Born to be Wireless

Android's version of Chrome is priority

2008-09-03T19:08:00.001-03:00

Google co-founder Sergey Brin told CNET that he expects the company's new Chrome browser to end up on the Android platform in a later version of the yet-to-be-released mobile phone operating system. Brin said Android and Chrome were developed separately but that a "subsequent version of Android is going to pick up a lot of the Chrome stack."

Source: www.moconews.com

Samsung accepts selling its Symbian share to Nokia

2008-09-02T16:22:00.002-03:00

Nokia said today that Samsung Electronics has accepted Nokia's offer to buy out its stake in software firm Symbian, and Nokia now has acceptances from all Symbian shareholders to sell their shares.

"They (Samsung) have accepted it," Nokia spokesman said referring to the buyout offer.

Nokia said in June it would buy out other shareholders of UK-based smartphone software maker Symbian for $410 million and make its software royalty-free to other phone makers in response to new rivals such as Google Inc.

Nokia will contribute Symbian's assets to the not-for-profit organization, Symbian Foundation, in which it would unite with leading handset makers, network operators and communications chipmakers to create an open-source platform.

Source: Reuters

2008-08-29T15:40:00.000-03:00

Google has launched its own application store or marketplace; see Android Market: a user-driven content distribution system (Android Developers Blog).

And with the Android Market solution, Google is addressing the problem of application discovery and download; and their approach is user-centric, similar to YouTube; exactly as how I would have approached it… YouApp!

Developers will be able to make their content available on an open service hosted by Google that features a feedback and rating system similar to YouTube.

:

Similar to YouTube, content can debut in the marketplace after only three simple steps: register as a merchant, upload and describe your content and publish it. We also intend to provide developers with a useful dashboard and analytics to help drive their business and ultimately improve their offerings.

Very cool…

First Android phone approved by FCC

2008-08-19T11:13:00.002-03:00

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the US telecom government agency, has homologate HTC Dream, first Android mobile phone.
HTC Dream is probably going to be the first mobile using Google's Android. And according to The New York Times, it will be sold in the US by T-Mobile starting October.

Motorola & Android?

2008-08-18T10:24:00.001-03:00

It seems that Motorola is working on an Android phone... check this job post on LinkedIn

App Store success

2008-08-12T15:33:00.000-03:00

According to Steve Jobs, App Store shoppers have downloaded 60+ million programs for the iPhone in the last month. While most were free, Apple has sold an average of $1 million a day in applications for a total of about $30 million in sales.

To put that into perspective, if Apple can sell apps at this pace, they stand to make at least $360 million a year. That's no small change...

But what does this mean for marketers? How can we tap into this desire to load our phones with gizmos and gadgets? It starts with utility...while I love my "light saber" application, its just for shits and giggles. The applications that really get me excited are the ones that add value to my day to day. They get me from point A to point B faster or find me a hotel in San Francisco the second I land or allow me to post to this blog with no effort at all. The point is, lets create apps that are useful and relevant...AND, entertaining. They shouldn't and don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Full Story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121842341491928977.html

Yahoo call

2008-07-18T18:03:00.006-03:00

I know this is not the focus of this blog, but since Yahoo is a great player in the mobile market and it has the single most-visited page on the Web (with 304 million unique visitors worldwide in May, according to comScore), it deserves a note:

Anyone who access www.yahoo.com will see a box on the right side of the side calling the stockholders to vote against Carl Icahn. When you click on the box, you'll be redirect to a page that attacks Icahn credibility as an investor. At the top of this page, you'll see the quote:

"It’s hard to understand these technology companies." – Carl Icah

my two cents: It feels like Yahoo is fighting the battle of its life and Jerry Yang is using all he can use in order to win the proxy battle on Aug 1st! And since I passionate about Yahoo for almost 10 years (the age of my Y!Mail account), I really wouldn't like to see it bought by Microsoft :-)

update: according to comScore monthly search report, Google lost 0.3% (total of 61.5%) market share on search, Y! gain 0.3% (total of 20.9%), Microsoft gain 0.7% (total of 9.2%), Ask lost 0.2% (total of 4.3%) and AOL lost 0.4% (total of 4.1%). This data is related to U.S. market

Sony Ericsson plans to cut 2k jobs in the next 12 months

2008-07-18T17:41:00.002-03:00

In order to reduce 300 million euros in operational costs, Sony Ericsson will cut 2000 jobs all around the world within the next twelve months. This was a result of a drop of 97% in the earnings in the second quarter result.
It starting to look more and more like Motorola...

Full history here

iPhone costs

2008-07-18T16:17:00.001-03:00

iSuppli’s Teardown Analysis Service on July 11 obtained an iPhone 3G and commenced a dissection in order to identify component suppliers, as well as to determine preliminary part and system costs.

Beyond the $174.33 BOM and manufacturing cost of the iPhone 3G, Apple is spending an estimated $50 on IP royalties per unit shipped. With the 8Gbyte version retail-priced at $199, and the estimated $300 subsidy paid by AT&T to Apple for each unit, Apple is selling the product at a price of $499, and spending $224.33 to produce each one. This gives Apple a BOM, manufacturing and royalty margin of 55 percent for each 8Gbyte iPhone 3G unit sold.

Source: cellular-news

BIC and Orange releases disposable mobile phone

2008-07-18T15:27:00.003-03:00

The BIC® phone is ready to go! It comes with 60 free minutes, the battery charged, and the SIM card already in place.
With the BIC® phone, you pay as you go, with a prepaid “mobicarte” refill card.
The BIC® phone is easy to use since it focuses on cell phone basics: sending and receiving calls and SMS.
The BIC® phone pack will be easy to find. It will be sold over the counter, in major supermarkets and local convenience stores (tobacco shops, newsstands, train stations, airports…), and will be available on 7 August 2008, at a suggested retail price of €49 including tax. The BIC® phone will be sold in Metropolitan France only.

Press release here

Shazam for iPhone

2008-07-18T09:27:00.000-03:00

Mobile music discovery specialist Shazam has released a native version of its mobile application for the iPhone. The application is available now on the Apple App Store. Shazam fully integrates with and complements the iPhone, allowing users to discover, buy and share tunes simply by holding their iPhone up to a music system for just a few seconds.

Key user features include the ability to tag (identify) music anywhere; to build your own soundtrack; go straight to iTunes to preview and buy tagged music; see related videos of the track on YouTube; personalise the tag by taking a photo and adding it to ‘My Tags’; and send track details to friends via email.

