February 2008 Archives

The world’s first fully integrated, commercial NFC handset, the Nokia 6131 NFC phone will be available in Germany on March 3.

Florida, Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that AT&T Mobility will be the first wireless company in the nation to police representations made in internet advertising for cell phone content to ensure fair and full disclosure. The company will also make full restitution to Florida consumers who were unknowingly billed for "free" cell phone content.

The cooperative agreement reached by the Attorney General's CyberFraud Task Force with AT&T Mobility will establish a new model for the advertising and billing of cell phone content. Additionally, AT&T Mobility will pay $2.5 million to the Attorney General's Office to fund the efforts of the task force as it continues to press for similar reform across the industry and will contribute an additional $500,000 toward consumer education on safe internet use.

"Consumers should never be billed for services they thought were free of charge," said Attorney General Bill McCollum. "Today's agreement establishes a precedent for wireless companies accepting responsibility for the way cell phone content is advertised on the internet and the manner in which charges are passed along to consumers. AT&T should be commended for being the first wireless company in the industry to offer this reform."

Complaints received by the Attorney General's CyberFraud Task Force led to an investigation which showed that thousands of Florida AT&T Mobility consumers had received charges on their cell phone bills for certain third party services that they did not authorize. Often, these charges were for ringtones or other services which were advertised as "free," but resulted in customers unwittingly being signed up for costly monthly subscriptions for third-party content, including horoscopes, wallpaper and other cell phone-related content.

Examples of the bill charges often appear under the following indiscernible names:

• "Direct Bill Charges""
•  "3rd Party Downloadable Content"
  
• "Premium SMS Messages"
  
• "Premium Text Messages"
  
• "M-Qube"
  
• "M-blox"

WiMAX has been deployed in more than 80 countries worldwide, and commercial networks will continue to grow in number and size in 2008, the report shows. Infonetics forecasts the WiMAX market to grow to $7.7 billion in 2011.

"Several recent developments are giving a boost to the WiMAX market," said Richard Webb, wireless analyst for Infonetics Research. "Among the most significant developments: Cisco's acquisition of mobile WiMAX vendor Navini Networks, the market entrance of specialist ASN gateway vendor WiChorus, the launch of WiMAX phones and Ultra Mobile PCs, and the new Open WiMAX initiative, which promotes disruptive, all-IP open WiMAX architecture, and should lead to best-of-breed solutions with inter-vendor interoperability."

Other report highlights:

• Mobile WiMAX equipment grew in high double-digit percents every quarter of 2007
• Worldwide sales of ASN gateways, which aggregate traffic from mobile WiMAX base stations, grew nearly 10-fold from 2006 to 2007
• The number of worldwide WiMAX subscribers (fixed and mobile) topped 2.2 million in 2007, led by the Asia Pacific region; the majority are fixed WiMAX subscribers
• Alvarion maintains its lead in worldwide fixed WiMAX equipment revenue share in 2007, followed by Airspan
• Motorola is the leader in worldwide mobile WiMAX equipment revenue share in 2007, followed by Samsung

Priceline.com announced the launch of a suite of mobile services that enable travelers with Web-enabled wireless devices to search hotel inventories, pricing and availability in real-time, book rooms, check the status of their flights, and see recommended restaurants and local attraction reviews from Zagat Survey, LLC.

Travelers can access priceline.com's mobile services in two ways. When accessed through a Web-enabled wireless device, www.priceline.com will automatically route visitors to the special wireless home page. Travelers can also access priceline.com's mobile services, by wireless device or computer, by visiting www.priceline.mobi.

Priceline's mobile features include:

• Search Hotels. Allows customers to search live, real-time hotel inventories and pricing by city and date. Once the desired hotel is located, customers can click on a link to be connected to Priceline's telephone booking service for hotels.
• Book Travel. Provides an easy connection to Priceline's telephone booking services for hotel rooms, air & hotel vacation packages and cruises.
• Flight Status. Automatically connects to the mobile flight status pages for American, Northwest, United and US Airways. Provides links that customers can use to dial flight status phone numbers for most major domestic and international airlines.
• Zagat-Rated Restaurants. Allows visitors to view highlights of Zagat-Rated restaurants by city. Each restaurant is accompanied by address, phone number, average price and Zagat's signature numerical rating of its Food, Decor and Service.

