Wireless Watch 615

Key Issues:

• US cablecos poised to fulfil their wireless potential at last 2
• Qualcomm must join M&A dance to counteract pressures from China 9

Comment:

• Vodafone’s trial brings 5 GHz LTE closer, as WFA plays peacemaker 14
• Android forks surge ahead of new OSs, but Microsoft left in cold 18
• Spirent expands in CEM by targeting urgent VoLTE use case 21
• MagnaCom modulation breakthrough strengthens WiFi’s arm 24
• Opera targets 100m handsets, but still needs a white knight 26
• Gene Amdahl dies, but his ideas live on, even in the IoT 28
• ALU cuts DAS cost and power with compact RF Module 30

M&A Watch:
Cable & Wireless deal may signal change of direction for Liberty 31
4G Watch:
ZTE shows off Distributed MIMO and TDD dual connectivity 32
IoT Watch:
Smart city is a key target for Cisco/Ericsson deal 34
Standards Watch:
Freescale takes early lead in Thread standards process 35
Spectrum Watch:
French operators miss chance to squeeze Free out of 700 MHz band 37
IPR Watch:
Korean probe and Exynos chip will alter Qualcomm/Samsung power balance 39
Devices and Components:
New AirFuel Alliance chases Ossia into remote wireless charging 41