European SMS arbitrary roaming prices

2008-07-17T15:54:00.003-03:00

It's really easy to travel between countries in Europe, and of course everybody uses their mobiles during the trips. For some time now, there have been complaining about the large coasts for roaming - voice, sms or data. Even European Commission has suggest to the carriers to cut their prices for roaming, something that, of course, didn't happen.
Now, the European Commission has released a plan to end "rip-offs for text messages abroad". Couple of days later, regulator agency in France has invited the carriers to cut SMS costs! I hope this reach Brazil as soon as possible ! :-)

PS: Nice site with SMS prices in Europe:

http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/roaming/index_en.htm

EA vs Gameloft

2008-07-17T13:35:00.000-03:00

The presentation even goes beyond the EA Mobile games. It also shows that Gameloft copied concepts from Disney and Taito. Of course, we all knew this is happening, and fair enough, it happens all over the industry and for many years already.

Details are on Jan Rezab’s Mobile Enthousiast blog.

Apple offers 30 days MobileMe extension for users

2008-07-16T18:57:00.002-03:00

For those who registered in Apple's MobileMe between July 9th and July 15th, Apple is offering a 30 days extension as an "i'm sorry" gift for all the problems that occur this last week.

Official note here

Twitter Buys Summize

2008-07-16T15:04:00.001-03:00

From Twitter blog:

"We’re excited to announce that Twitter has acquired Summize—an extraordinary search tool and an amazing group of engineers. All five Summize engineers will move to San Francisco, CA and take jobs at Twitter, Inc. This is an important step forward in the evolution of Twitter as a service and as a company.
Summize is a popular service for searching Twitter and keeping up with emerging trends in real-time. Like Twitter, Summize offers an API so other products and services can filter the constant queue of updates in a variety of ways. The Summize service and API will be merged with our own and integrated under the Twitter brand."

Sony Ericsson: What's next ?

2008-07-15T11:18:00.003-03:00

According to Reuters, Sony Ericsson is talking to India handset-make Spice Mobile about a possible merge. The value of India company would be something up to US$174 million.
"They want to acquire a majority stake, but it has not yet been finalised if it will be a 100 percent buyout," the Economic Times cited the source as saying.
It would be a nice step for SE if Spice could provide technology and the scalability for selling low-end devices, which has never been a priority for SE. The company, a joint venture between Japanese electronics maker Sony, and Swedish telecoms equipment maker Ericsson has lost the fourth position in sales for LG and some analysts are calling it the next Motorola

1 million iPhones 3G sold

2008-07-14T13:36:00.000-03:00

Apple says it sold more than 1 million iPhone 3G handsets over the launch weekend. The 1 millionth handset was sold yesterday. iPhone 3G is available in 21 countries - Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the US. The device goes on sale in France on Thursday.

Motorola: consumed by slow decay

2008-07-11T18:58:00.003-03:00

According to Avian Securities, Motorola will end this second quarter with 8.5% share, a reduce from 9.3% on Q1. Same Avian Securities released on June that no motorola device is between the top best-selling handsets on the USA.
Same analysts are expecting Motorola to end up with 6% share by the end of the year... that's a shame for a company that once had 20% share

iPhone on China Mobile

2008-07-11T18:05:00.002-03:00

Apple and China Mobile has returned conversations to lunch iPhone on China. The motivation was Apple giving up revenue share.
Maybe Steve Jobs realized that just iPhone's device profit over China Mobile's 400 million subscribers is a lot better deal than keep fighting :-)

Sony Ericsson App Store ?

2008-07-11T17:35:00.003-03:00

Sony Ericsson and Handango join efforts to making available more content to the SE users: all SE phones with Symbian UIQ OS will have access to InHand, an application store.
Also, Handango will provide content to SE Mobile Web Store.
Released the same day of iPhone's App Store :-)

iPhone 2.0 unlocked

2008-07-11T10:15:00.003-03:00

The new iPhone OS 2.0 software has been unlocked and jailbroken. It was released just hours ago
by the iPhone Dev Team. The first one took a couple of months, but this one was actually unlocked before Apple released it to the public.

google Mobile App for iPhone 2.0

2008-07-11T09:42:00.000-03:00

Samsung Instinct: the new Razr

2008-07-10T19:00:00.003-03:00

Best Buy announced today that early sales results are showing the Samsung Instinct™, exclusively from Sprint, to be the retailer’s best selling handset in the past two years. According to MocoNews, a Best Buy spokesperson said the Instinct is selling comparably to the super hot Motorola Razr during the holiday period of 2006.

Nokia finishes NAVTEQ acquisition

2008-07-10T15:52:00.002-03:00

Nokia announced today that it has completed its acquisition of NAVTEQ, a leading provider of comprehensive digital map information.

Full release: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/080710/ukth011.html?.v=18

Apple Allowing Free Ad-Supported Apps on App Store

2008-07-10T11:36:00.001-03:00

Medialets, a company that got off the ground June 1, is providing a mechanism for developers to include ads in their applications and make them free to iPhone users on the App Store. Revenues are split between Medialets and the developer—Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) gets none. Developers need to drop a code into their applications for the ads to show up correctly and allow for Medialets to offer metrics and tracking info on each ad campaign's performance.

It sounds like just the kind of thing Apple wouldn't tolerate: a company partnering with others to offer applications for free on its App Store and then monetizing their work through ads. But Medialets CEO Eric Litman says that's exactly the case and that none of the advertising revenue will go to Apple's coffers. "It's in Apple's best interest" to see developers prosper on the new distribution model, Litman said. Perhaps it doesn't hurt that the longtime online executive worked at NeXT Computer Inc., a company founded by Steve Jobs in 1985 after he left Apple Computer.

By the way, the release of the App Store is schedule for today! I'm waiting....

Source: http://www.moconews.net

Gtalk for iPhone

2008-07-03T09:53:00.002-03:00

sweet... http://www.google.com/mobile/apple/talk/index.html

Nokia is trying to buy up all Symbian stakes

2008-06-25T18:33:00.002-03:00

According to MocoNews, Nokia is offering US$ 410 million to acquire all of the shares of Symbian that it does not already own.

"Nokia is offering 3.467 euros ($5.40) per share to acquire the remaining 52 percent of the company, a total of 264 million euros ($410 million)"

Read the full story here.

iPhone 3g released !

2008-06-09T16:04:00.003-03:00

Steve Job's keynote was finished and I'm still waiting to watch it. Thanks to MacRumors and MacWorld I could follow the presentation kind of live :-)

iPhone 3G highlights:
- GPS
- better battery
-- 300 hours of standby time
-- 2G talk time is up to 10 hours (from 8 hours)
-- 3G talk time is up to 5 hours (other phones have 3-3.5 hours)
-- 5-6 hours of high-speed browsing
-- 7 hours of video and 24 hours of audio
- thinner an the edges and black plastic back
- solid metal buttons
- same display and camera
- flush headphone jack (no more adapters to use yours 3th party headphones)
- dramatically improved audio
- US$199 for 8GB version and US$ 299 for 16GB
- Available in 22 countries on July 11th

Apple Worldwide Developer Conference 2008: Live Updates

2008-06-09T14:05:00.002-03:00

I'm going mad because I will have to wait until Steve Job's keynote has finish to finally see it!
For now, I'm checking live covers from MacRumors and Macworld.
Check them out!