Results from a January survey of 4,182 consumers focused on key market share changes among cellular manufacturers and service providers show a continuing seismic shift in the cell phone market, notes ChangeWave in their blog.

Among respondents who said they plan to buy a new cell phone in the next six months, the Apple iPhone (17%; up 1-pt) remains the top choice. However, the RIM BlackBerry is a close second (15%; up 3-pts), and shows the most momentum going forward.

On the downside, one-time market dominator Motorola (MOT) (11%) has declined another 4-pts in terms of future planned purchases, continuing a horrendous slide that began immediately after Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ announcement of the iPhone.

"Emerging markets, especially China and India, provided much of the growth as many people bought their first phone," said Carolina Milanesi, research director for mobile devices at Gartner, based in Egham, UK. "In mature markets, such as Japan and Western Europe, consumers' appetite for feature-laden phones was met with new models packed with TV tuners, global positioning satellite (GPS) functions, touch screens and high-resolution cameras."

"After another strong year, we expect the growth in sales of mobile devices to end users will decelerate in 2008 and fall to about 10 per cent growth as mature markets become more saturated," added Ms Milanesi. "However, the global mobile devices market will remain relatively immune to a recession in the US and Western European economies as the majority of growth in 2008 will come from emerging markets.  The mature Western Europe and North America markets are driven by operator contract terms and replacement cycles and will account for just 30 per cent of the global mobile devices market in 2008."

Sony upgraded its Mylo to COM-2, Available in black or white, with a back-lit, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, this wireless broadband device connects to open Wi-Fi networks. It does not require a monthly service contract, and as an added bonus, the new COM-2 mylo communicator devices will receive free access to participating Wayport hotspot locations in the U.S. including more than 9,000 McDonald’s locations until Dec. 31, 2010.

Sony Mylo COM-2 also has:

•  Enhanced web browsing.
• 1.3 megapixel camera .
  
• Skype-to-Skype voice calls.
• Widgets - Google search, MyContacts, YouTube, Facebook Notifer
  
• Instant messaging AOL & Yahoo - Video viewable on a 3.5-inch screen has a resolution of 800 by 400 pixels.
• Hotspot location database from JiWire for the top 20 U.S. cities.
  
• 1GB of internal memory - up to 8GB of additional storage with Memory Stick Duo media.

A Window Mobile PocketPC trojan that disables Windows Mobile application installation security has been discovered in China reports the McAffe blog.

WinCE/InfoJack sends the infected device’s serial number, operating system and other information to the author of the trojan. It also leaves the infected mobile device vulnerable by allowing silent installation of malware. The trojan modifies the infected device’s security setting to allow unsigned applications to be installed without a warning.

The trojan was packed inside a number of legitimate installation files and distributed widely. It has been distributed with Google Maps, applications for stock trading, and a collection of games.WinCE/InfoJack was created by a specific website.

Etttix Software Solutions Inc., a leading Application Service Provider, and PathFinder World Video, a distributor of niche and ethnic programming, in conjunction with ANS-TV (Afresh New Station) announce the launch of ANS-The Mobile Movie Network.

Utilizing the Tulix Mobile software and hosting platform, ANS Mobile will deliver video content, on a subscription basis, to iPhones, Smart Phones utilizing Windows Mobile Media and all 3GP cell phones independent of telephone carrier. Users will be able to access ANS-The Mobile Movie Network at: http://www.ansmovie.com. There, they can see previews of the full range of programming available and can sign up for membership.

ANS Mobile will start with 30 new titles for viewing. Their plan is to add 15 new hours of mobile content every week. An ANS subscription including mobile is $9.95 a month. programming comes from the talented producers of landmark shows like The Jamie Foxx Show, The Parkers, Sister Sister and The Steve Harvey Show. It’s ANS, ‘Afresh New Station.’”

Sprint announced it will launch a domestic unlimited pricing plan that gives customers unlimited voice, data, text, e-mail, Web-surfing, Sprint TV, Sprint Music, GPS Navigation, Direct Connect and Group Connect for $99.99 a month. The new pricing plan is available to existing and new customers beginning tomorrow.

“This is a bold, unprecedented move,” said Dan Hesse, president and CEO, Sprint Nextel. “Wireless today is about much more than just voice. It is about data services - texting, email, video, pictures, music, navigation, surfing the Web and more. Customers want these applications, but without complexity and without having to worry about their bill. The $99.99 Simply Everything plan delivers it all right to the palm of their hand now.

