News Kirk Skaugen SVP
News Kirk Skaugen SVP Personal Computing, Intel Intel Launches Core M Brand at IFA Intel launches the first commercially available “no-conflict” processor and sends it directly into the battle for mobility. More front-line Intel innovations will fully arm laptops as they fight to win over the world’s 600 million owners of 4-year old laptops. Tado Cares Smart Thermostat company tado° has used IFA 2014 to unveil tado° Care - a free service for new and existing customers. According to tado°, people often forget about their heating systems in summer and don’t know if they have broken down until the temperature turns cold and they try to use them. They then discover it is hard to get hold of engineers. With tado° Care, tado° offers a remote boiler check to all tado° customers every year in late summer and follows up with immediate help in the case of malfunctions. “We want to offer our customers an all-round carefree package for their heating,” says Christian Deilmann, founder & CEO of tado°. “tado° Care again illustrates the power of connected devices.” tado° Care heating support service Six hundred million ageing laptops make an awfully big sales target. Each of those consumers faces a decision very different than the one when they bought their laptop four years ago. And Intel dedicated its IFA press conference to its battle plan to win over those hundreds of millions whose collective decisions may decide the fate of the PC. And it’s no accident that Intel chose IFA as the place to announce Core M, its first processor brand since five years, and the man gun of their battle plan. The 14nm Intel Core M processor package is 50% smaller and, at 4.5 watts, has 60% lower thermal power than the previous generation. This lets OEMs design sleek, fanless systems less than 9 mm thin – thinner than an AAA battery, “Captain” Kirk, leader of the Intel pc enterprise, told his IFA audience the new Intel Core M processor delivers up to 2X the compute performance, up to 7X better graphics compared to a 4-year-old PC, and double the battery life of the average 4-year-old PC. Skaugen showed the audience some of the range of Core M-enabled models from Big brands like Dell, Asus, HP, Acer and Lenovo. Intel pins its hopes on the 2-in-1 “tablet-when-you-need-it, laptopwhen-you-want it” to win over the 600 million who consume and create content. The “multi-year journey to re-invent the notebook” is just one battlefront that Intel is fighting on. Tablets is another. Even desktops are alive and well, insists Intel, suggesting that desktops are evolving down several paths (gaming, workstations, mini PCs, all-in-ones.) To understand how mobility has left no PC untouched, the latest trend Intel is promoting is the desktop known as a “portable all-in-one.” Skaugen sets three missions for Intel. By the end of next year they plan for all their technology to embrace wireless. They want to eliminate the need for passwords. And they hope to bring more 3D (“natural user interface”) to the screen. The New UHD Logo DIGITALEUROPE has developed an Ultra HD logo for the new state-of-the-art video standard, to help consumers tell it apart from the earlier High Definition (HD) standard. The Ultra HD label will inform consumers that the display device they are considering buying is compatible with all major sources of Ultra HD content and that it will be able to display this content in Ultra HD format. DIGITALEUROPE sets an interoperability baseline which can be used by any present and future device manufacturer to ensure its device will work with DIGITALEUROPE Ultra HD Displays Manufacturers of future Ultra HD source devices now have a reference for compatibility to serve a large Ultra HD Display population. Participation in the logo programme is open to any manufacturer who signs the license agreement to commit themselves to the high quality and interoperability requirements defined by DIGITALEUROPE. 12
News Beurer’s Connected Health Management Ecosystem New bluetooth connected health product range to star at IFA Beurer, German maker of innovative healthcare and well-being products for nearly a century, was back at IFA with an array of ‘connected’ health and beauty innovations. Georg Walkenbach, Beurer’s Managing Director, was on hand at Beurer’s inspired IFA stand in Hall 4.1 to present an integrated suite of leading edge health management products. The AS 80 Activity sensor heads the latest wave of products which, via Beurer Connect, are connected to a HealthManager app that drives a comprehensive health management system. The sleek wristband device with OLED XL display continuously records physical activity and monitors the quality of sleep. With information broadcast via Bluetooth Smart technology - to be loaded onto your smartphone or tablet and monitored via the HealthManager app - users can calculate distances travelled, calories, activity duration and daily movement. Georg Walkenbach Beurer Managing Director Same goes for Beurer’s Bluetooth connected BF 700 glass diagnostic scale, which allows users to monitor physical data at home and on the go. In addition to weight, the scale calculates Mom Knows Best ‘A caring and programmable Mom that covers all areas of your life’ is how Sense founder and CEO Rafi Haladjian describes Mother, a smart, programmable device aimed at enhancing fitness, health, security, wellbeing and comfort. Essentially, Mother is the head of a family of autonomous sensors that connect real-life actions, detecting and understanding functions such as movements and temperature. “Mother is the first true advent of the Internet Of Things in everyday life,” said Haladjian. “We have made sensors that unobtrusively blend into your life. She offers the knowledge and comfort you want, when and how you want it, all while remaining discreet.” The wide range of tasks undertaken by Mother include securing your house while nobody is home; gently waking you up at the perfect time; warning you when the fridge door has been left open; reminding you to take your medication; and helping you to refrain from eating snacks. Klipsch Announce New Product Strategy Leading USA-based speaker and headphone manufacturer Klipsch has unveiled its Reference Unity strategy, a global initiative that will align the majority of its product offerings under the iconic Klipsch Reference series. The company says the new approach will unify the speaker series, making its superior sonic signature attainable to a wider audience at various price points. Explaining the rationale for the move, Mark Casavant, Senior Vice President of Global Product Development for Klipsch, said: “Transitioning to Reference will create a performance benchmark. Our Reference speakers represent unprecedented performance and value.” With a range of Reference products being rolled out in 2014 and 2015, Klipsch’s new strategy will allow dealers and distributors to tell a unified story to customers. However flagship Klipsch product lines such as Palladium, Heritage, THXUltra2 and ProMedia are unaffected by the reorganisation. It’s a Price War The first global Lumia event under the Microsoft banner “We’re going to challenge Apple and Samsung and expose their premium pricing,” said Chris Weber, CVP, Mobile Device Sales at Microsoft. It’s the launch of the Nokia Lumia 830, “the first affordable flagship.” Priced at € 330 (compared to flagships Samsung Galaxy S5 at €€440 and Apple 5S at €€515). The 830, with Windows 8.1 and 1.2GHz Quad Core SnapDragon, is Nokia’s thinnest yet at 8.5mm. It weighs 150g, features a 10MP camera and a 2200mAh battery with integrated Qi wireless charging. Apart from Lumia 830, Microsoft also announced the budget Lumia 730 Dual SIM and Lumia 735. The Nokia strategy, says Weber, is to reach more people at more price points. Microsoft also announced a Nokia Lumia update, Denim. It promises a better Cortana experience, a better camera integration and a faster shooting process. Nokia Lumia 830 Flagship to Challenge Market Leaders There’s also an update for the Nokia Camera app. It now shoots much faster (42ms between shots – to compare, it takes at least 100ms to blink your eye if you are good at it and 400 if not). And the app starts up faster, too. It records 4K video at 24fps with 8.3MP per frame, now only for select smartphones (Lumia 930, 1520 and Icon). The Lumia Denim update will first launch by the end of Q4 on the Lumia 930, Lumia 1520 and Lumia Icon. Later it will cover the full range. The new flagship Lumia 830 is already running on Denim including the updated Camera App. www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Friday 19 th September 2014 13