Google Location API is not a rumor

2008-06-09T13:41:00.000-03:00

Wireless phones can make and receive calls because they are connected over the air to a nearby cell tower. The phone knows the ID of the cell tower that it's currently using. If the phone has GPS, the Maps application on the phone sends the GPS coordinates along with the cell ID to the Google location server. Over millions of such updates, across multiple phones, carriers, and times, the server clusters the GPS updates corresponding to a particular cell ID to find their rough center. So when a phone without GPS needs its own location, the application on the phone queries the Google location server with the cell tower ID to translate that into a geographic location, i.e., lat/long coordinates. Nifty, huh? We think so.

Read the full Google Mobile Blog post where they explain things in detail

Get bus and train directions on the go with Google Maps for mobile

2008-06-05T16:59:00.001-03:00

Posted by Joe Hughes, Software Engineer

Ever since Google Maps added public transportation directions for San Francisco, it's been a lot easier for me to figure out which buses and trains will get me where I'm going around town, so that today's gas prices take less of a toll on my wallet. Even so, I've often found myself wishing that I had an easy way to get transit directions while I'm out and about.

Enter the new version of Google Maps for mobile. This version (2.2) allows you to get transit directions in all the same places as the web version of Google Maps, including Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Vancouver, and over 40 other cities in North America.

This version of Google Maps for mobile even has a few tricks not yet available on the desktop version of Google Maps. For instance, you can find the last transit trips of the day (to figure out how late you can stay at the party) and more easily browse through earlier or later trips. The My Location feature, available on most phones, also makes it easier to set the start point of your journey.

To see how the transit feature of Google Maps for mobile works, take a look at this quick video walkthrough with my co-worker Ryan:

This version of Google Maps for mobile also includes a bunch of other goodies, like faster searching on BlackBerry devices and star ratings for businesses. It's currently available for BlackBerry devices and many other Java-based phones. To download it to your phone visit http://www.google.com/gmm from your phone's web browser or on the desktop.

We're working to bring public transit directions to Google Maps on other devices, so stay tuned!

source: Google Mobile Blog

Shozu on Ovi

2008-06-04T12:33:00.001-03:00

Until recently the only way to post to Share on Ovi using the popular application Shozu was by using the email option, no more! This also makes Shozu one of the first 3rd party applications to make use of the Share on Ovi's API. To setup Share on Ovi in Shozu, login as normal and choose add site. Share on Ovi will be in the list among the many other supported options. Enter your Share on Ovi credentials and select where your media should be uploaded. The downside to Shozu is the 10MB upload limit.

source: Darla Mack

Mobile Market on China

2008-06-02T11:44:00.002-03:00

MocoNews reported today that China Unicom is buying China Netcom for US$ 56.3 billion in a stock swap. The expectation is that the deal will be closed by the end of the year.
Another news in China market is the purchase of China Unicom's CDMA unit by China Telecom for US$ 15.9 billion.

A little explanation about China market before today's news:
* There are two nation-wide fixed-line operators: China Telecom and China Netcom.
* There are also two major mobile carriers: China Mobile (GSM) and China Unicom (GSM and CDMA).

After finishing the acquisitions, we'll have:

- China Telecom on fixed-line and CDMA mobile network;
- China Netcom/Unicom on fixed-line and GSM mobile network;
- China Mobile on GSM mobile network.

Just remembering that even after this changes, China Mobile is the world's largest mobile carriers with more than 380 million customers.

Is Google about to release an API for location?

2008-05-29T11:45:00.000-03:00

Is Google poised to release an API for geo-location, based on it’s magical My Location feature in Google Maps for mobile? Could be.

Something called the “Geolocation API” has appeared on this list for Google Gears code. And code for geo-location has appeared here.

2008 BREW developer conference

2008-05-28T15:49:00.001-03:00

Qualcomm's annual BREW developer conference starts today.

More info at conferences site: http://brew.qualcomm.com/brew/brew_2008/

Mobile version of Guitar Hero III has passed 1 million downloads

2008-05-28T15:44:00.002-03:00

Developer Hands-On Mobile has announced that Guitar Hero III Mobile set a new mobile game record with nearly 1 million downloads, including monthly subscriptions, across all wireless service providers. The studio also announced that the title was the number one selling mobile game on Verizon Wireless phones for Q1 2008.

Source: http://www.gamesondeck.com/

Windows Mobile sales up to 50% in next fiscal year

2008-05-28T15:37:00.002-03:00

According to Reuters, Eddie Wu, Microsoft's MD of OEM embedded devices on Asia, told that Microsoft expects to increase the sales of Windows Mobile up to 50% in the fiscal year of 2009.

The expectation is to sell 20 million units until the end of this fiscal year (Jun 2008).

BusinessWeek's 2008 100 Best-performing IT Companies

2008-05-28T11:12:00.012-03:00

BusinessWeek sorted through the financial results of 30,500 publicly traded companies and rank the tech players on four criteria: shareholder return, return on equity, total revenues, and revenue growth. The companies leading the list are those with the lowest aggregate ranking.

Company - Industry - Country
AMAZON.COM - NET - USA
APPLE - COMP - USA
RESEARCH IN MOTION - COMM - CANADA
NINTENDO - SOFT - JAPAN
WESTERN DIGITAL - COMP - USA
AMÉRICA MÓVIL - TELE - MEXICO
CHINA MOBILE - TELE - CHINA
NOKIA - COMM - FINLAND
ASUSTEK COMPUTER - COMP - TAIWAN
HIGH TECH COMPUTER - COMP - TAIWAN

Full list: http://bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/it100_2008/

iPhone distribution list

2008-05-27T15:10:00.004-03:00

Already launched:

AT&T

UK
Ireland

Orange

France

T-Mobile

Germany
Austria

Scheduled to launch:

America Mobil

Latin America

Bharti Airtel

India

Mobistar

Belgium

Globe

Philippines

Optus

Australia

Orange

Austria
Dominican Republic
Egypt
Jordan
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Switzerland

Rogers

Canada

Singtel

Singapore

Swisscom

Switzerland

TeliaSonera

Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Latvia
Lithuania
Norway
Sweden

Italy

Vodacom

South

Vodafone

Australia
Czech Republic
Egypt
Greece
India
Italy
New Zealand
Portugal
Turkey

Opera releases Opera Widgets SDK

2008-05-22T11:44:00.006-03:00

Widgets works in all Opera platform: Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Mobiles and TVs

Opera Widgets SDK Guided Tour
Uploaded by operasoftware

More info at dev.opera.com and download them at widgets.opera.com

Mobile Ads on Windows Live Messenger and Hotmail

2008-05-21T15:41:00.002-03:00

Microsoft announced that will allow ads to be displayed on two of its mobile services: Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Hotmail.

