to commercial IT levels the playing field. New entrants,

such as Connectem (running on IBM PureFlex) and Affirmed Networks, can develop into focused niche providers

or even full service providers for selected target markets.


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Existing, but smaller firms will take this opportunity to reach into adjacent markets, or widen their scope in the core

network, such as NEC and F5. Many of the top tier infrastructure vendors are already deployed on commercial IT

equipment and, as they work through trials this year, ABI Research expects to see contract announcements in 4Q 2014

and commercial deployments in 2015. Just to be clear, expect to see live commercial traffic on virtualized core networks

in 2015 from Alcatel-Lucent (ALU), Cisco, Ericsson, Huawei, and NSN.

Operators are getting serious, as AT&T continues to light the fires under their infrastructure vendors. The big shocker at

the show was the announcement of Affirmed Networks as a Domain 2.0 Partner for the EPC, which sends a strong

message to the AT&T infrastructure providers, as well as to the industry. Virtualization also strengthens the operator’s

hand, because virtualization makes it relatively risk-free to experiment with new processes and vendor partners. Since it

is all in software, an operator can put up a credible threat to rip out existing software vendors and replace them with

someone more responsive. It makes it easier to try services and vendors with the financial exposure limited to contract

terms and conditions.

Additional insight is provided in ABI Research’s Software Defined Networking & NFV Research Service.

Managed Services Joe Hoffman, Practice Director

Telecom Managed Services (MS) is a major revenue source for telecom vendors that operate in this highly

competitive market. The common theme among MS providers is to move upscale and bring greater value to

operators than just outsourced OPEX reduction. By moving upscale into Customer Experience Management

(CEM), MS providers increasingly operate closer to the strategic heart of the telecom operator and success now

hangs on developing a long-term trust relationship. Vendors have taken steps to rationalize their offerings,

improve execution, and are returning to the markets seeking an increased share. One vendor, Huawei, even

incorporates trust-building as a pillar of its services strategy.

Other areas of the operator’s business is up for grabs, as we see MS providers climb the pyramid and offer services into

new areas, such as Ericsson with Spectrum Management as a Service and NSN with OTT Management as a Service, just

to name a few. Much like virtualization, it seems that anything that can be a managed service, will be a managed

service.

More insights and analysis into the rapidly changing nature of managed services can be found in ABI Research’s Telco

Big Data, CEM, and Managed Services Research Service.

5G Joe Hoffman, Practice Director

It seems like 4G is hardly out the door and now the ecosystem is buzzing with activity and jostling for thought

leadership position. At MWC, the EU Commission responsible for digital initiatives launched the 5G Public-Private-

Partnership (5GPPP) and backs it with €700 million in funding provided through the Horizon R&D subsidy program.

Attention to 5G at MWC was largely from the mobile infrastructure vendors. Huawei and Ericsson kept their visions

shielded from public view, while NSN placed its vision of 5G for all to see, much to the delight of a picture-snapping

swarm of amateur photojournalists.

Groupthink, or at least a herd mentality, was in effect, as everyone echoes the mantra that we cannot really know how

5G will manifest. But everyone is pretty sure that it will include most of these attributes:

It will be here by 2020

It will include lots of spectrum


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At multiple 10s of GHz

Multi-Gbps performance

Everywhere, all the time, wireless or wireline

Low-power 10-year lifetime devices

Hopefully, a lot of fundamental research will come from the €700 million that transfers into deployable technology.

Most promising are antenna research needed to make GHz bandwidths at 100+ GHz frequencies practical, and the RF

electronics that are low-cost and low-power. Speaking of low-power, 5G seems supremely suitable for the IoE, the all-

encompassing sensor network of 50 billion devices. Batteries with 10-year lifetimes with low-power and low-cost

electronics are additional research areas that show promise.

Ericsson seems to have taken a very market-focused “start-with-the-end-in-mind” approach for representative use

cases and industries, and then walks it back to the talking points above. Notable works from its research labs are t he

connected cities of the future and, given Ericsson’s focus on 50 billion IoE devices, its research seeks to develop the

role of CapNets in the larger Networked Society.

NSN had a slightly more academic, bottom-up approach to 5G and, like other vendors, ended up at largely the same

talking points above. However, it shows considerable insight by pointing out diminishing returns versus increasing

complexity. I am sure they will not press this point so far as to throw a splash of cold water on the EU 5GPPP, but it

shows good business acumen with 5G.

Huawei’s 5G view is well developed on the RF and hardware aspects of 5G, and was thoughtful to consider the

everywhere, everything, all-the-time aspects. Huawei views 5G as evolving from today’s cloud and Internet

expectations, and positions its SoftComm as a fore runner for 5G. I think it is probably right, in that tomorrow will look

like yesterday, only more advanced.

ALU is bent on transforming itself into the supplier of choice for operators seeking WebScale transformation. The ALU

view is that speed is important, but not paramount in the world of 5G. In that aspect, the all -pervasive wireless

network, which is like SkyNet, so to speak, is the major innovation of 5G.

Where do we go with 5G? No one can know how it will manifest, but we have a good idea of building blocks. In 10 years,

it will be interesting to look back and say, “Wow! Things have come a long way.”

RAN Virtualization Nick Marshall, Principal Analyst

There is a strong move toward virtualization by major networking OEMs, including ALU, Ericsson, and NSN. ALU is

proposing to virtualize the RAN, calling it V-RAN. What ALU means by this is that in the V-RAN, the control plane

goes to the cloud and the RF and analog interfaces to the physical world remain in the radio head. ALU has engaged

with Intel to get this done and will employ IA throughout. In the V-RAN then, only L1 remains and L2/L3 virtualize to

the cloud. In the radio head of the future, only coordination, local caching, and physical interfaces remain.

Intel, of course, has been working for several years with SKT and China Mobile to figure out how to virtualize network

functions using standard off-the-shelf Xeon and Atom chips, enabling them to benefit ALU from their experience.

Important to Intel’s portfolio is its acquisition of Mindspeed’s wireless assets in December, which ABI Research

featured in an ABI Insight at the time. Intel says that its platforms already handle application processing, control

processing, and packet processing. With the Mindspeed acquisition, it can now also offer the “Fourth Workload” of

signal processing. According to the company, its goal is to consolidate all four workloads on IA. It claims to have made

progress on this in its collaboration agreements with SKT and China Mobile on C-RAN architectures.


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C-RAN stands for both centralized RAN and cloud RAN, and is based around the idea of enabling lower cost,

centralized control of radio resources in a baseband hotel or pool, much like a data center. If Intel can merge al l four

workloads on its platforms, then it will be well-positioned to acquire a major portion of the C-RAN silicon market.

21st Century DAS Nick Marshall, Principal Analyst

DAS is emerging as strong competition to small cells in venues and enterprises with modernization of architectures being

brought up to date from Axell, Kathrein, Commscope, TE Connectivity, and others.

ABI Research highlighted Axell’s introduction of its Intelligent Digital DAS (idDAS) in a recent ABI Insight. The

system features the ability to dynamically move network capacity through a DAS system to where it is needed most,

under software control, unlike traditional DAS systems, which are built to satisfy peak demand. According to Axell, this

will allow mobile operators to “right-size” capacity for the deployment and provide major savings in CAPEX and

OPEX for the mobile operator or network owner.