The $99.99 Simply Everything plan is available to customers on both Sprint’s CDMA and iDEN networks. Existing Sprint customers can switch to the Simply Everything plan without extending their current contract either by contacting Sprint customer service or by stopping by any participating Sprint retail location. New line activations require a two-year agreement.

emoze is pushing its free push email services for CTIA.  We received an invite for a meeting at CTIA which stated:

emoze announced some great achievements and developments of its push-communication technology:

• Everyone with a personal email account from their Internet service provider can now download emoze for free and have their email pushed to their mobile phone or PDA
  
• emoze is now the fastest, cheapest and more secure mobile, push-email solution for businesses and their staff with the launch of the emoze Enterprise Edition
  
• emoze became available for direct download on all of the Nokia Nseries devices - 300 million expected users in 2008 -
• emoze offers Gmail and Google Apps users on-the-go, a free downloadable push-email option.
  
• emoze delivers real-time, secure synchronization of emails, calendars, contacts and tasks, emoze pushes data and updates to you anytime, anywhere using any mobile service provider network or WiFi and using all leading brands of mobile devices.

Free software from emoze  enables everyone with a personal email account from their Internet service provider to have emails pushed to their mobile phone or PDA.This free download delivers faster, cheaper, more secure email anytime, anywhere to hundreds of millions of email subscribers.

Customers subscribing to personal and business accounts through their internet provider simply download emoze for free at http://emoze.com, or via a web-based wizard at www.emoze.com. Emoze has launched this application using a Post Office Protocol (POP) interface, allowing any user to get their email from any ISP, providing free push email service to a global audience for any standard mobile device.

Opera today made Googlethe default search engine in Opera’s mobile Web browsers. Now anyone using Opera Mobile or Opera Mini can access Google’s powerful mobile search directly from the browser start page, meaning they’ll be able to quickly and easily get the information they need, whenever and wherever they need it.

Google has been the default search option on Opera’s desktop browser for seven years. This new mobile collaboration covers all global territories except Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and includes all of Opera’s standard mobile Web browsers.

Apple has announced via email to the press that on March6.iit willannounce its plans for the iPhone and iPod Touch software developer kit. There will be a  Town Hall event at 10:00 a.m. (PST) next Thursday at Apple’s Cupertino offices.

“Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features,” the invite reads.

YouTube announced enhacements for Mobile giving users access to the largest repository of mobile video content available, on over 100 million devices worldwide, and will give them more tools to personalize their experience.

YouTube for Mobile (http://m.youtube.com/) users will be able to access tens of millions of videos. YouTube for Mobile requires either a streaming capable (RTSP) phone as well as a 3G operator. This includes a majority of 3G phones from leading mobile phone manufacturers. YouTube works closely with many mobile partners to improve the user experience on YouTube for Mobile, including Motorola, LG, Helio, Nokia, and more.

Not only will users and partners have access to the largest mobile video catalog, they also will be able to personalize their experience. Users will now have access to features regularly used on YouTube, including their YouTube accounts, Favorites, Videos, Channels as well as the ability to directly upload from mobile devices and share videos instantly. Users also will now have the ability to rate and comment on videos directly from their mobile phones.

YouTube is also offering YouTube for Mobile via a free downloadable Java application for a limited number of mobile phones giving users a more interactive experience. Currently in beta and available in US and UK English, the application offers another way to access YouTube for Mobile. At this time, the YouTube for Mobile application is supported only on J2ME (Java) MIDP2 devices with streaming video capabilities. This includes the Sony Ericsson k800, w880, Nokia e65, n95, n73, 6110 navigator and 6120 classic.

Covad Communications Group Inc., announced that it will use technology from Cisco to deploy a wireless broadband test network in San Carlos, California. The test is part of the ‘Concept City’ phase of Wireless Silicon Valley, a project of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network.

Covad’s Covad Wireless business unit, which already serves business customers in San Carlos, will layer a new wireless broadband mesh capability onto its existing fixed wireless broadband service.

Covad Wireless will use the latest wireless equipment from Cisco to create a mesh network, and judge performance, user experience and customer demand during the testing period. Central to the test is creating a repeatable financial and operational model. Following the completion of the test, Covad Wireless will explore expanding the mesh service to additional locations in the region.

