In a country whose best known contribution to global technology may well be the Kalashnikov rifle, a new mobile-phone company once tied to Russia's state-run defense corporation hopes it will have as deep an impact on the world's next generation of smartphones.
Yota Devices is betting on its soon-to-be revealed dual-screen product to break the mold of mobile technology─combining a traditional LCD screen on one side and an electronic-paper display on the other, allowing for seamless information streaming while promising better battery life than the average smartphone.
'We created this to be different,' said the company's 43-year-old chief executive, Vladislav Martynov, while demonstrating a prototype at his sleek Moscow office filled with antique telephones. 'Most phones nowadays are boring─they are just boxes. This is a phone for people who want to be outside that box.'
A team of 35 engineers with a budget of $25 million worked since May to bring the concept into reality, he said.
Yota plans to show the new phone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in February. It is then scheduled to go on sale in Russia by the third quarter of next year before appearing in international markets the following quarter in cooperation with global carriers.
The phone, which doesn't yet have a name, is powered by Google Inc.'s Android software. The cost is expected to be about $500, below the iPhone but in line with other top Android devices.
Breaking into the hugely competitive market is likely to be a tall order for a small newcomer.
'They have a novel idea but an unknown brand,' said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at tech research firm Gartner Inc. 'The phone market is a lot about brand and fashion, so competition will be tough.'
Mr. Martynov acknowledges the challenges, but says his phone offers something new, when major players 'haven't brought a lot of innovation in the past five to six years.' Ms. Milanesi said the phone may find fans as it could 'solve a problem by allowing people to have access to what information they care about most.'
The design will allow users to continuously view all kinds of streaming data in real time─from Twitter feeds to stock market tickers─without having to constantly wake their phones up from sleep mode or quickly drain their batteries.
The innovation lies in the use of the e-paper display, a technology most widely seen on e-book readers such as Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle, which allows an image to be displayed at all times, but only uses power when the picture changes.
Phones with two LCD screens have appeared in Asian markets but have not been greatly successful.
Some companies have created phones with partial e-paper screens, while others have come up with slip-on covers that use the screens.
Mr. Martynov, a sharp-featured, 20-year veteran of software and IT companies, including Microsoft Corp., says the applications are limitless for the e-reader display.
The black and white screen gives users the ability to display pictures of their family or favorite movie star, screen grabs of maps and airplane boarding passes or even weather updates without ever having to touch the phone. The images remain in place even if the phone runs out of power.
The display can also be customized to show surreptitious symbols when a message is received from someone the user would rather keep secret in certain situations.
Other unique elements include a curved display on one-side, using a first-of-its kind rounded glass from Corning Inc., designed to encourage users to always point the e-paper screen up when putting the phone down.
The screen is only partially touch-sensitive, with color and a full touch-screen a possibility for later generations.
'Their product design is totally different, so there will have to be a lot of education that will have to take place. Something so radical could potentially place it on the fringe and they will have to spend a lot to overcome that,' said Ramon Llamas, senior analyst of global mobile phone markets for IDC.
俄
羅斯對全球科技最廣為人知的貢獻可能要屬卡拉什尼科夫沖鋒槍(Kalashnikov)了﹐如今﹐俄羅斯一家新成立的手機公司正希望對全球下一代智能手機的市場產生同樣深遠的影響。這家公司曾附屬於俄羅斯一家國有的防務公司。
Yota Devices
Yota的新款雙屏智能手機
現年43歲的Yota Devices首席執行長馬丁諾夫(Vladislav Martynov)說﹐我們推出這款手機就是為了創造與眾不同的產品﹐在他位於莫斯科的氣派的、擺滿了各式古董手機的辦公室里﹐他向記者展示了一部樣機。他說﹐大多數手機的款式讓人感到乏味﹐無非就是個方塊盒子﹔這款手機是為那些想要擺脫盒子的人準備的。
他說﹐從5月份開始﹐35名工程師組成的團隊用2,500萬美元的預算把這個概念變成了現實。
Yota計劃明年2月份在巴塞羅那的全球移動通訊大會(Mobile World Congress)上展示這款手機﹐明年第三季度開始在俄羅斯銷售這款手機﹐並於接下來的季度與國際運營商合作﹐把手機推向國際市場。
這款手機現在還沒有名字。它搭載的是谷歌(Google Inc. GOOG +0.04% )的安卓(Android)操作系統﹐預計售價在500美元左右。這個價格要低於iPhone的售價﹐但是與其他高端安卓設備的價格不相上下。
對於一家新成立的小公司來說﹐進入這個競爭非常激烈的市場可能不是件容易的事。
行業研究公司Gartner IT +0.85% 的分析師米拉內西(Carolina Milanesi)說﹐他們有一個新穎的想法﹐但是人們對他們的品牌一無所知﹔手機市場重要的是品牌和流行趨勢﹐他們面臨的競爭將會相當殘酷。
馬丁諾夫承認公司面臨著種種挑戰﹐但是他說﹐他的手機會提供一些新的東西﹐而手機市場的主要參與者在過去五到六年並沒有推出許多創新產品。米拉內西說﹐這款手機可能會擁有一些粉絲﹐因為它能夠讓人們獲得他們最關注的信息﹐這就等於為用戶解決了一個問題。
這款手機允許用戶不間斷地實時瀏覽各種信息﹐從推特信息到股市行情﹐用戶不需要總是把手機從睡眠模式喚醒﹐也不會很快把電量耗盡。
這款手機的創新之處在於它的電子墨水屏﹐這種技術廣泛應用於電子書閱讀器上﹐比如亞馬遜(Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +2.58% )的Kindle﹐該技術可以使圖像一直停留在屏幕上﹐只有在屏幕圖像發生變化的時候才會耗電。
亞洲市場上曾經出現過配備兩個LCD屏的手機﹐但銷售狀況不是很好。
一些公司推出了帶有一部分電子墨水屏的手機﹐還有一些公司則推出了滑蓋上安裝了這種屏幕的手機。
馬丁諾夫是一位面部棱角分明、擁有20年軟件和IT公司從業經驗的資深人士﹐他曾在微軟(Microsoft Corp. MSFT +1.72% )供職。他說﹐電子墨水顯示屏的用途是無限的。
電子墨水顯示屏是黑白的﹐用戶可以在屏幕上顯示他們家庭或是最喜歡的電影明星的照片、地圖或登機牌的截圖﹐甚至不需要觸摸手機就可以獲得最新的天氣信息。這些畫面一直呈現在手機屏幕上﹐就算手機的電量耗盡也是一樣。
在用戶不希望短信的發送者被別人知道時﹐這款手機還可以顯示只有用戶自己才能識別的秘密代號。
這款手機的其他獨一無二的設計包括﹐手機一側的曲面顯示屏﹐這種顯示屏使用了康寧公司(Corning Inc. GLW +2.69% )首次推出的球形玻璃﹐這種設計是為了鼓勵用戶在放手機的時候把電子墨水屏幕一側朝上放置。
電子墨水屏只有一部分是觸摸感應的﹐未來的機型可能會採用彩色屏幕和全觸屏。
國際數據公司(International Data Corp)的全球手機市場高級分析師拉瑪斯(Ramon Llamas)說﹐他們的產品設計完全不同﹐所以它需要向人們灌輸許多新的信息﹔這種顛覆性的東西可能會讓這家公司被邊緣化﹐他們將不得不為了克服這一狀況付出很大代價。
LUKAS I. ALPERT
沒有留言:
張貼留言