Opera Mini's State of the Mobile Web: First Quarter, 2008

2008-05-20T15:38:00.002-03:00

- More than 11.9 million people used Opera Mini in March 2008. Those users generated more than 33 million MB of data for operators worldwide.

- Almost 40% of traffic worldwide is to social networks. In some countries, such as the United States, South Africa and Indonesia, the social Web accounts for more than 60% of the traffic.
- Full Web surfing comprises more than 77% of all traffic. Content on WAP and .mobi sites accounted for 23% of mobile Web traffic.

Top sites on USA:
1) www.myspace.com
2) www.google.com
3) www.mocospace.com

Top sites on UK:
1) www.facebook.com
2) www.google.co.uk
3) www.live.com

Full report: http://www.opera.com/mobile_report/

Possible changes in American Telecom Market

2008-05-19T15:26:00.003-03:00

Rumors are around for a while about changes in United States Telecommunications market.

Last year, Korean SK Telecom has attempted to buy a stake in Sprint Nextel.
Some weeks ago, Deutsche Telekom was also willing to make a bid for Sprint Nextel control (as reported here).

Now, BusinessWeek has reported that SK Telecom is again trying to wider it customer base in USA telecom market (it already has 70% of Helio), but now it's on conversation with Virgin Mobile USA. Together, Virgin Mobile and Helio have 5.4 million subscribers.

In order to move on with the deal, SK Telecom needs a buy-in from Sprint Nextel, which owns a part of Virgin Mobile.

Voda Buys ZYB for £25 million

2008-05-16T12:13:00.000-03:00

Vodafone has agreed a deal to acquire 100% of ZYB, the privately-owned Danish company that operates a social networking and online management tool enabling mobile phone users to back-up and share their handsets’ contact and calendar information online. Vodafone Europe BV, a holding company of Vodafone Group is paying €31.5 million (£25 million) for the company.
Vodafone says the acquisition of ZYB is a further advance in the implementation of its ‘Total Communications’ strategy, which the company says is delivering new revenue growth around fixed broadband, mobile advertising and a rich set of Internet services that integrate the mobile and PC customer experience. Vodafone says that ZYB fits into this strategy by enhancing the range of communications services the network operator can provide to its customers.

ZYB is designed with the mobile device at its heart, allowing customers to share information and messages between their friends and colleagues who are held in their mobile phone’s address book.
ZYB enables users to send messages and images from their PC to multiple mobile devices in their mobile community, as well as taking advantage of the functionality of an instant messaging service.
ZYB will remain based in Denmark and upon acquisition, will be incorporated into Vodafone’s Internet Services Division.

Dada is selling Sony BMG's DRM-free MP3

2008-05-15T14:33:00.002-03:00

Dada Entertainment and Sony BMG have signed a deal which will see full-length DRM-free MP3s made available to Dada’s subscribers. The service charges $9.99 a month for 15 tokens, each of which can be redeemed for a ringtone, game or other mobile content—the new deal will let people download full songs to their computer and transfer them to a mobile phone or digital music player. Dada wants other labels to join, and expects to offer over-the-air downloads in the coming months (to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel, Virgin, Cellular One, Boost, Cricket, and Nextel). Dada is also repurposing its social network to focus on music, and changing its name to The Music Movement. Dada Entertainment is a JV between Dada and Sony, formed in July last year.

Source: MocoNews

Android Developer Challenge

2008-05-13T16:38:00.001-03:00

The Android team has announced the selection of the top 50 applications of the Android Developer Challenge. Each of the top 50 apps will receive $25,000 and is eligible to receive further recognition via ten $275,000 awards and ten $100,000 awards in the final judging round. A total of 1,788 total submissions were received.

While the team is working on a more detailed description of the top 50 apps, you can read a general summary of the apps on the Android Developer blog.

Brasil Telecom launched unlimited plan

2008-05-13T00:59:00.002-03:00

Brasil Telecom (who is in process of merging with Oi) has launched two unlimited plans for its clients.
The first one offers unlimited voice calls for R$ 99 (US$ 59).
The second offers unlimited voice calls, SMS, data and video-calls and the client also gets a Nokia N95. This all for R$ 199 (US$ 119).

It's pretty much what american carriers are charging for unlimited plan in the US (US$ 99).
I hope the others carriers in Brazil starts to do the same :-)

Black iPhone?

2008-05-12T18:48:00.002-03:00

Source: www.appleinsider.com

Nokia Step Counter

2008-05-09T16:19:00.002-03:00

Nokia Step Counter does what it says on the tin: it counts the number of steps you take by analyzing how you ’shake’ your phone. Since most people have their phone with them everywhere they go, it is natural to use the accelerometer in an S60 product to track your daily activity.

dotMobi Acquires Mowser

2008-05-09T10:19:00.002-03:00

- dotMobi -- the company behind the .mobi internet domain name for mobile phones and the dev.mobi developer forum -- today announced it has acquired the intellectual property assets of Mowser, a San Mateo, Calif.-based mobile browsing company.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

dotMobi's acquisition of Mowser's technology, developed by Bay Area mobile pioneers Russell Beattie and Michael Rowehl, is another way for dotMobi to provide a complete range of mobile content creation solutions for businesses of all sizes.

James Pearce, dotMobi Vice President of Technology, said, "When Mowser's founders decided to make the assets available, dotMobi was first in line to acquire them. The work Russell and Mike put into making Mowser a 'best of breed' product is well-known throughout the industry. Being able to add that technology into dotMobi's product line is exciting because it will exponentially stimulate mobile content growth."

dotMobi plans to integrate Mowser technology into new business-grade and consumer-grade mobile development tools as well as include aspects of it into dotMobi's popular content creation tools like http://find.mobi, DeviceAtlas and http://ready.mobi, all of which help businesses more easily create device-aware mobile content.

For more information on dotMobi domains and registration information, visit http://dotmobi.mobi. Visit the dotMobi blog at http://blog.mobi.

Mob4Hire launches

2008-05-07T10:47:00.000-03:00

Creating cross-platform mobile applications for consumers with more than 7000 different mobile handsets in their pockets is a daunting task. Mob4Hire’s crowdsourcing platform will solve this problem with its launch. Mob4Hire helps mobile developers crowdsource application testing by connecting them with an international community of testers: everyday people and professionals on a variety of handhelds and who are willing to test applications in exchange for incentives

Opera Dragonfly

2008-05-07T10:07:00.003-03:00

Opera have just announced the first release of their upcoming developer tools suite. Dragonfly looks to be similar in form and functionality to the popular Firebug debugger on Firefox, with the added bonus of mobile integration, allowing you to remotely debug mobile devices. There’s a detailed overview and screenshots at Dev.Opera.

It’s only an alpha release at the moment, but it looks like a promising start — whether it will be enough to unseat Firefox as most developers’ browser of choice remains to be seen.