In a similar fashion, Kathrein announced its K-BOW solution, which aggregates traffic with a centralized RAN

platform and sends multiple combinations of signals to individual remotes. Using a network monitoring system,

capacity in any area of the building can be tailored to meet demand with savings in both CAPEX and OPEX.

The top DAS vendor from ABI Research’s recent competitive assessment, Commscope, introduced its ION-E unified

wireless infrastructure. The ION-E combines licensed wireless and power with gigabit Ethernet for Wi-Fi in one

network, which is spectrum-agnostic and can scale to any building size, and uses standard IT cabling.

Not to be outdone, TE Connectivity, ABI Research’s #2 leading DAS vendor announced a partnership with ALU, which

features a CPRI common digital interface between TE Connectivity’s FlexWave and ALU’s lightRadio™ Baseband Unit

(BBU) and TE’s Digital DAS. The solution removes the need for RRF processing and attenuation in the DAS system and


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lowers equipment costs by more than 50% and the cost of materials by 40% according to both companies. Additional cost

savings potential is possible from using less power and cooling, taking up less space and using less fiber.

ABI Research believes that the HetNet of the future will combine small cells, DAS, and Wi-Fi in a single coordinated

network with the choice of the system dependent on the individual deployment scenario. DAS systems are probably

most affordable in very large installations and small cells are best for small and medium size businesses. In between the

two extremes, ABI Research believes we will see hybrid approaches combining the best of both small cells and DAS.

Backhaul and Virtualization Nick Marshall, Principal Analyst

The small cell wireless backhaul vendor ecosystem is large and dynamic with many vendors competing for market share

in this nascent market. These vendors include the large multinational infrastructure vendors, with their own backhaul

equipment portfolios, which form part of an end-to-end mobile infrastructure portfolio. ABI Research will not attempt

to cover all of the MWC announcements here, except to point out a few that caught our attention.

First, we note that SDN and NFV or Virtualization has arrived in backhaul. Ceragon was demonstrating its SDN-ready

IP-20 platform, which can move backhaul capacity to where the demand is, thus, saving CAPEX. Ceragon’s IP-20 is a

service-centric, software-defined wireless platform containing a rich product line for backhaul and fronthaul applications.

The IP-20 platform provides ultra-high capacities, supports any radio transmission technology mix, any network topology,

and any configuration, according to the company.

Also implementing SDN in the backhaul, Airspan introduced a small cell backhaul architecture that aggregates multiple

backhaul technologies in a single network. The company’s iBridge small cell backhaul combines licensed and unlicensed

spectrum using LTE Relay or PMP NLOS technology in licensed bands and 802.11ac operating in the 5 GHz band. This

architecture is capable of combining available backhaul routes and schedules LTE small cell traffic over individual

routes according to QoS and bandwidth requirements.

The semiconductor suppliers also stood out, as they start to reuse their small cell SoCs for backhaul. Texas Instruments

(TI) now offers a KeyStone platform supporting NLOS, TV White Space, LTE Relay backhaul, and is also capable of

supporting emerging shared spectrum bands. In fact, the company announced that the Airspan backhaul uses

KeyStone.

Qualcomm is also present as an SoC supplier in small cell backhaul, with several vendors using its solutions for NLOS

backhaul, thanks to its acquisition of Design Art and the DAN3200 product.

Finally, InterDigital stood out for its work in 60 GHz and phased array antennas, announcing an agreement with

Belgian R&D center Imec to develop cost-effective phased array technology for small cell backhaul and 5G wireless

communications. This work will go a long way to cost reducing 60 GHz small cell backhaul radios and will lead to

reduced TCO for the MNO, thanks to the rapid beam steering features of the technology.

Spotlight on Small Cells Nick Marshall, Principal Analyst

There were many small cell-related announcements and ABI Research picks out the highlights here. First, the Small Cell

Forum continued its excellent series of releases with Series Three: Urban Foundations, which tackles urban small cell

deployments. Following December’s Enterprise Release, this release discusses market drivers, business cases,

architectures, SON, cellular/Wi-Fi integration, and backhaul; along with deployment advice in 18 separate documents.

In the equipment vendor ecosystem, NSN is extending its Flexi Zone small cell portfolio to include TD-LTE, adding

more bands and incorporating Wi-Fi. The company also added a new indoor Flexi Zone picocell, claiming it is the


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industry’s smallest and only indoor small cell with the same capacity and software as the macro base station. The new

picocell will provide indoor coverage and easier connection options with higher capacity than offered by a DAS,

according to NSN.

The company also adds a refreshed Flexi Zone controller, which supports the integration of NSN’s Liquid Applications to

deliver services directly from the small cell base station. The Flexi Zone controller can be deployed on the company’s Flexi

Multiradio 10 Base Stations.

Ericsson had previously announced its Radio Dot system, which was described in an ABI Insight in September last

year. At MWC, the Radio Dot seemed to be picking up real momentum. In addition to previously announced trials with

AT&T and Verizon in the United States, Ericsson announced trials with Vodafone (United Kingdom), Telstra

(Australia), MTN (Africa), Softbank (Japan), and Swisscom (Switzerland). Like NSN, Ericsson is touting “macro-

parity” for Radio Dot and the Dot will offer all the features found in the macro base station: RBS6000, including carrier

aggregation and simultaneous WCDMA, LTE, and Wi-Fi.

Just like Ericsson, ALU, which is ABI Research’s choice for top small cell vendor from our most recent competitive

assessment, announced the deployment of its small cells in the Verizon Network in both indoor and outdoor locations.

The company also announced that TIM Brazil will deploy its 3G femtocells in its network to help improve coverage

and capacity for TIM subscribers. TIM will use ALU’s Enterprise Cell 9362, Homecell 9361, and Metrocell Outdoor

9364 over the course of a 3-year deployment.

NEC announced an upgraded version of its E-RAN solution for enterprise deployments. The solution features

multimode small cells, an upgraded small cell gateway. Previously only available in 3G and Wi-Fi versions, the new E-

RAN features LTE, 3G, and Wi-Fi connectivity. The company claims that the solution will reduce mobile operator

churn in the enterprise segment, but also provide a new revenue streams from services like IP-PBX integration, BYOD

management, and in-building location services.


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Hinting at what might be to come, ip.access unveiled a new class of small cell designed around the idea of “presence.”

The Presence Cell will capture data and features, such as phone location authentication, to enable a range of new

solutions, including retail analytics, mobile finance and mobile promotions. The new Presence Cells are compatible

today with 3G and variants of Presence Cells are under development to operate within LTE networks. Qualcomm’s

FSM99xx was announced as the SoC supplier for these small cells.

In the semiconductor supplier ecosystem, several announcements caught our attention. First, and long suspected but

never disclosed, was that NSN uses TI’s KeyStone™ SoC in its Flexi Zone small cells. TI also announced that PureWave

and Quantenna had designed in the TI KeyStone SoC. Interestingly, Airspan uses the same Keystone SoC in its

AirSynergy small cell with integrated backhaul and supporting LTE Relay, NLOS connectivity, and, in fact, TI now

offers the KeyStone platform for NLOS, TV white space, LTE relay backhaul, and emerging shared spectrum band

backhaul.