Unlike many of the municipal WiFi experiments in other metropolitan areas, the San Carlos test network is an extension of Covad Wireless’ existing, fixed wireless business and benefits from the expertise of Cisco and the participants in the Wireless Silicon Valley initiative.

InnerWireless, Inc. announced that Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will deploy Horizon in its existing facility and its new 317-bed hospital scheduled to open in 2010.

With Horizon, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles will have whole-house clinical mobility including the ability to wirelessly deliver voice, data and location services such as telemetry, WiFi, cellular/PCS and real-time asset tracking.

“Childrens Hospital Los Angeles provides the finest healing environment for seriously ill and injured children, and clinical mobility is key to us because patients, especially children, are most comforted when caregivers remain at the bedside, which is only possible with wirelessly delivered services,” said Steven Garske, vice president and chief information officer of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. “From a technology perspective, InnerWireless provides the assured coverage we need for life-critical services such as WMTS, while also meeting our low-power requirements. InnerWireless was the best choice for our clinicians, our patients and their families.”

Trolltech’s Qtcross-platform development framework is adding support for Microsoft’s WindowsCE operating system. This means that applications developed using Qt on Windows, MacOS X, and Linuxdesktop and embedded platforms can now be easily deployed to a range of mobile devices running on the Windows CE and Windows Mobile operating systems.

“Qt for Windows CE is another milestone in Trolltech’s vision of ‘Qt everywhere’. It will allow application providers to reach out to even more devices by enabling their applications to run across yet another operating system without rewriting the code” said Haavard Nord, CEO and co-founder of Trolltech.

Qt for Windows CE enables developers to write rich, easy-to-use, platform-independent applications, using the intuitive API that Qt is known for. Rather than spending time rewriting their application for new platforms, developers are free to focus on value-adding innovations that can differentiate the user experience of their product.

Qt for Windows CE will be be available as part of the upcoming Qt 4.4 release, which is scheduled to be released in May.

Verizon Wireless said its upcoming Open Development Device Conference will feature the release and publication of Version 1.0 of the technical specifications for new wireless devices that will work on its “Any Device, Any App” network-only service option.

The conference, scheduled for March 19 in New York City, will focus on how traditional device and consumer electronics companies and entrepreneurs new to the wireless ecosystem can bring new wireless devices to the marketplace under Verizon Wireless’ Open Development initiative. The conference will establish shared goals of streamlining the certification and delivery of exciting new devices while preserving the company’s optimal network performance.

The total value of the global mobile music market is expected to rise to more than $17.5 billion by 2012, driven by rental music services and full-track downloads, according to a new report by Juniper Research.

The report notes that unfriendly mobile user interfaces create obstacles to adoption due to difficulty in discovering, accessing, and navigating through the download process as well as multitasking. Other obstacles to adoption include: handset form factors, networks speed/coverage, service pricing, data costs, user confidence, rights management, and industry structure.

According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “I think it’s fair to say that 2007 marked the tipping point as far as mobile music adoption was concerned. Far more subscribers began downloading and subscribing to music content in developed markets, and it must be said that that the publicity surrounding the iPhone launch undoubtedly contributed to consumer awareness of mobile music services per se.”

However, the Juniper report also argues that current prices for ringtones are unsustainable and that the market for such services may already have peaked in a number of developed markets, arguing that competitive pricing allied to a steady migration to ad-funded and/or self-generated ringtones will lead to a gradual decline in global ringtone revenues.

“With some operators now offering full-track downloads at a comparable price to iTunes, there is little justification for a ringtone retail price point that is in many cases two or even three times this level,” said Holden. “Furthermore, those aggregators whose portfolios are largely dependent upon the polyphonic ringtone will be unable to survive in the medium term unless they both rethink their pricing strategies and substantially diversify their product portfolios.”

According to economist Scott Mackey, wireless consumers  pay excessive  state and local taxes for wireless services. The report concludes that taxes and fees on wireless service increased four times faster than taxes on other goods and services in the U.S. between 2003 and 2007.

The report states, “Wireless consumers are subject to a growing number of industry-specific discriminatory taxes andfees on their service. Some states and localities are looking to expand those taxes — many of which originated during a time when the telecommunications industry was characterized by regulated monopolies— even though the wireless marketplace is highly competitive.”

To download report, “Excessive Taxes and Fees on Wireless Services: Excessive Trends” by Scott Mackey click here.