Vodafone To Distribute iPhone In Ten Countries

2008-05-06T16:05:00.002-03:00

Vodafone has closed a deal with Apple to distribute iPhone in ten countries: Australia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Greece, Italy, India, Portugal, New Zealand, South Africa and Turkey.

This means that Apple has broke the deal with TIM to sell the iPhone exclusively on Italy.

Source: Reuters

Hop-on launches disposable mobile in Europe

2008-05-06T15:42:00.004-03:00

North American company Hop-on is selling a disposable mobile phone on Europe. The mobile has no LCD screen and uses GSM network.

It will cost 10 pounds / 13 euros.

Deutsche Telekom May Bid for Sprint Nextel

2008-05-05T14:50:00.003-03:00

According to WSJ.com, Deutsche Telekom is weighing a bid to acquire Sprint Nextel. If this happen, the new company created by the merge of T-Mobile USA and Sprint Nextel will be the largest mobile carrier on United States.

Adobe Open Screen Project

2008-05-05T14:29:00.001-03:00

Adobe Open Screen Project is willing to delivery rich Internet content into dozens of channels, including mobile operating system, televesions, pcs and others consumer eletrocnics. It has already a impressive list of supporters:
ARM, Chunghwa Telecom, Cisco, Intel, LG, Motorola, Nokia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, Verizon Wireless, BBC, MTV Networks and NBC Universal.

The goal is "enabling a consistent runtime environment — taking advantage of Adobe Flash Player and, in the future, Adobe AIR — that will remove barriers for developers and designers as they publish content and applications" for any devices (mobile or not).

This includes:

Removing restrictions on use of the SWF and FLV/F4V specifications
Publishing the device porting layer APIs for Adobe Flash Player
Publishing the Adobe Flash Cast protocol and the AMF protocol for robust data services
Removing licensing fees--making next major releases of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe AIR for devices free

Nokia launches its Music Store in Singapore

2008-05-05T14:15:00.003-03:00

Nokia announced today that the Nokia Music Store in Singapore is now "live" at www.music.nokia.com.sg. Individual tracks cost 2.00 Singapore dollars (US$ 1.47) per track and most albums cost 16.00 Singapore dollars (US$ 11.79) each. It also offers unlimited PC streaming at 16.00 Singapore dollars per month.

The Nokia Music Store is available in the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia, France and Singapore.

Google interface for iPhone released in 16 new languages

2008-05-05T14:03:00.002-03:00

Google is launching the new Google home for iPhone and iPod Touch in 33 new markets and 16 new languages, from Argentina to New Zealand, from Swedish to Chinese.

Google on the iPhone is a great way to access your most used Google services. Some of its benefits include

Fast and fluid search with one-tap access to News, image, local, or web results and search query suggestions when you start typing
Automatic delivery of Gmail messages (no need to refresh your browser!), and auto-completion of email addresses when typing
A combined month-and-current-day view of your always-in-sync Google Calendar, and the ability to share pictures with friends and family using Picasa Web Albums

Source: Google Mobile Blog

First Android phone ?

2008-04-30T18:04:00.002-03:00

There are some speculations about this phone would be the HTC Dreams that would be released on May 6th

iPhone to be released on Canada

2008-04-30T14:22:00.002-03:00

Apple’s iPhone is expected to be released into Canada later this year. It will be launched with Rogers Communications, the largest and only GSM carrier in the country.

Sony Ericsson creates a new technology that bridges Java and Flash Lite

2008-04-30T13:46:00.004-03:00

Sony Ericsson has created Project Capuchin, a new tool that enables developers to combine aspects of Java and Flash technology in the same application. It will be available in the second semester.

According to SE, Project Capuchin will allow 'pure Flash Lite content to be encapsulated in Java ME applications'. SE also says more advanced capabilities will make it possible to create Java ME applications where some or all UI components are defined in Flash.

"[We are] excited to introduce our new bridging technology to the global developer community as it further strengthens our relationship with this community and underscores our ongoing commitment to support an open, healthy and thriving mobile ecosystem.", says Rikko Sakaguchi, SVP and head of portfolio and proposition at Sony Ericsson.

Source: Mobile Entertainment

AdMob Launches Analytics

2008-04-30T11:07:00.000-03:00

Mobile advertising network AdMob has announced the launch of AdMob Mobile Analytics, which the company says delivers a comprehensive solution for understanding user behaviour and makes it easy to measure the usage of mobile websites and ad campaigns.

AdMob Mobile Analytics, which runs independent of the company's other services, can be set up in less than 10 minutes and does not require ad spend or publishing activity with the company's flagship product, the AdMob mobile advertising network. AdMob Analytics will offer businesses a free, simple solution to maximize commerce, advertising and content on the mobile Internet and to improve the overall user experience.

AdMob has leveraged its existing user identification technology and global infrastructure in building its analytics offering. AdMob Analytics is a free service that works for any size of business and is not limited by visitors or page views.
AdMob Analytics is accepting limited private beta sign ups starting today. To find out more, click here.

source: http://www.mobilemarketingmagazine.co.uk

Will 2008 be the year of the QR Codes in US ?

2008-04-28T11:25:00.004-03:00

Mobilestance has a great article with a couple arguments explaining why 2008 will be the year of QR codes in the United States.

The main idea is:

- Apple: it has created a near perfect platform for a QR reade: its iPhone (two megapixel camera, public SDK, bullet-proof distribution model, and most importantly, a highly-attractive, early-adopting, data-hungry user base).

- Google: Android mobile platform will have a non-proprietary QR Code reader embedded.

Q1 Results: Gameloft sales up in 11%

2008-04-28T10:49:00.002-03:00

Mobile games developer and publisher Gameloft is reporting consolidated sales of €25.3 million ($39.59 million) in its first quarter sales report for 2008, 11% higher than in the previous year.

94% of Gameloft’s sales came from its game sales, with the remaining 6% attributed to Gameloft’s console releases on the Nintendo DS and Xbox Live Arcade.

Europe represented 44% of Gameloft’s Q1 revenue, with North America at 29%, and the rest of the world 28%. The rest of the world saw the biggest growth, up 82% compared to the same period in 2007.

North America’s share of sales dropped due to the declining dollar. In 2007, Europe, North America, and the rest of the world made up respectively 44%, 34%, and 22% of Gameloft’s full year sales.

The 11% rise in its sales is in line with Gameloft’s first quarter expectations. The company expects its sales growth rate to continue its rise in the second half of 2008 with scheduled releases for the N-Gage, iPhone, Nintendo DS, and Wii.

Gameloft predicts its sales growth for the remainder of 2008 to reach 25% to 30%, with an operating margin between 10% an 15%. Stabilization of its mobile gaming employee headcount” and the return on investment from expenses for new platforms made in 2007 should both contribute to improving Gameloft’s operating margin.