Broadcom, meanwhile, had several small cell SoC design-ins to announce. The first was with Datang Mobile, which

uses the Broadcom BCM617xx for a dual-mode TD-SCDMA/TD-LTE enterprise and residential small cell for

deployment in China. Broadcom also announced that Quanta Computer will use the BCM617xx in a dual mode LTE

small cell for enterprise and residential applications.

Qualcomm, after taking a small stake in ALU and announcing collaboration with it using the FSM99xx, revealed that

that arrangement was not exclusive. The company announced that it will provide Cisco with SoCs for multimode

enterprise small cells.

Freescale Semiconductor introduced its next-generation QorIQ Qonverge small cell SoC; the B3421, which will support

simultaneous LTE and Wi-Fi and will support both FD- and TD-LTE, as well as LTE-A up to release 11. The new

B3421 base station SoC integrates digital front-end (DFE) technology, which improves power amplifier (PA) efficiency

and significantly reduces base station power and costs, according to Freescale.

Cavium announced its UniFRAN, which is an end-to-end software solution that unifies 3G/4G small cells with macro base

stations and C-RAN. The software will run on the company’s OCTEON and OCTEON Fusion processors and permits the

same applications to run across the full range of cells, from small to macro and C-RAN.

This is just a selection of small cell-related news that ABI Research believes demonstrates real momentum. Most of the

vendors we spoke with indicated that the true ramp up for small cells will start in 4Q 2014, with the ramp up building

throughout 2015 as they respond to many RFQs/RFIs issued by the MNOs in North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin

America.

NFC versus HCE John Devlin, Practice Director

Security and ID also had several announcements this year. The obvious place to start, given the rash of

announcements preceding the show, is with Host Card Emulation (HCE). Many meetings and questions related to

thoughts on HCE pondered whether MasterCard and Visa were serious about it, was it as secure as full blown NFC,

what impact this might have on NFC and secure elements, was this validation of the cloud, etc., etc. It certainly was

an interesting topic that adds to the whole NFC picture.

ABI Research’s latest report on NFC and TSMs includes commentary regarding expecting to see more platform

vendors adding HCE to their NFC portfolios in order to address all types of implementation. HCE adds something

different and opens up NFC devices and services to a wider audience that may not be able to, or wish to, become

involved in renting space on a secure element (SE), setting up a TSM, etc. For those that do, a full blown NFC

implementation incorporating a physical SE is still a viable option and offers the additional capability of battery -


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off mode and one or two other features that can minimize some of the back-end complexity required to make HCE

as secure as SE-based NFC.

Ready or Not, Here Comes NFC (at Last) as Wallets Evolve John Devlin, Practice Director

Further points of interest for NFC included the stronger efforts from MNOs as they (finally) seem to be ready to push

forward with their wallets and NFC services. Still primarily focused around payments, a notable number of MNOs had

their wallets ready for launch and were demonstrating their capabilities, both standalone and in partnerships and joint

ventures. However, it is the latter two models that will have the most traction. Not only does such an approach expand

the potential customer base, it also benefits from joint marketing and increased appeal to B2B customers to whom a

simplified model (e.g., fewer contracts, less negotiation, broader reach, single partner) is attractive. The remaining point

that must be addressed to ensure user uptake is for these new models to recruit partners, especially retail and transport.

There is no point in having all of the technology in place without any key selling points for consumers; something has to

get them to try it out and ensure buy-in and repeat use.

The impact of HCE could be that those entities (primarily banks, but possibly also governments in the future) that

do not want to place all of their eggs in one basket (on a single SE and with a single partner) is that they do have

the option of going straight to market. It will be up to the MNOs to prove the value that they can bring. If they

can use their wallets and messaging capabilities to really add value and increase consumer traffic to their business

customers, then this impact could be minimalized.

Of the more established mobile wallet vendors, C-Sam was purchased by MasterCard. This extends MasterCard’s reach

into the digital space and complements its Masterpass wallet, allowing it to offer a ready-to-go option to its customers if

they should so wish. It appeared to me that MasterCard is reacting to the greater threat of the OTT players and is

becoming more active in a central role within the digital payments ecosystem, investing to back up its words and

demonstrating its belief in the direction it is advocating.

Speaking of C-Sam, when I met with it and several other long-term advocates, it was apparent to me that they are

placing more emphasis on non-payment wallets. They are not abandoning payments by any means, but, in effect, they

have recognized that their wallets are very well-positioned for adoption by retailers and other brands as a means of

extending or complementing their mobile apps. Perhaps spurred on by the ramping up and greater penetration of NFC

devices and/or in tandem with HCE, retailers and service providers are looking at brand-specific apps (or wallets) that

encompass their preferred online and in-store user experience, incorporating loyalty, coupons, messaging and CRM, and

related features. Payments may be part of this at a later stage but it is not at the forefront of these launches.

User Experience, Not Technology, Is Now at the Forefront John Devlin, Practice Director

User experience also appears to be maturing. NFC is a clear example; many (specifically MNOs) focused on the

business model and what they wanted to do, rather than building a compelling platform that would attract partners

and end-users and, subsequently, revenues. As a result, the market became bogged down and there was a lack of

understanding and belief on all sides. Then came BLE and its proponents, which looked (and still do look) to know

NFC at every chance. Uncertainty came to the fore as people became concerned that they may back the wrong horse.

As a result, further hesitation and delays ensued.

However, I wrote last year about how, to me, it is not a question of either/or. I stated that different technologies have

different capabilities and different properties, and can be employed to offer different services to target different user

groups. It depends on service provider and consumer preferences; what they want to do, how they want to do it, what

devices they have, what cultural preferences they have, etc. One size does not fit all.


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I was particularly pleased to meet with companies like Proxama and Mahindra Comviva, which were

demonstrating retail platforms incorporating BLE, LBS, and geo-fencing, NFC, and QRcodes. These can all be

included in the platform or retailers can pick and choose one or a combination, as they build out their mobile

capabilities. End users do not really care what technology is behind this, whether the app resides on a SE or in the

cloud. What they do care about is the user experience; that it works, is simple, is beneficial, and safe to use.

One company stood out somewhat in this regard. PayPal is one of the strongest BLE advocates, but what stood out was

how dismissive it is of NFC and other technologies. BLE cannot do everything and not everyone will want to use it all the

time. For example, retail customers may not want to be tracked and have messages/coupons pushed to them all of the

time. Instead, they might prefer to remain more in control, deciding if they wish to check-in or download some coupons.

Similarly, retailers may not wish to completely revamp their in-store processes and customer flow, security, check-outs,

etc. Some will, but many (and probably the majority) will not. PayPal’s stance in this regard seemed very blinkered .

Understanding that it wishes to disrupt the hold of existing payment networks and card issuers, however, if it wishes to

become a mainstream POS payment platform, it will have to adapt and evolve to appeal to all retailers and end users.