Brickhouse Security is marketing a SIM reader that can read data on cell phone SIMs including deleted messages and phone numbers.

The website asks,”Have you ever wished you can spy on your wife, husband, teens, or colleague phone to see what they are up to? Are they being suspicious when on their cell phone?”

As users become familiar with the concepts of location-based services and navigation, the industry continually explores how best to offer additional location-relevant content. While professionally produced content such as map updates, Points of Interest (POIs), and safety camera locations continue to be the core of many location aware services, user-generated content is becoming increasingly important to industry players’ strategies, according to a recent report from ABI Research.

In recent months, major players and small start-up companies have launched services that engage user communities in updating their existing content and creating new dynamic real-time content. Many of these initiatives are embedded within a mobile social networking context in which real-time experiences are shar

“TomTom has announced that it reached the milestone of 1 million map improvements, as suggested by users via the company’s Map Share technology,” says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. “This feature allows users to enter map corrections on their PNDs (Personal Navigation Devices) while driving. The TomTom Map Share community has grown to more than 500,000 users since its launch in July 2007, demonstrating the willingness of users to contribute to the enhancement of digital map quality. The acquisition of Tele Atlas will allow TomTom to further improve its Map Share technology and to strengthen its community.”

LinkedIn announced over 19 million members can now access a LinkedIn web application via mobile devices with Internet browsers like iPhone and iPod touch, Blackberry, and other web-enabled wireless phones.

LinkedIn members can utilize the LinkedIn network on their mobile devices by logging into the web app at m.linkedin.com. This release is a beta product with the final version expected later this spring. The beta is available immediately in English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese with additional languages to follow

LinkedIn members will be able to immediately take advantage of the following LinkedIn features on their mobile devices - Search LinkedIn profiles including photos and bio information to help recall and connect with business acquaintances at events and conferences - Research the mutual contacts they have with other professionals to help make real world introductions easier - Invitation capability to connect on LinkedIn anywhere - Network update capabilities to receive important updates about your connections while on the go

Morph, a joint nanotechnology concept, developed by Nokia Research Center (NRC) and the University of Cambridge (UK) - was launched today alongside the “Design and the Elastic Mind” exhibition, on view from February 24 to May 12, 2008, at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Morph features in both the exhibition catalog and on MoMA’s official website.

Morph is a concept that demonstrates how future mobile devices might be stretchable and flexible, allowing the user to transform their mobile device into radically different shapes. It demonstrates the ultimate functionality that nanotechnology might be capable of delivering: flexible materials, transparent electronics and self-cleaning surfaces. Dr. Bob Iannucci, Chief Technology Officer, Nokia, commented: “Nokia Research Center is looking at ways to reinvent the form and function of mobile devices; the Morph concept shows what might be possible”.

Dr. Tapani Ryhanen, Head of the NRC Cambridge UK laboratory, Nokia, commented: “We hope that this combination of art and science will showcase the potential of nanoscience to a wider audience. The research we are carrying out is fundamental to this as we seek a safe and controlled way to develop and use new materials.”

The New York Times Company announced today the beta launch of ShifD, an application that provides users the capability to seamlessly shift content between their computers and mobile devices. ShifD eliminates the need to separately save certain information to both a computer and a mobile device. Users can update information from any Web browser, by text message from a mobile phone, through a mobile Web browser or by using the downloadable application on Adobe AIR™. Information added through any of the various methods is saved to the user’s ShifD account and automatically updated on all devices.

For the beta launch users can add and save content through ShifD in three categories:

• Notes - save everything from your grocery list to the book title your friend recommended.
• Links - save links to news articles or links to sites from around the Web to be viewed later.
• Places - save addresses with corresponding maps.

Akoo International Inc., a digital marketing technology and services company, announced a non-exclusive alliance with global marketing and communications agency Leo Burnett USA and its marketing services partner, Arc Worldwide. Akoo and Leo Burnett/Arc will develop digital marketing solutions for leading retailers and brand partners powered by Akoo’s IP-based digital media and advertising platform, m-Venue, the first retail media, or “out-of-home” (OOH), network fully interactive with more than 250 million mobile phones in the U.S.

With Akoo’s network, named m-Venue, mobile users can text a request for a music video, sports clip or fashion show to be delivered to their phone or played on a nearby Akoo television screen, when they receive the entertainment, it enables advertisers to give a message such as a coupon, ad or discount.