Source: Games on Deck

Oi Brazil acquires Brasil Telecom

2008-04-28T10:32:00.001-03:00

Oi Brazil has announced the acquisition of Brasil Telecom for R$ 5.863 billions (US$ 3.5 billion). The value was above the expected by the market, something around R$ 4.8 billion (US$ 2.8 billion).

The deal is still waiting for a change in the Brazil legislation (it isn't allowed to a phone company to buy another one in a different market) and the approval of regulation agencies.

Source: Folha de São Paulo

Skype Mobile

2008-04-27T17:33:00.000-03:00

Skype has launched a beta version of a mobile thin client, available here. The application is available worldwide and includes chat, group chat, presence (seeing when your contacts are online), and receiving calls from Skype users, and through SkypeIn. Skype-to-Skype and SkypeOut calls are only available in Rio de Janeiro, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Sweden and the UK. An unlimited data plan is recommended—although the service works over standard mobile voice networks connections for the first and/or last legs of Skype, SkypeOut and SkypeIn calls—and over the internet for the rest. Presumably you'll be paying standard carrier rates for the voice calls, but it should be a local mobile call rather than an international one. (release)

Google releases mobile banner ads

2008-04-25T16:37:00.002-03:00

Google has just released its mobile image ads. Take a look at the video below to see an interview with a mobile ads engineer and his demo.

Source: Google Mobile Blog

O2 will stop selling 8Gb iPhone on UK

2008-04-25T15:08:00.002-03:00

An internal memo reported by Engadget reads: "Due to the highly successful sales of the Apple 8GB I-Phone [sic], supply chain have today run out of stock & will not be replenishing stock of this product as it has now gone to end of life."

Q1 Results: Motorola still in trouble

2008-04-24T17:23:00.002-03:00

The sales of Motorola's handset division has fall 39% (to $3.3 billion) comparing to same period last year. The unit had an operating loss of $418 million, compared to a loss of $233 billion a year ago.

The whole company had a loss of $194 million ($.09 per share) compared to a loss of $181 million ($.09 per share) in the year-ago period. The others company, such as networking equipment and enterprise mobility units performed better, but not that good.

Looking at different units, we can see why they decided to cut mobile division off.

Q1 Results: Apple sales still rising

2008-04-24T17:01:00.003-03:00

Apple released its Q1 result numbers yesterday (Apr 23): earnings rose 36% on a 42.5% increase in sales. Part of this was credit to the good sales of Macintosh computers: company has sold 2.29 million Macs, just a little less than the 2.32 million it sold during the previous period.

These numbers are a surprise, since U.S. economy is currently in a downturn, especially in the consume of high-end products, such Macs.

source: BusinessWeek

Gameloft & Nokia: win a Nokia Phone

2008-04-23T10:56:00.001-03:00

Over at the N-Gage blog they’ve got an announcement of a new sweepstakes from Gameloft and Nokia. Simply download and play a Gameloft game on your N-Gage device and a submit a high score. If you win the weekly drawing you’ll get… an N-Gage device? Yup, apparently you can win an 8GB N81 or N95, plus some other assorted goodies from Nokia and Gameloft. Check here for full prize list and rules.

source: quickly bored

Sprint launches voice-enabled search service

2008-04-22T19:21:00.001-03:00

Sprint has launched a voice-enabled local search service. Sprint users can download the FreeMobile411 application, which lets them hold down the talk key and speak what they are looking for—the results show up on the screen. The service has address listings, maps, driving directions and the ability to browse by category, with revenue coming from sponsored links. The service is by V-Enable and functions identically to the text-input Mobile411 service already on Alltel and MetroPCS, and the WAP site which was launched a week ago.

Source: MocoNews

BusinessWeek's 2008 Most Innovative Companies on Technology / Telecom Industry

2008-04-22T19:15:00.003-03:00

World's Most Innovative Companies 2008 on Technology / Telecom Industry

1) Apple
2) Google
3) AT&T
4) Verizon Communications
5) Microsoft
6) Nokia
7) Cisco Systems
8) IBM
9) Intel
10) Research In Motion

full list

PS: Apple was listed on four different industries: Technology / Telecom; Entertainment / Media; Consumer Products and Retail

Sony BMG signs up to Nokia’s 'Comes with Music'

2008-04-22T18:51:00.002-03:00

Sony BMG is the second label to sign up to sign up to Nokia's "Comes With Music" offering, which will allow customers who purchase selected Nokia handsets unlimited music downloads. The first labels was Universal.

Tero Ojanperä, Nokia’s head of entertainment and communities business, said the aim of Comes With Music was to reduce consumer’s concerns over the cost of downloading music to their handsets. Ojanperä would not confirm which handsets will offer Comes With Music and would only say that the service would be released "later this year in selected markets".

The tracks will feature digital rights management (DRM) that will limit customers to keeping the tracks on one mobile device and one computer for the first twelve months that they own their Nokia device.

Nokia is currently in revenue share talks with networks over its services, with T-Mobile thought to be most concerned with the manufacturer encroaching into its territory. Orange was initially unwilling to range its N81 and N95 but has since softened its stance.

Some weeks ago, there were rumors that Nokia would pay up to US$35 for every phone that Nokia loads with access to Universal Music library. If it's paying this amount to each label, and it'll load the access on 1% of its handsets (and assuming it sells 500 million handsets next year), Nokia will have to spent US$175 millions for each label !

Mobile Virtualization is the next step ?

2008-04-22T18:35:00.002-03:00

BusinessWeek published today a great article about Mobile Virtualization

Yesterday, we heard that Motorola Ventures has made an equity investment on VirtualLogix. Before that, VirtualLogix has raised $28 million in two rounds of funding from Atlas Venture, Cisco Systems, DFJ Esprit, Index Ventures, Intel Capital and Texas Instruments.

I don't believe companies that have stables operational system, such as Nokia or Sony Ericsson, will invest in this kind of technology in short period of time. But this could be a great solution for the OS-madness on Motorola and others mobile companies (Samsung is already testing VirtualLogix technology).

ZyB Bought by Danish Social Network Imity

2008-04-22T18:11:00.002-03:00

Zyb, a mobile phonebook service founded in Denmark was bought by Imity, a Danish bluetooth-based mobile social networking company. The value of the operations was not reveled.

Imity is less than a year old, and uses bluetooth to connect online and offline users. The service is now closed for new registrations, but is still working for old users.

Zyb itself had added elements of social networking over the last year, and says a quarter of a million users have stored nearly 16 million contacts online using its service.

Tira opens up vast device database

2008-04-22T10:05:00.001-03:00

It contains data on a whopping 17,211 unique device/operator combinations from more than 1,257 handset models offered by 54 manufacturers. Tira six years to accumulate the data, during which time it ported over 500 applications to create more than 30,000 unique builds.

