Semiconductor market would see consecutive decline in annual revenues

Hard-pressed semiconductor industry would be registering consecutive fall in annual revenues for the first time in its history, as per Gartner’s forecast.

According to Gartner, 2009 worldwide semiconductor revenues would be 16.3% less to £14.7bn ($21.2bn), than revenues in 2008. This decline was 4.4% during 2007-2008. Read more

Apple fixes security bug in iPhone

A serious security bug detected in the iPhone has been fixed by Apple in its latest firmware update.
The flaw was discovered by the German Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT). The flaw could enable tricking of user, via an email link, to take over the dialling capabilities of the iPhone, calling any premium-rate number while disabling the handset user controls to stop the call.

According to Fraunhofer SIT researcher, Collin Mulliner, the security bug in iPhone was small but could impact in a big way by enabling calling of arbitrary phone numbers via a website. Acting quickly on the information, Apple released 2.2 version of iPhone firmware. The security enhancement, bearing ID CVE-2008-4233, is meant to fix the bug.

Describing the bug, Apple explained that a call gets placed if an application is launched through Safari with display of call-approval dialogue. This can allow a malicious website to initiate phone call independent of user. Also, under certain circumstances, the maliciously created website could disable a user from deactivating dialling for a short time.

Apple complimented Collin Mulliner for reporting the flaw and stated that its update fixes the flaw by disabling Safari’s call-approval dialogue if an application is launched via Safari. Apple so far has addressed 12 flaws in 2.2 version of iPhone firmware. The firmware update has new features such as Google Street View.

Telcos may take IPTV shelter to fight mobile-broadband

According to market research firm Informa Telecoms & Media, hiring an IPTV service seemed to be a strategy for telcos to prevent their customers from switching over to mobile-broadband and abandoning fixed lines.

Telecoms watchdog Ofcom in its ‘International Communications Market 2008’ report stated that 15% of UK homes were mobile-only last year, accounting for a 2% rise on the year before. Ofcom is expecting that economic downturn and rise of mobile broadband would give people fat-pipe access without requiring a landline to further reduce its uptake.

Julian Herbert, principal Informa analyst while addressing the Informa Mobile Broadband & TV Industry Outlook conference claimed that telcos were beginning to realise that it was not possible to live without IPTV.

Herbert cited the case in the Austrian market where fixed-line usage was gradually declining in the past 3 years but ‘bottomed out’ by end of 2007 soon after the relaunch of an IPTV service by Telekom Austria. IPTV had direct impact on the rate of fixed-line reduction and incremental increase in overall revenue, claimed Herbert.

He also claimed that IPTV reduces line loss and churn, and telco community was getting more and more interested in IPTV. The analyst informed that there were more than 100 IPTV deployments across the world and the number would continue to grow.

IT spending growth slowing down?

IDC, the industry analyst firm, is modifying its yearly forecast on the IT budgets of companies across the world. Owing to the financial crisis all over the world, the firm expects the total spending on technology by enterprise companies to grow by a mere 2.6 per cent next year as compared to 2008. Before the late-September Wall Street meltdown, IDC had predicted a worldwide spending growth rate of 5.9 percent. In the US, the growth expected was 4.2 percent growth. But after the meltdown, IDC is revising that to just 0.9 percent.

Companies like Cisco, Dell, Nortel and others have already indicated that they are expecting IT spending to drop. Hardware, with the exception of storage, will be the hardest hit by the spending cutbacks. However, software and services will be relatively safer.

Region wise, spending in Japan, Western Europe, and US will be hit the hardest. Emerging markets in regions like Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America will still encounter very healthy growth, as per the new forecast. The firm said that it expects IT spending to make “a total recovery” and reach a figure of six per cent growth by 2012.