The End of Usernames and Passwords Is Nigh! John Devlin, Practice Director

Another trend discussed this year is that usernames and passwords are approaching an end. Is there anyone that does

not feel good about this possibility? While I may be critical of PayPal’s approach with regard to its technology focus, I

have to commend it for its partnership with Samsung with its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5. PayPal has

worked with Samsung to enable consumers to make an online payment via the biometric fingerprint scanner. No more

logging in and no more fiddly entry or credit card numbers, expiration dates, and CVV numbers; at least not if you own

one of these new phones when launched in April, and I expect more OEMs to follow suit.

Going back to user experience, simplifying the checkout process when online via a mobile device, particularly with a

limited screen size and keyboard, has to be a good thing. It is quicker, less error prone, and probably more secure as the

need for repeated data entry is removed.

The GSMA also made an announcement along these lines. MobileConnect, with the support of the SIM card vendors,

allows users to create a four-digit PIN that is verified securely on the SIM. With MobileConnect, the PIN can be used to

authenticate the user and device to log into or access any online service. It can be offered by MNOs themselves and

incorporated by any service provider for social networking, messaging, multimedia streaming, banking, etc. It is a free and

fairly simple development that can remove the need to remember multiple passwords, log-ins, and usernames. All it needs

now is to recruit more partners and promote the message correctly to end users. In an age where price/cost rules decision

making, capabilities like this are what consumers want and will appreciate from their service providers.

Security Is Coming to the Fore John Devlin, Practice Director

There were a number of companies focusing on security at MWC. Several have been there before in various guises and

consist of software only or additional hardware. Some focus on content distribution and management, while others focus

on communication. What they demonstrate between them is that security is coming to the fore. In this respect, I refer

to my earlier comment that end users do not care how it works, just that it works and is secure! As we inevitably move

to a mobile-dominated world, with more connectivity and more apps/smartphones, the threat of a breach harming

consumer confidence and the risk to end-user personal and financial data grows almost exponentially. As a result,

vendors are working hard to address this issue in advance of any such breach, to ensure that the potential vulnerabilities

are closed before they can be exploited.


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The different approaches employed raise some questions. At the moment, not many are truly ubiquitous. MobileConnect

is one such move, benefitting the user experience, as well as improving security at the same time. Others, based on after -

market sales with dedicated hardware appear to be slightly niche. Not every device can incorporate a microSD and,

often, such add-on products target only a section of the market, be it end-user demographic (e.g., enterprise users) or

specific applications (e.g., data encryption).

Meanwhile, others, such as the new Blackphone from Silent Circle and Geeksphone (a skinned Android device with

software-focused security down to the kernel) offer dedicated, secure smartphones. However, it is not a cheap or mass

market device and is, therefore, also a niche (albeit attractive) solution. What I particularly liked about the Blackphone

was the level of control that it gave users, allowing control and manipulation of individual applications and the data

that they could access (and transmit).

Two approaches that I did like and see as more ubiquitous were from new companies (with very established parents).

ElevenPaths, owned by Telefonica, has several solutions (Faast, Metashield, and Latch) that improve security on

handsets, PCs, and networks for both enterprise users and consumers. Between them, they enable quicker detection,

improved reaction, and greater control and privacy.

Similarly, Trustonic (with ARM, Gemalto, and G&D as parents) is proceeding at strength, licensing its TEE

technology and OS to a quickly growing number of partners. What I particularly like about this is that it can run

on almost any device with a processor based on an ARM core, which includes most smartphones. It adds an extra

level of security to a device, creating a secure area on the application processor where approved/licensee s

applications can reside and it can work as a standalone solution or in tandem with others, such as an SE.

So, security is coming, and while most consumers may not know about it, it is coming. And that is a good thing because,

usually, the only time consumers know and worry about security is when it does not work!

M2M and IoT Dan Shey, Practice Director

MWC 2014 was the first year that M2M and IoT was a central theme, regardless of the industry or product segment. It

also highlighted the contrasts in industry approaches to IoT and the M2M market.

SAP probably represents the company with the most realistic view on IoT, mobile, and the value of these technologies

to enterprise. First, it believes that the IoT is about making business processes better, reducing costs, and solving real

world issues, as highlighted by its crane collision sensor solution (the density of cranes in Dubai is high, and based on

land area). It is also realistic with its go-to-market strategy, which is to focus much of its efforts on its existing customer

base. Deutsche Telecom is another player pushing very practical solutions, such as Smart Port Logistics currently used

by the Hamburg Port Authority, and street lighting management solutions.

Libelium represented the aspirational aspects of the IoT at MWC. In fact, Libelium CEO, Alicia Asín Pérez, stated

that the businesses today need less education on the IoT and more inspiration. The intent being that the tools and

services are available to create any application and businesses just need to start dreaming of the possibilities. Cisco’s

“fog computing” is another example of a vision for the IoT. In this case, fog computing is a n etwork-centric concept,

but based on pushing intelligence at the network edge and closer to the IoT application.

Finally, traditional enterprise mobility companies were ramping up their IoT message as well. Tablets used in digital

signage and POS are considered the nexus for merging the enterprise mobility ecosystem with the M2M/IoT ecosystem.

However, AirWatch is already managing less traditional devices, including printers, wearables, and device sleds. Intel’s

Device Protection Technology and similar efforts by chipset suppliers and OS vendors will only broaden the IoT

opportunity for the enterprise mobility market. Expect to see device OEMs and OS vendors start their foray into the


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IoT, as well in the coming years with digital white goods as a target signaling the crossover of the enterprise and

consumer IoT markets.

IoT Network Architectures: Living on the Edge Gets Less Edgy Aapo Markkanen, Senior Analyst

One potentially very transformative trend that came up in several conversations during this year’s MWC is the

evolution of network architectures in the age of the IoT. There is now a strong notion that the increasingly diverse

landscape of connected devices will lead to equally diverse architectures. While the cloud is still attracting most of the

press release headlines, the industry’s pioneers are finding that there are many use cases that cannot be enabled

effectively by relying on a few geographically dispersed data centers. The picture that is starting to emerge is rather

nuanced indeed.

Cisco’s paradigm of “Fog Computing” is, thus far, the most prominent initiative to build local clouds that can run

advanced data analytics at the network edge. To deliver on this paradigm, the company has come up with IOx, a new

OS that has been purpose-built for handling sensor data close to its source. The form of analytics that this approach

results in could perhaps be best described as “edge analytics.” Contextual awareness is one major use case that lends

itself well to edge analytics. Contextually aware vehicles, for instance, rely on large volumes of geographically

proximate data being processed shortly after their capture, so there is a strong case for employing distributed

architectures.

During MWC, Cisco and SAP were demoing their collaborative take on smart cranes, powered by anti-collision software

from SK Solutions, and it seemed clear that, in such deployments, an intelligent network edge will often be a critical

enabler. Intelligent transport systems and other smart city verticals, along with smart buildings, are examples of further

areas where distributing the intelligence to the edge will make particular sense. At the same time, expect edge analytics

to have a synergetic crossover with mesh networking, as a way to allow resilient and low-latency data capture in various

hard-to-cover environments.

