Engineering R&D to create 1m jobs by 2020: Nasscom

Indian offshore engineering research and development (ER&D) services market is expected to reach $37-45 billion by 2020 and create over one million jobs, software industry body Nasscom said today. 

This exponential growth is a result of flexible business models, short product life cycles and decreasing time to market, Nasscom President Som Mittal said at the two-day Engineering Summit 2012 at Pune. 

"Indian ER&D service has played a pivotal role in accelerating innovation and is establishing India as a design and innovation hub," Mittal said, adding that incremental growth will be driven by newer verticals and markets. 

ER&D exports are estimated to be $10.2 billion, growing year-on-year at 14 per cent and comprising 15 per cent share of the IT-BPO exports. 

Mittal said the domestic Indian ER&D market is expected to add to future growth with infrastructure, automotive, aerospace and energy as well as increasing focus on promoting local manufacturing. 

"To further build on this leadership position, the industry needs to pursue continued efforts to build a high-calibre R&D pool by instilling relevant research aptitudes and capabilities, both from educational and training perspective," Mittal added. 

While the ER&D services industry has been growing by leaps and bounds, certain challenges exist and and require immediate redressal. 

"India needs to sustain its cost competitiveness and fill its absence of linkages to manufacturing capabilities. Also, lack of a formal innovation policy and supporting ecosystem will pose a threat to the budding ecosystem. Collaborative action is required to ensure future growth," he said. 

India is now an emerging epicentre of the global ER&D market with more companies exploiting its supply base for future growth. 

"It is important for major stakeholders of this industry - Indian Government and trade associations to ensure the growth trajectory of the industry and moving it to the next level of product development," Mittal said. 

The theme of the summit is 'Engineering Innovations for a better world' and has focus on key verticals including automotive, robotics, construction, heavy engineering and telecom.

Qi wireless charging: what is it and how does it work in Nokia's Lumia 920?

With the announcement of integrated wireless charging in theLumia 920, Nokia hopes it will be a significant part of the proposition to turn heads from Android and iPhone. But unlike previous examples like the Palm Pre's Touchstone charger, Nokia has joined HTC, Sony, Samsung and others by adopting "Qi", a proprietary interface standard created by the Wireless Power Consortium.

Qi, pronounced "chee", comes from the Chinese symbol meaning energy flow and is designed to provide energy to devices through magnetic induction. This is a similar solution to the system that charges electric toothbrushes. (It's also a valuable and legal two-letter word in Scrabble.)

In simple terms, the base station includes an induction coil that creates an alternating electromagnetic field. Meanwhile, a similar coil within the device is able to pick up this field, convert the energy into current and use it to charge the battery.

After defining the low power (five watts) specification in 2009, the spec was expanded to medium power in 2011, enabling the projection of up to 150 watts -- a significant leap and one Nokia publicly welcomed last month. In reality, the former wattage should be more than enough for a smartphone but it's worth bearing in mind in relation to speculation that a Nokia Lumia tablet could be on the cards some day.

It's also positive news for phone users in that they will be able to charge the device on base stations previously released for other projects -- with the Consortium conveniently announcing that there are now 110 certified examples from 124 members. As Virgin Atlantic and US coffee franchise Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf will be supplying charging stations for public use, these are all positive signs of momentum behind the standard.

Considering the technology has been around for so long, maybe the power of a unified spec among leading manufacturers could provide the tipping point for its mainstream adoption. It wouldn't be the first time in the world of tech after all.

Apple will be like Nokia, RIM in 2 years: Analysts

Asian mobile carriers look set to cash in on the iPhone 5 and its superfast speeds, but the model is not the game-changer that Apple needs if it is to remain top of the heap, analysts said on Thursday.

The phone's use of Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless technology will allow carriers to increase their charges and boost profits as existing users download more content and smartphone non-converts are tempted to take the plunge.

But despite some new software, relatively minor tweaks to the hardware and an operating system that is starting to show its age risk leaving tech titan Apple trailing competitors such as South Korea's Samsung, and Google.

"The new iPhone will be Apple's most successful smartphone to date," said research firm Ovum from Melbourne.

"However, without a redesign of the iOS user experience and underlying software platform in the next two years, Apple will find itself in a position similar to Nokia and RIM... with outdated smartphone platforms."

Kim Hue-jae at Daishin Securities said the main interest in the new iPhone had focussed on its adoption of the fourth-generation LTE network.

"The iPhone shows a significant enhancement only with the fact that it runs on LTE. It will help LTE operators to boost their subscribers," Kim said.

But in Japan, where Apple has 28.7 percent of the large and growing smartphone market, the iPhone is tied to the second and third largest carriers, KDDI and Softbank, neither of which yet runs a compatible 4G LTE network, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

Both companies say they intend to roll out an Apple-friendly LTE network sometime in the autumn, but neither has specified a date. The iPhone 5 hits stores in Japan on September 21, the same day it goes on sale in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Industry leader NTT DoCoMo, which has a stranglehold on about half of the Japanese mobile phone market, does offer a compatible network, but does not sell Apple products.

It is heavily pushing the phones running Google's Android operating system, such as Samsung's Galaxy S III, which has become the smartphone market leader in a number of countries in Asia and the West.

Apple and Samsung have been involved in patent rows around the world and last month the US giant won more than $1 billion in a high-profile court case against its bitter rival.

This week the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was shifting some orders for memory chips for the iPhone from Samsung Electronics to other regional manufacturers but banking giant HSBC said Samsung was unlikely to be badly hurt.

"We believe the iPhone 5 launch will have limited impact to Samsung component businesses and is potentially positive to earnings," it said, adding that Apple's supply chain "diversifications" had been expected.

Smartphones accounted for only 22.5 percent of the Japanese mobile phone market as of March, with the ratio expected to rise in coming years, according to MM Research Institute.

"Just from the promotion point of view, it's easier to sell new products with new functions than existing products," said Daiwa Securities analyst Koki Shiraishi said.

"The launch should make more people aware of the availability of smartphones and reach people who are yet to use them," he said.

But that in itself could cause problems.

The expected spike in demand might lead to production hiccups, said Michito Kimura, senior market analyst at IDC Japan.

"It is possible that supply shortage of major parts, such as semiconductors, may temporarily suppress high-end handsets," including iPhone 5, he said.

Some of Apple's suppliers got a boost from Wednesday's unveiling, with Meiko Electronics, a manufacturer of printed circuit boards, soaring over 10.73 percent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Murata Manufacturing was up 2.85 percent and TDK rose 3.70 percent.

But, said Kang Hyun-gie, an analyst at Solomon Investment & Securities in South Korea, market players were not that impressed.

"Overall, the iPhone 5 was disappointing hardware-wise. The software side seemed a bit promising, but it seems like it isn't good enough to excite investors," he said.