The world’s first transceiver integrated on a single chip that operates at 60GHz on the CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) process, the most common semiconductor technology, was announced today by NICTA, Australia’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Research Centre of Excellence.

The development will enable the truly wireless office and home of the future. As the integrated transceiver developed by NICTA is extremely small, it can be embedded into devices. The breakthrough will mean the networking of office and home equipment - without wires - will finally become a reality.

Researchers from NICTA’s Gigabit Wireless Project, which is based out of NICTA’s Victoria Research Laboratory, are the first in the world to have developed an integrated transceiver, a complete transmitter and receiver, on a single chip at 60GHz on CMOS.

This technology breakthrough will enable the wireless transfer of audio and video data at up to 5 gigabits per second, ten times the current maximum wireless transfer rate, at one-tenth the cost. This new technology that transmits up to ten meters has been dubbed GiFI and costs about $10.

Olista, has released a report on key issues encountered by mobile users in accessing mobile content in the last quarter of 2007.

The findings are based on statistical information gleaned from monitoring over eleven million mobile users across five different mobile operators using Olista’s SAM platform, and hundreds of millions of usage events. The overall findings indicate that usability rather than price is negatively impacting user adoption of new mobile data services.

One key finding revealed that over 60% of video and music downloads are being made Off-Portal, graphically illustrating the issue facing operators in hooking users on their own content offerings. Other findings which similarly point to usage difficulties included the fact that 30% of users downloaded the same content over and over again such as the same music track. Yet more alarming statistics revealed that 85% of mobile TV users abandoned the service after the first viewing and after passing through the advice of notice charge without hesitation. The indication from the Olista findings being that the user was experiencing navigational difficulties in moving from one TV channel to the next.

Another important revelation from the survey was that over 70% of users who sign up to content bundles failed to consume any mobile content, indicating that price was not a factor for these users and the barriers to usage were more likely to be associated with ease-of-use or technical problems.

Gartner recently undertook a survey of more than 2,000 consumers in the U.S. and the U.K. with the key survey findings:

• Consumers are more likely to shop rather than to buy from a mobile phone. In the U.S., consumers were twice as likely to check for prices of items as to buy items from their mobile phone (24 percent were likely to check price, and 12 percent were likely to buy on a mobile phone). U.K. consumers posted similar responses (18 percent check price and 11 percent buy).
• Checking item prices and finding stores are two shopping activities particularly suited to consumers on the go. These two activities were in the top three activities to be done on a mobile phone in both the U.S. and U.K. - Openness to receiving promotions on a mobile phone ranked third in the U.S. and fourth in the U.K. Twenty percent of U.S. and 16 percent of U.K. respondents stated that they would be likely to want to receive promotions on their mobile phones.
  
• The younger the consumer, the more likely he or she is to use the mobile phone to conduct retail activities. In the U.S., the "digital native" respondents (ages 18 to 27) were, on average, 1.98 times more likely to do mobile shopping activities than the "boomer" generation respondents (ages 43 to 61). In the U.K., the digital natives were on average 2.63 times more likely to do mobile shopping activities than their boomer counterparts. This is consistent with the assumption that mobile use in the U.K. is considered more advanced than in the U.S.
  
• U.K. consumers were slightly more conservative in stating their likelihood to use the mobile phone to shop, but the relative ranking of the preferred activities was very similar to U.S. consumers. However, digital natives in the U.K. were slightly more aggressive (7 percent more) in stating their likelihood to do mobile shopping activities than U.S. digital natives.

Alltel Wireless customers now have access to GPS applications outside of their home network area with the availability of LBS (location based services) Nationwide Roaming.

Alltel Wireless customers with GPS-capable handsets will benefit from this feature, they now have the ability to use any of Alltel’s navigation and location based applications nationwide. In addition to the existing network, Alltel LBS applications will now function in more than 45 major metro areas that were previously inoperable before of this network enhancement. Standard roaming charges apply, making it easy to access the services needed, wherever and whenever needed.

U.S. Cellular announced the addition of a $99 unlimited national calling plan for new and existing customers to offer convenience and service to both consumer and business customers.  The new national plan allows customers to make unlimited voice calls.