In the meantime, applications that are not latency-sensitive and may even benefit from the centralization of business

processes are likelier to be served better by more pronouncedly cloud-centric architectures. Predictive maintenance,

usage-based pricing, and product-service lifecycle management are examples of IoT use cases that are likely to rely on

the cloud more than most. In such cases, the captured data sets do not really need to be dealt with on the spot, beyond

possible data filtering, and the deploying enterprises tend to have centralized analytic teams to act on the generated

insights.

Your Next Big IoT Driver: De-arrested Development Aapo Markkanen, Senior Analyst

You may not be hearing it here first, but it is obvious that developers are about to become the hottest stakeholders in

the IoT space; yes, those mythical, ever-elusive developers who, in the technology industry (or, better, “space”),

always seem to be everywhere without being anywhere particular. The software developers were the ones who created

most of the value in the smartphone industry, and everyone that has skin in the IoT game is hoping that they will

also display similar value-creating tendencies in this world where software meets hardware.

It is worth noting that, in this context, the term “developer” refers to individuals or groups of individuals that engage in

varyingly experimental and speculative design work that may or may not lead to a commercial product. It is important

to understand that, while some developers are professionals in an established organization, with a reasonably clear idea

of what their end goal is, for many other developers, the activity is of a much more casual nature. Developers can differ

greatly by their level of commitment, resources, and motives, so it is crucial that the companies that wish to engage

with them aim to keep the barriers to entry as low as possible. Many developers drift in and out of the “developer


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community” as their circumstances change, so platforms, kits, engines, or however one wants to call these enablement

tools, have to be flexible enough to support such creative nomadism.

When the IoT still equaled M2M, the developers were as good as absent from the industry’s visions of value creation.

Barriers to entry were high, so developing an M2M “service” required a business case, a business model, or at least a

business. Perhaps paradoxically, that omnipresence of business ultimately translated into disappointingly little

business, for it proved a poor fit for the sort of nomadically experimental speculative designs that turned iOS and

Android into proper ecosystems, at least in the most jargonistic sense of the word.

Fast-forward to 2014 and you can sense a change in the wind. We are no longer dealing only with the telco-centric point

solutions of M2M, but are seeing the physical domain being brought into the digital one in a much more horizontal and

inclusive manner.

The sightings of digitally inclined “makers,” Quantified Self aficionados, data crowdsourcers, and other archetypical IoT

characters has demonstrated that, with enough effort and creativity, the physical-digital convergence can nowadays be

done on a small scale without hordes of system integrators. Depending on the project, this first-wave of IoT developers has

typically turned to enablers like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Waspmote (of the Libelium family), or Xively (née Pachube),

which have been accessible and flexible use by design.

Significantly, the early buzz has convinced a number of larger technology groups that, in order to become relevant in

the IoT, they will have to become relevant to the interested developers. On one hand, leading M2M module vendors are

addressing the opportunity, with Gemalto having launched its Cinterion Concept Board and Sierra Wireless its Legato

platform. On other hand, chipset makers are also making moves, with Broadcom offering the WICED platform and

Intel the Galileo development kit to the community.

These types of initiatives are much needed to allow developers to try out which concepts can fly and which cannot. For

the vendors themselves, these bets are not going to pay off commercially anytime soon, but should not be seen as a

cause of concern. The vendors’ priority, for the time being, is to become relevant to the grassroot innovators and build

up mindshare. The trickles of innovation may, then, bring in a flow of money.

Mobility Announcements: Samsung Jason McNicol, Senior Analyst

MWC 2014 has come and gone with a bang. As expected, there were quite a few enterprise mobility announcements,

ranging from partnerships to new product launches. Listed below are three key takeaways from various announcements.

Samsung was one of the more vocal companies at MWC 2014 and continued its aggressive push toward ente rprise

mobility. ABI Research counted 13 total announcements directly related to enterprise mobility; 12 were partnership

focused and the other was about Knox 2.0 enhancements.

Most of the announcements were targeted toward improving Knox. Examples include partnership with Accenture to

quickly develop and deploy apps, Green Hills Software for a virtualized Knox solution, Good Technology integration

with Knox to offer a more secure workspace, and Trustonic to offer a hardware-isolated foundation for Knox. With

these partnerships, Knox is now a tiered security offering with the standard offering in Trustonic, moderate security

with Good Technology integration, and an advanced virtualization solution with Green Hills.

It is no surprise that the Samsung announcements focused primarily on security, as the company looks to overcome early

struggles associated with Knox 1.0 security flaws.


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Takeaway: Samsung continues its aggressive push in the enterprise trying to displace both BlackBerry and Apple.

Knox 2.0 has various security layers and with a new architecture in place makes it easier to manage the corporate

workspace and apps residing in it.

Oracle Announcing Mobile Security Suite Jason McNicol, Senior Analyst

One announcement, in particular, that stayed below the radar, but was very significant was Oracle announcing Mobile

Security Suite. Oracle Mobile Security Suite is an application and user-centric approach to enterprise mobility. Key

features include Oracle Apps, Oracle Mobile Platform, and Oracle Mobile Security, with Mobile Security, including a

workspace management solution separating both work and personal profiles. Mobile Security is a corporate sandbox

residing on the mobile device and uses app tunneling, so data is protected in motion and at rest on the device.

This announcement is quite interesting, considering many believed Oracle would improve its EMM/MDM offering via

acquisition of MobileIron or Good Technologies. The market believed this would occur, considering the line of

acquisitions that occurred in the two prior years: SAP and Sybase, Citrix and Zendesk, IBM and Fiberlink, and, most

recently, VMware and AirWatch. Unless Oracle Mobile Security Suite has some serious shortcomings and/or the

customer base fails to grow, HP looks to be the next candidate to purchase MobileIron or Good Technology.

Takeaway: Oracle is taking a different route to enterprise mobility by launching its own internally developed

solution. This should benefit Oracle, as time will not be lost integrating a new platform to existing systems; enterprise

mobility is growing rapidly and time will not be wasted on integration, focusing instead on innovation and growth.

Intel Announced Device Protection Technology Jason McNicol, Senior Analyst

Lastly, Intel announced Device Protection Technology, which is a hardened Android security solution. Devices with

Intel DPT and Android 4.4. will have access to robust enterprise manageability, secure boot, on-device encryption,

policy-based data leakage protection, proactive malware protection, and a corporate container to separate personal and

corporate profiles. Support for Intel DPT will be provided by AirWatch, Citrix, and McAfee Mobile Security. Intel DPT

will be offered in tablets first with no mention of when services will be made available in smartphones.

Intel DPT is fairly significant considering new security solutions have emerged trying to ingrain greater security

features closer to the hardware layer. More importantly, Intel is the first SoC vendor to offer standard security

features into the chip itself, thus, bypassing other software solutions.

Takeaway: Security on mobile devices is becoming more ingrained within the software or hardware. Intel has taken

a step that should ease the burden on OEMs to offer secure enterprise devices, regardless if corporate or personally

owned.