Tira modd is available in three versions:

• Standard Edition: A downloadable client for Windows PCs, with advanced query and data export capabilities
• Enterprise Edition: An open API offered as a web service for developers looking to integrate the database into applications; it also includes an OEM option for customers that want to re-sell the data
• Go Mobile Edition: A web-based version, freely available to members of the Tira Go Mobile Community

Tira modd is also open, combining tools and processes to acquire, characterise and share mobile device data from around the world. Members of the developer community can therefore contribute data to Tira modd on an ongoing basis.

source: http://www.mobile-ent.biz

Android on N810?

2008-04-19T11:12:00.003-03:00

Check it out! http://elinux.org/Android_on_OMAP

DoCoMo changes its brand

2008-04-18T18:00:00.002-03:00

Comparing old and new one

An VoIP application for iPhone

2008-04-17T14:40:00.002-03:00

Fring has just pre-released a version of its instant messenger for the iPhone (release).

I've just downloaded it into my iPhone, but I couldn't get it to work... It keeps trying to connect, with no success... :-(

Anyway, according to the site, the app integrates others services, such as Skype, MSN, Google Talk, ICQ, Twitter, Yahoo! & AIM, with a single contacts list.

Take a look in the video bellow

New NFC Phone

2008-04-17T11:41:00.001-03:00

Finnish handset vendor Nokia has taken the wraps off a 3G device featuring integrated Near Field Communication (NFC) technology.

The 6212 classic allows consumers to share content, access services and information as well as conduct payments and ticketing with one tap of the device.

The NFC unit is expected to start shipping in the third quarter in select markets in Europe and Asia with an estimated retail price of Eur200 before taxes and subsidies.

By tapping an NFC-enabled tag, users can receive new content, activate a profile on their handset or open applications.

The sales pack of the 6212 comes with three sticker tags, which can be personalised and edited by users. As an example, you could stick one on your bedside table which sets your alarm clock when you put your phone down at night.

Last year, telecoms.com got to see how Transport for London (Tfl) was using a Nokia NFC handset to incorporate the Oyster 'swipe card' used by millions of Londoners every day, allowing users to touch their phone to the card reader on the way into or out of the station. The device could also be used for bus journeys around the capital as well as some overland train routes.

source: http://www.telecoms.com/

TIM Brazil started it's 3G network

2008-04-17T11:16:00.002-03:00

TIM Brazil started it's 3G network and it is now the second carrier on Brazil to offer the service. The 3G network is working first on six cities: Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Fortaleza, Recife and Salvador at 850 Mhz frequency. The carrier is waiting for Anatel (Brazil's FCC) approval for start the operation on Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Orkut Mobile: It's official now

2008-04-16T13:46:00.002-03:00

http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2008/04/now-available-orkut-on-your-mobile.html

MusicStation outsells full-track downloads

2008-04-16T11:32:00.001-03:00

Omnifone’s music download service, MusicStation, is making more money for operators then traditional full-track download services.

A spokesman for the company said that, in its first nine weeks since the launch, MusicStation generated more annual revenue for one of its network partners than the operator’s own established pay-per-track service.

MusicStation is only available on Vodafone in the UK and on a number of other international networks. The service is available for £1.99 per week, giving users unlimited access to over one million tracks from all the major labels, as well as a number of independent labels.

Omnifone recently signed a deal with LG to preload MusicStation onto some of the manufacturer’s handsets. Users will be able to access unlimited music for free, and only pay for the data used in downloading the tracks.

Source: Mobile Today

Yahoo! oneSearch goes live on T-Mobile

2008-04-16T11:19:00.003-03:00

Yahoo! oneSearch is going live with T-Mobile, enabling Web’n’Walk subscribers to use the service across Europe. In the near future, T-Mobile will customise Yahoo! oneSearch specially for it's customers and integrate Yahoo! services such as Flickr, Messenger, Mail, Weather and Finance into its web’n’walk portal

The search service has mobile-specific features, for example, remembering the user’s location and adapting results to the smaller screen.

The partnership was announcement at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Subscriber with 1,700+ followers has put his Twitter account up for sale on eBay

2008-04-16T10:38:00.004-03:00

Andrew Baron, joined Twitter a year ago and, as the co-founder of the pioneering online video series Rocketboom, he quickly had 1,400 people sign up to get his postings, one of the biggest crowds of followers on the service.

He put his Twitter account up for sale (on eBay) mostly because he was feeling bored with it and ambivalent about the technology. Most "twitterings" are deadly dull. And Baron readily admits he struggled to find worthy items to share with his many followers. "Every time I would go to Twitter, I would think really hard and try to come up with something important to say. I'd also try to talk about things I was doing, like going out to have a drink, or I would try to be poetic," says Baron. "It wasn't working for me."

After all wide-ranging debate that was created on his move, I think he gave up selling. At least, his eBay auction was over due "The seller ended this listing early because the item is no longer available for sale".

Source: BusinessWeek

Samsung will embeds CNN's Java App into top handsets

2008-04-15T21:59:00.001-03:00

CNN International and Samsung have done a deal to have the new CNN mobile Java application to consumers, exclusively pre-loaded into Samsung handsets from June 2008.

The news application gives users access to CNN reports, images and video. Users can also submit their own images and videos to CNN’s citizen journalism website through the java tool

The roll-out will begin with the Samsung G810 5-megapixel cameraphone available in Europe from May and will subsequently be rolled out to other handset models.

This seems to me another step from removing power from carrier's deck.

Source: Mobile Today

O2 to cut iPhone price to £169

2008-04-15T11:45:00.002-03:00

The iPhone is set to be cut to £169 as part of a limited offer from O2.

The £100 reduction, which will apply to the 8GB device on any O2 tariff, will take place tomorrow (Wednesday) and will run until 1 June.

It follows T-Mobile's decision to reduce the price of the handset from €399 to €99 in Germany.

With price cuts and iPhone stock reportedly running low and not being replenished in the US, France and UK, speculation is mounting about the release date of the 3G version of the device.

The price reduction follows O2's decision to increase the minutes and texts included in its £35 a month tariffs to 600 minutes and 500 texts in, up from 200 minutes and 200 texts.

The 16GB iPhone will not be included in the offer, and will remain £329.

Source: Mobile Today

Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Danger

2008-04-15T11:29:00.002-03:00

Microsoft Corp. has completed today its acquisition of Danger, Inc.

Danger will become a part of the new Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) team, a group within the Mobile Communications Business (MCB) of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. Danger co-founders Matt Hershenson and Joe Britt will join the new organization, reporting directly to Roz Ho, corporate vice president of Premium Mobile Experiences.

Danger is specialized in platforms, software, design, and services for mobile computing devices. Their most notable product is the T-Mobile Sidekick (aka Danger Hiptop).

Telecom Italia rejects merging with Telefonica

2008-04-14T19:36:00.001-03:00

Telecom Italia's management rejected a call to merge with Spanish peer Telefonica even as a prominent investor that advocates the tie-up gained two board seats at Europe's fifth-biggest telecoms company.

