MWC day 2: WAC & a Google attack

Cellco chiefs turned out in force in Barcelona Tuesday to pump the first offerings from WAC (Wholesale Applications Community), the industry’s plan to cash in on mobile apps. They showed off new apps, handset and app stores, although some wondered about the lack of actual developers.

Vodafone boss Vittorio Colao and Telefonica’s Cesar Alierta rounded on Google, with Alierta calling for a “new engagement with content providers” – a not-so-subtle pitch to force more fees out of internet companies.

China Mobile chief Wang Jianzhou sought  handsets with embedded Wi-Fi to cope with the mobile data crunch.

HTC’s Peter Chou was “positive” about Nokia and Microsoft, while AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson put a positive spin on the loss of iPhone exclusivity – all those Apple ads were free publicity, he said.

HTC unveiled its first tablet, the 7-inch Flyer, while Huawei showcased its own 7-inch tablets, priced at around $300, and Nvidia promised a new processor with five times more grunt than its existing Tegra chip.

Product of the day, however, was Gemalto’s Facebook SIM, giving direct access to the social networking site from any phone.



Huawei terminal sales up 54%

Huawei might be known for its networking gear, but its terminal group is also on a roll.

The division, which makes everything from smartphones to video-conferencing units, boosted sales 54% last year to $4.5bn.

Chinese media reports (here and here) say an un-named senior executive told staff at a company Chinese New Year function that unit shipments increased 30% in 2010 to 121mn.

Of these 30mn were smartphones, making the company the fifth biggest Android handset-maker behind Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

The privately-held firm reported full-year earnings of 21bn yuan ($3.2b) on revenue of 149bn in 2009.