Android Device Lethargy and Firefox at US$25 Nick Spencer, Senior Practice Director

There were several noteworthy device, application, and content announcements this year. Android devices are a dime a

dozen these days and it is hard to get excited about yet another launch. Even the vendors themselves are struggling to

maintain a veneer of excitement at the launches ABI Research has recently attended. To combat this lethargy, vendors

like Huawei are launching whole families of devices across the different form factors, as they did at MWC where it

unveiled five new 4G LTE devices, two small tablets, a new smartphone, a MiFi device, and a fitness tracker in

Barcelona. Huawei is clearly also trying to build out its hardware ecosystem, just as Samsung has done.


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Most tellingly, in terms of Android device lethargy, was the fact that the news that Firefox had launched a device in

partnership with reference design chipmaker Spreadtrum, costing a mere US$25 grabbed all the headlines. Of course,

this is a noteworthy and fairly remarkable achievement, but what was strange was that it was largely overloo ked that

Spreadtrum had done exactly the same with Android, ensuring no competitive advantage for Firefox’s OS. It should

be added that this was not a commercially available device and it remains to be seen if this kind of price point

actually hits the consumer market.

ABI Research had some hands-on experience with the device and it appeared, on brief first impressions, to be a good

user experience and certainly a big improvement on the first Firefox devices showcased at last year’s MWC. Firefox is

being heavily promoted by certain mobile carriers (especially Telefonica) and the GSMA, but the window of opportunity

is short, at best, when you consider that Android is quickly, even immediately, able to match the price points, despite

the low processing requirements of Firefox. This is due to Android’s near complete domination of the low-cost

smartphone supply chain via chipset makers MediaTek and Spreadtrum. This, in turn, is due to Android’s economies of

scale, being open-source and free.

OS diversity would be healthy for the balance of the mobile industry, but it remains an uphill struggle as the

industry continues to consolidate and entrench. It is difficult to compete in a race when you start years after the

starting gun.

Wearable: Hype Continues to Exceed Reality Nick Spencer, Senior Practice Director

As with CES, MWC 2014 was dominated by the subject of wearables. More specifically, the industry seems to have

settled on fitness and activity tracking as the killer application that will create the demand and , therefore, the

installed base to make wearables an interesting product category. For example, the Samsung Gear Fit won best in

show, despite not having GPS integrated or being accessible to third-party app developers via an SDK or even

transferring heart rate data to a Galaxy smartphone.

Samsung must be complimented on the curved glass screen quality (as you might expect) and design improvements

achieved in these devices, as well as a step in the right direction in terms of functionality by focusing on activity and

fitness, rather than the uncompelling smart notifications on Gear1. The 4 GB of memory also enables usage as a music

device. Samsung was not forthcoming with any pricing data, but it is likely the Gear Fit will cost between US$150 and

US$199 and Gear2 and Neo near US$250 when it launches on April 11, 2014.

Significantly, all three devices only work with Samsung Galaxy devices on Android 4.3. This is a clear attempt by

Samsung to increase its hardware ecosystem lock-in, in lieu of an OS (note that Tizen is not yet an ecosystem of any

consumer value) and developer ecosystem.

Samsung claims the Gear Fit has 3 to 5 days of battery life, a slight improvement on the Samsung Galaxy Gear2

and Gear Neo at 2 to 3 days, and certainly better than the ill -conceived Gear1 at just 1 day, but still short of the

necessary 7 days that ABI Research feels is necessary to remove battery life as a barrier to purchase. An open, or

perhaps we should say advanced, OS is also a necessity to ensure that the use case continues to develop and evolve

beyond the current limitations of proprietary point solutions prevalent in the market today.

The fact that the Samsung Gear Fit won best in show, despite being closed both in hardware and software, lacking GPS,

or having any independence from a smartphone does not reflect well on the smartwatch category as it stands. ABI

Research has spoken to a range of component vendors in the wearables space and we expect significant improvements

over the course of 2014, fingers crossed.


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Attack of the Big Smartphone Drones Joshua Flood, Senior Analyst

A plethora of new smartphones was released in MWC last month. Samsung, Sony, and a number of other Tier One and

Tier Two vendors released new devices. What struck me the most was the very little differentiation between each

handset. The majority of the new smartphones are simple rectangular slate glass devices.

It could be argued that Nokia’s Lumia series is one of the leading models because it is marketed heavily based upon

its color. In a briefing with the Finish headquarter handset vendor, it was stated that its yellow hand sets were

actually the bestselling devices in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Consumers want differentiation and something

that is unique and best represents them. The other smartphone vendors do sell different colored handsets;

nevertheless, vendors should move away from black as standard. HTC launched the Desire 816 in a number of

colors and the iPhone 5c set a similar precedent.

Also, while reviewing the device portfolios on the Tier Two vendors stands, many of them Chinese, it is striking how the

gap between Tier Two low-cost handsets and the high-end premium tier handsets has narrowed in the past 2 years, in

both specification and quality. This is a sign of commoditization and a real concern for the industry as it tries to

maintain innovation and value and, therefore, ASPs and margin.

One other factor that can be taken from the show is the clear guidance of vendors illustrating smartphone value by

display size. The majority of low-end smartphone models have the smallest display and, thus, the value of the

smartphone or where it sits in the vendor’s portfolio increases with the size of the device’s display. The phablet trend

has become an ultimate benchmark for quality or price, so to speak; a somewhat crude metric valuation system, but

effective and simple for consumers to understand. The question will be how much farther can smartphone vendors

incrementally increase their flagship smartphone displays? Samsung may be in a slight pickle, as its Samsung Note

series, the third edition is a 5.7-inch display phablet device, which is on the small size compared to some of its other

rivals.

The key takeaway this year for smart devices is health. After being given special dispensation to enter the Samsung

Galaxy S5 lair set aside for “press only” and also attending a number of smartphone launches, the key focus on the

user’s health and quantified self will be the resounding theme for 2014. There were some new quirky features on

cameras, such as augmented reality, and faster charging capabilities, but these types of features should be expected as

standard in new smartphone upgrades. The bulk of the wearable devices shipped last year were health- and fitness-

related, and smartphone vendors are cashing in on the action. Your steps per day, distance traveled, and general

activity levels over the course of a day/week/month/year will become very apparent. Prepare for your smartphone and

smartwatches to evolve into your personal trainer.

Writing on the subject of health and wearable devices, the popularity of fitness and activity trackers is becoming

apparent. As an industry analyst, sitting on vendor telephone briefing, face to face interviews, press releases, data -

centric statements, and quarterly and yearly financial results are the elixir of our lives. In 90% of my meeting s,

someone or several people were wearing activity trackers—smart band or clip-on. These types of devices have moved

beyond the niche of fitness fanatics to the everyday person. One person told me that he competes with his wife on a

daily basis and she usually trumps him.

Expect the innovation in this market to happen with heart monitoring capabilities in the next generation of activity

trackers, as highlighted in Samsung’s latest Gear Fit, a hybrid of a smartwatch and activity tracker. The product won the

best gadget award at the event. However, why it does not contain GPS is still a mystery to me and a few other of my

analyst peers. Fitbit, the largest seller of activity trackers globally, claims its next “Flex” model will have heart rate

monitoring capabilities and will also receive notifications from a person’s smartphone. The dilemma, I imagine, for this

solution will be whether vendors choose an infra-red light solution (like Samsung) or microphone solution for heart rate or


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pulse collection. Speaking to a well-known and highly regarded semiconductor vendor, I was informed that a microphone

solution could be six times more energy efficient than an infra-red solution. The Gear Fit’s battery life is estimated to last

between 3 and 4 days. A microphone solution could have augmented this significantly.