The Fossati family, owner of a 4.45 percent stake in Italy's largest phone group, called last week for a merger with the Spanish giant, which has an indirect stake of 10 percent in Telecom Italia.

The family obtained two spots out of 15 on Telecom Italia's board, while funds association Assogestioni won one. Telco, the holding company that controls Telecom Italia, named the other 12 on Monday.

The Fossatis have said they do not have "hostile" intentions and aim to work with the management and controlling shareholders and not against them.

Several shareholders said they hoped the new management would revive the operator and reverse its falling profits, but most were very critical of the management's plans and proposed stock options for them.

Source: Reuters

Mobile phone access to jukeboxes

2008-04-14T16:55:00.000-03:00

LocaModa and TouchTunes have teamed up to offer mobile phone access to jukeboxes. Jukeboxes that use TouchTunes’ software will allow users to interact with them, seeing who else is a fan of the club as well as social networking bits like user-generated content and photos. Users can see what’s playing and even gift songs to their friends that are actually, you know, at the club instead of sitting at home on their phone. It’s a pretty cool technology.

The end of Mowser

2008-04-14T16:09:00.003-03:00

Mowser,a mobile browser transcoder of sorts, enabling sites to display properly on mobile phones, is dead: http://www.russellbeattie.com/blog/the-end-of-mowser

Cubans line up for buying mobiles for the first time

2008-04-14T13:56:00.003-03:00

Another one from the "i had no idea" series:

Cubans weren't allowed to have mobile phones! That's why Cuba has the lowest rate of cellular telephone use in Latin America.

Their new president, Raul Castro allowed selling mobile phone service to the general public for the first time (before that, only foreigners or government officials and employees were allowed to have mobiles).

The service will be provided by Cuban telecommunications monopoly ETECSA, a joint venture with Telecom Italia. Customers will pay for their calls with prepaid cards bought in hard currency, and can receive and make international calls.

I wonder in which other countries mobile phones are forbidden ?

Ringback tones are the new mobile hit

2008-04-14T10:12:00.003-03:00

Ringback tones just accomplish a new level: The single "No One" by Alicia Keys, has just surpassed 500,000 in sales in United States only.

Ringback tones have the only significant growth for mobile content from 2007 to 2008: according to M:Metrics, it increased 69%. In the same period, ringtones increased only 4.3% and wallpaper images only 6.2%

According to BMI, U.S. ringback sales are expected to increase 50%, or $70 million, to reach $210 million this year. And while total ringtone revenue is almost twice as large as that from ringbacks, research group IDC says global ringback revenue will outpace that of ringtones by 2010.

Source: Reuters

T-Mobile UK offers international call included in plan minutes

2008-04-14T09:27:00.003-03:00

I don't know how long this was released, but I just got to know that now thanks to Ewan from SMS Text News.

T-Mobile UK has a business plan called Business 1-Plan, where any international calls to US or Europe are included in user's plan minutes. This means that if you have 1,000 minutes for month, you could spend them calling to US !

If you mix this kind of stuff with American carrier's US$ 99 all-included plan, we'll got carriers struggling for providing great innovating services, instead of worrying at creating different prices for each place where users make calls/send sms/browser the net

Orkut 'Officially' Goes Mobile - m.orkut.com

2008-04-13T17:23:00.001-03:00

Google has just launched a mobile version of Orkut at m.orkut.com - this new mobile site lets you read scraps, receive updates from existing friends plus you can approve or decline new friend requests.

You can also navigate the Orkut mobile using keypad shortcuts on your mobile phone like 3 for (F)riends, 7 for (S)crapbook, etc.

If you have no mobile phone, I still recommend checking out the mobile version of Orkut on your desktop as it sports a minimalist theme so the scrapbook looks very cleans, no like another MySpace page.

And don’t let your boss know about this - if the main website of Orkut is blocked in your office, there are chances that m.orkut.com could still be accessible.

Orkut mobile edition is slightly buggy but that shouldn’t be a problem considering that Google has not officially announced the site yet. Credits for discovering this secret Orkut mobile website go to the eagle-eyed Rahul, InsideOrkut and Haochi.

Americans will receive a Emergency SMS from the Government

2008-04-10T19:08:00.003-03:00

United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has just approved a plan for creating a nationwide emergency alert system that would send out text messages in a crisis, such as severe weather, a terrorist threat or child abduction.
The Government will send the alert to the carriers, but they will not be forced to send the message to the users. The top four carriers — AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile — are interested in participating.

Source: MocoNews

Russians are using SMS for authenticate Vodka!

2008-04-10T18:47:00.003-03:00

I always knew that Russians love Vodka, and today I learn two shocking facts related to Russia and Vodka:

- A state-owned company, Rosspirtprom, holds the monopoly of 60% of strong alcohol in Russia
- There are 40,000 deaths each year caused by counterfeit drinks (filled with cologne water, antifreeze liquids or just pure alcohol) on Russia !!

The second fact shows that sale of counterfeit vodka is not only a problem for the major brands, but also to the population in general.
Thinking on this, Rosspirtprom created a service where the consumers will be able to send bottle's serial number to a given short code and receive a SMS that authenticates or not the bottle.

Another great SMS service!! And good way to avoid next day's hangovers ;-)

Source: MOBIZ

More 3G iPhone rumours

2008-04-10T18:17:00.003-03:00

According to Computerworld, the brand new 3G iPhone will be released with a new chipset (Infineon's S-Gold 3) that will allow it to support 5 megapixels cameras and supports HSDPA up to 72.Mbps.

In the other hand, folks at TG Daily are reporting that are not going to be any major differences, except speedier network and a 2.5 mm thinner body. They also reports that is going to be an 8 GB version for $399, a 16 GB version for $499, and (possibly) a 32 GB version for $599

I was expecting to find a front side camera for video conferences...

Americans don't want Mobile Music

2008-04-10T13:50:00.002-03:00

According to the new Jupiter research report just five percent of US mobile subscribers sideload tunes from their computer while less than half of that, two percent, download tracks over the air, despite the steady emergence of this model with online stores from Nokia, Jamba and MusicStation.

The most common practice, rather prosaicly, is assigning ringtones to phone book contacts (16 percent), even ahead of over-the-air ringtone downloads (12 percent). The sticking points? In this order - price, discovery, UI, DRM, storage and the fact many mobile users already use other portable music players.

There’s no great compulsion from users either. Two thirds said nothing would motivate them to listen to music on a mobile. The top motivator - guaranteeing tracks are $0.99 or less. Just 14 percent of users want over-the-air tunes. All the numbers jump for the 18-to-24 bracket but the outlook is still glum. Jupiter: “Absent some exciting new business models, music labels and carriers will continue to cede most of the digital-music turf to Apple.” The survey polled 1,815 US adults.

Source: MocoNews