Modems Are Ready for Enabling 300 Mbps Mobile Broadband Services Malik Saadi, Practice Director

Modems were one of the major trends discussed this year. The first generation of LTE carrier aggregation is deployed by

only a handful of operators thus far, enabling users to enjoy up to 150 Mbps bandwidth, but key chipset suppliers are

already stretching their muscles for the next-generation modems that will enable speeds of up to 300 Mbps, namely Cat6

basebands. Yes, at MWC this year, virtually all the leading players were vocal about their progress in achieving this

goal. Huawei, ZTE, and Samsung have gone one step further by announcing the first commercial products based on this

technology, namely:

Huawei E5686, a Wi-Fi 802.11ac mobile hotspot backhauled by LTE, enabling mobile broadband connectivity to

up to 10 users. A variant of this device will be used by Telstra in Austria under the name of Advanced Pro X.

ZTE Flare, a dual band Wi-Fi 802.11ac backhauled by LTE, enabling mobile broadband connectivity to up to 32

users. The device is powered by Qualcomm’s Gobi 9x35 and is expected to be available by the end of 2014. ZTE is

conducting early tests over CSL network in Hong Kong.

Samsung demoed a cat 6 over a special variant of its Galaxy Note 3, using Qualcomm Gobi 9x35 modem. It is

understood that this device will initially run on SK Telecom network only.

At the show, Qualcomm announced its first commercial LTE cat-6 platform based on Gobi 9x35 modem and its RF

transceiver WTR3925. The chip is targeted at computing devices with embedded connectivity including notebooks,

tablets, and Wi-Fi LTE mobile hotspots. The company is already shipping this chip to key clients with commercial

products anticipated for the end of the year.

Intel also revealed its first LTE cat-6 at the show, XMM™ 7260, which supports up to 17 LTE FDD bands and 5 TDD

bands in a single SKU. The company is confident this will be shipping in the second half of 2014 with multiple design

wins in the pipeline.

Broadcom was another chip maker showing its LTE cat-6 muscles. The company said it managed to successfully test a

reference design smartphone using its LTE cat-6 technology over the commercial LTE network of the Finish operator

Elisa. The test was conducted by aggregating 20 MHz channel in Band 3 (1800 MHz) and another 20 MHz in Band 7

(2600 MHz).

MediaTek, Nvidia, and Marvell were less vocal about Cat-6 at the show.

This development simply shows that some chipset manufacturers are well ahead of the game, as they are already

preparing their LTE cat-6 platforms, while operators are not yet launching commercial networks that will allow users to

enjoy the 300 Mbps promised by Cat-6 modems. ABI Research does not expect the first commercial services offering 300

Mbps bandwidth before 2015; an exception to this rule is Korea where 150 Mbps services are already deployed and

operators in the region are preparing for the launch of 300 Mbps.

ABI Research is conducting detailed research on carrier aggregation and the role of terminal modems in enabling high-

speeds mobile broadband services. The research will be published in 2Q 2014, so stay tuned.


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Chipset Manufacturers Widening their Ambitions for Mobile Turnkey Designs Malik Saadi, Practice Director

The message was clear at MWC this year. The ownership of the reference design is no longer a key differentiator for

OEMs in the mass market, but is becoming a trump card for chipset manufacturers.

The emergence of reference design programs by chipset suppliers, MediaTek, Spreadtrum, and Qualcomm, in particular,

have enabled a number of small vendors to compete in the lowest tier of the mobile phone market, notably in China and

India. These reference designs enabled these vendors to quickly introduce competitive devices at relatively low price

points.

On the other hand, Tier One OEMs have long resisted delegating reference designs to chipset suppliers, as they see it as

an integral part of their brand. However, the fierce competition coming from the small vendors is now forcing Tier One

OEMs to change their strategy and consider using third-party reference designs, especially in the cost-sensitive segments

of the market. Nokia, Samsung, HTC, LG, Huawei, and ZTE have already started to use this approach, mainly for

products targeted at emerging markets.

Chipset manufacturers have now entered into the second phase of their turnkey business models, which is addressing the

mass market, rather than focusing on the low-cost segment of the market.

At MWC, Qualcomm said it will extend its QRD program to support its 600 family of chipsets targeting the mid-range

segment of the market. The QRD versions of Snapdragon 610 and 615 chipsets are expected to be available in 4Q 2014.

These chipsets are packed with innovative technologies, including support of 64-bit processing, LTE cat-4 generation

enabling broadband speed of up to 150 Mbps, display resolution up to 2560x2048, full HD video capture, up to 21

Megapixel (MP) camera, Bluetooth Low Energy, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and IZat GNSS navigation. Qualcomm will also

extend its QRD to support Microsoft Windows OS.

MediaTek is following the same path. At the show, the company announced its MT6752, a new mobile platform

targeting the mid-range of the smartphone and tablet markets. The chip is expected to ship in 3Q 2014 and an attached

reference design is expected to be available in 4Q 2014. The chip will come with 64-bit processing, an Octa-core

processor, support for LTE cat-4, Full HD video play back, up to 16 MP camera up to 16 MP, and MediaTek MiraVision

technology.

Broadcom also introduced a turnkey design at the show with the goal of helping vendors rapidly create a competitive

portfolio of LTE devices targeting sub-US$300 price points. This design platform will support the company’s dual-core

and quad-core processors, LTE cat-4, HD display, and Broadcom’s 5G Wi-Fi technology. This turnkey design is

expected to be available in 2H 2014.

Intel said it will help OEMs build phones based on the latest technologies the company offers, but wil l not offer turnkey

designs beyond the Chinese market, at least in the immediate term.

All technologies that will be featured in the next-generation turnkey designs announced at MWC are today available

only in the high-end segment of the smartphone market. So, expect the price war affecting the low-cost of the market to

extend to the mid-range and high-end segments of the market next year.

In the low-cost part of the smartphone market, turnkey designs were also a hot topic, with Spreadtrum aiming to bring

Mozilla-powered smartphones to below a US$25 price point. Nokia also revealed its Nokia X, a new series of low-cost

smartphones powered by Android open-source code and using Qualcomm reference design. The first Nokia X will sell for

US$122, but the company is expected to launch several other models targeting price points as low as US$70.


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64-bit Mobile Processors, Genuine Innovation, or Just “Me Too” Strategy? Malik Saadi, Practice Director

Marvell, MediaTek, Qualcomm, Intel, and Nvidia, all announced their first 64-bit processors at MWC this year, but

compliant Android devices are not expected before the release of the next update of this OS.

Interestingly, the overwhelming majority of 64-bit mobile chips announced so far are targeted at the mid-range of the

Android market and not the high-end part of it. An exception to this is Nvidia, which aims to address the high-end

segment of the market with the 64-bit variant of its Tegra K1.

There are some striking similarities between Marvell, MediaTek, and Qualcomm chips, such as they are all using ARM

Cortex A53 and they are all targeting the mid-range segment of the market. This simply means that a number of

vendors will initially be using 64-bit as a catchy marketing strategy to easily communicate differentiation using the

“more-is-better” adage previously used for promoting performance in the multi-core processor race.

This is not to say that 64-bit processing will not add any significant advantage to the Android sphere, but the

benefits of this technology will become apparent only when its implementation over Android matures. ABI Research

believes this could take another year before seeing 64-bit processors bringing superior performance to Android

devices.

ABI Research has dedicated a thorough study on 64-bit mobile processing, so stay tuned for more information on the

key findings in that report.

CSR’s Mesh Bluetooth Philip Solis, Research Director

The Bluetooth market was a noteworthy topic of discussion. One of the areas where Bluetooth has a lot of potential to

expand into is the home automation market.

Products for this market run the wireless connectivity gamut, from Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to ZigBee and more

proprietary technologies like Z-Wave. To reach across a home, you need the range of Wi-Fi or the mesh networking

capabilities of ZigBee and Z-Wave. Bluetooth seems to have neither. However, the range limitation of 10 meters is a

myth. The technology can, like Wi-Fi, scale back its QAM and reduce its data rate and increase its range. Of course,

power consumption could be an issue at longer ranges. Future versions of Bluetooth will include the IP stack, allowing

for the formation of star and mesh networks.

At MWC, CSR announced a Bluetooth chip capable of mesh networking. This is significant in that it brings forward the

availability of Bluetooth chips that can mesh networks for the home automation market. Other vendors will likely

follow soon. This will perpetuate the uncertainty of technologies used for the home automation market. And Bluetooth-

enabled devices still have the option of being controlled directly by a mobile device. This is not required, because ZigBee

hubs connect all ZigBee products to the cloud, until an Internet connection outage or power outage.

Wilocity’s WiGig Chip for Mobile Devices Philip Solis, Research Director

WiGig has been set to explode ever since the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to align WiGig with 802.11ad and absorb the WiGig

Alliance. WiGig adoption by OEMs has been a little slow so far, with mostly Dell driving shipments into laptops and

tablets using chipsets from Wilocity. Shipments vastly increased this year. At MWC, Wilocity announced its Wil6300

chipset for mobile devices. ABI Research has long forecasted a big jump in WiGig shipments in 2015, because of its

inclusion into mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. Wilocity’s announcement that it will have these chipsets


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ready by 2H 2014, and possibly shipping by the end of this year, means that the WiGig ramp up that will occur in 2015

will be a reality.

All it takes is a one or two key vendors to include a technology in key flagship devices for the technology to suddenly

take off. A phone with an application processor/platform that can support 4k UHD video is already a reality and soon

they will be able to transmit that video to displays without cables. Expect docking of smartphones and laptops to

become more interesting.

5G Announcements Are Still Vague Philip Solis, Research Director

There is not too much to say about 5G after MWC. The usual mobile network vendors had 5G demos, as did Intel. But

all of these demos are still focused around the RF side required to support 5G. None of them get into the meat of what

5G is. None of these companies has taken a stance on the key technologies they think will be included. Since ABI

Research has a good idea of what a 5G baseband will be and what some of the key technologies that will make up 5G

standards in the future will be, these companies must as well. However, they are likely in a phase at the moment where

they are in between playing it safe, so they do not risk seeming like they are going down the wrong path—and holding

their cards close to their vest—not letting on to the direction they think 5G is taking.

This will not last for long. Companies will likely have less than a year to play it this safe. The only key technology they

all agree on is one that ABI Research sees as being key: beamforming. For 5G to add a spatial dimension to mobile

communications within cells, they require 3D beamforming. This will allow cells to communicate with multiple devices

on the same frequency band and channel at the same time.

MWC 2014: Automotive and Location Dominique Bonte, Vice President and Practice Director

The connected car was omnipresent at this year’s edition of MWC with the Car Connectivity Consortium

(CCC)/MirrorLink (Honda, VW, Toyota, HTC, Fujitsu), Volvo Sensus Connect (Ericsson, Connected City), Ford (SYNC

apps, autonomous research vehicle), and GM as some of the main announcements and displays. The connected car was

the third highest Twitter trending topic (behind the IoT and wearables). MWC is clearly catching up with CES with

regard to the focus on the connected car. More generally, it seems that MWC is at a crossroads, making the transition

from a pure mobile/cellular show to a broad ICT event, combining mobile, data, IT, and enterprise, something of a mix

between CTIA and CES.

This trend is also illustrated by coverage of non-cellular technologies, such as Ford’s ADAS suite and Lidar-based

autonomous research vehicle and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon automotive-grade solution’s dual-stream 802.11ac Wi-Fi and

Bluetooth 4.1 QCA6574 chipset offering DSRC-based V2V connectivity. This fitted into the wider discussion about how

far cellular can be stretched as the key enabling IoE connectivity technology versus using alternative lower cost and low-

power protocols, such as BLE and white spaces.

At the same time, the role of the connected car in the wider intelligent transportation, smart cities, and the IoT

environment starts being understood better, though many vendors still fail to see the bigger picture, demonstrating a

lack of vision on the new IoT value chains and economy. Volvo was a notable exception with its Roam Delivery

service concept, based on On Call digital keys, a great example of new synergies between automotive and other

verticals. Smart cities was a key topic with the Connected City exhibition area and major announceme nts and demos

from IBM, AT&T, Cisco, and DT. ABI Research moderated the smart cities session with JDSU, HP, Eitsalat,

Telstra, and the city of Barcelona.


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Other noteworthy automotive news included:

Audi winning the 2014 Connected World Award for its Gemalto/Cinterion-enabled 4G infotainment system

Ficosa/Oberthur showing instant SIM/carrier profile switching for Russia’s ERA GLONASS emergency calling

mandate based on a Sierra Wireless module

Moving “radar” weather maps on Gokivo navigation from Telecommunication Systems (TCS)

Ruggedized Bridge fleet management tablet from TomTom

On the location front, multi-band (combo) GNSS chipsets from Broadcom and Mediatek and indoor location

technologies reigned, with Broadcom showing sub-meter Wi-Fi-based positioning based on timestamps and Polestar

supplying the indoor location platform for the venue. Location innovation centers around retail technologies and low-

power solutions for wearables. Retail clearly is gathering momentum, moving up the ranking list of promising IoT

verticals. Finally, pedestrian navigation is now making its way into wearables, with solutions like Garmin’s Xperia

Edition navigation app for the Sony Smartwatch 2.


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Contributors

Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer

Dominique Bonte, Vice President and Practice Director

Nick Spencer, Senior Practice Director

Joe Hoffman, Practice Director

Dan Shey, Practice Director

John Devlin, Practice Director

Malik Saadi, Practice Director

Philip Solis, Research Director

Nick Marshall, Principal Analyst

Aapo Markkanen, Senior Analyst

Jason McNicol, Senior Analyst

Joshua Flood, Senior Analyst


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Published March 10, 2014

©2014 ABI Research

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