“We recognize that cell phones are critical to helping customers keep connected with the people and activities that matter most to them,” said Jay Ellison, executive vice president and COO of U.S. Cellular.

In addition to the unlimited national calling plan, U.S. Cellular offers a $14.95 unlimited texting plan and a $9.95 unlimited easyedge data package to provide customers with a variety of services to satisfy their individual needs. The company also offers a wide variety of plans that include unlimited free incoming calls and texts.

Information on this limited-time offer will soon be available to customers at www.uscellular.com or at local retail stores.

Sprint Nextel Direct Connect customers will have “push-to-x” capabilities. Push-to-x features bring the convenience of “the button” to multiple Nextel Direct Connect applications, including push-to-send voice messages to any email address, with NextMail(, and push-to-send pictures or contact info with Direct Send(SM).

“Part of our 15 years of experience offering industry-leading Nextel Direct Connect has been offering innovative uses for ‘the button’ with push-to-x features,” said John Garcia, chief marketing officer for Sprint. “Whether it’s reviewing a picture while on a call or quickly sending full contact information, Nextel Direct Connect offers users even more ways to get things done instantly with the button.”

“Instant communication is critical to customers who need to maximize their productivity in our fast-paced world, and Nextel Direct Connect has been providing that capability for years,” said Nate Dyer, senior analyst at Yankee Group. “Sprint has taken that same ‘instant’ customer requirement and extended the simplicity and speed beyond voice calls to a range of other push-to-x capabilities.”

.T-Mobile is offeringTalk HotSpot@Home Talk Forever Mobile Home Phone in Seattle and Dallas that allows users to make and receive unlimited nationwide calls on their “home phone” for $10.00 a month with a T-Mobile Plan.

“You just plug in the router into your broadband connection and plug in your home phone into the router,” You can keep you home phone number.

Talk Forever Home Phone plan Add the Talk Forever Home Phone to your existing T-Mobile calling plan and bring unlimited calling home today. Available on family or individual plans, Talk Forever Home Phone gives you unlimited nationwide calling on your home phone for just $10 a month (plus taxes and fees) when added to any single-line mobile plan $39.99 or higher, or any FamilyTime mobile plan $49.99 or higher. In addition to the great low rate, you’ll also get:

• Domestic long distance
• Call forwarding
• 3-way conference calling
• Voicemail
• Call Holding
• Call Waiting

HotSpot @HomeSM Wireless Router with Home Phone Connection The HotSpot @Home Wireless Router with Home Phone Connection uses your existing high-speed Internet connection to send and receive calls. It’s easy to set up and has built-in features not available in other wireless routers on the market including prioritizing voice calls over other Internet traffic. The Wireless Router with Home Phone Connection is $50 (plus tax) with a 2-year contract.

• Enhanced Bluetooth performance.
• Enables DTMF tones for the slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
• Improves overall device performance and stability.
• Includes Microsoft Adaptation Kit Update (AKU) 0.4.4.

WARNING: During the upgrade process, do not attempt to make/receive calls, press any buttons on your device or disconnect the device from the USB cable as this will stop the update and your device will be rendered inoperable!!!

The upgrade process takes up to 10 minutes. It is recommended that you close all programs on your PC prior to starting the update program and do not open any applications or files while the update is in process. All personal data stored on the device will be lost. Make sure you save all pictures, videos, and important files to your PC prior to performing the update process.

To get the upgrade go to htc.

Sales of mobile phone accessories are expected to generate over $40 billion in revenue in 2008. Handset vendors and mobile operators know that to increase sales of their feature-rich handsets, they also need to provide accessories that will allow users to fully enjoy and benefit from the applications and features supported by the handsets. This means providing accessories such as headsets, memory cards, and data connection kits, in addition to chargers and batteries.

The growing popularity of mobile phones with large screens and touchscreens is resulting in strong sales of accessory products that offer handset protection, such as carry cases, covers, screen protectors, and scratch removers. Audio-video playback capabilities in handsets are resulting in growing demand for earphones and headsets, as well as memory cards to enable storage of music, videos and images. Also, the need for connecting the mobile phone to the PC/laptop for transferring multimedia and data files means a greater need for accessory products such as data connection kits and USB chargers.

ABI Research expects the market for mobile phone accessories to grow steadily in the next five years, generating over $80 billion in revenue in 2012. The firm’s recent study “Mobile Phone Accessories” examines the market landscape and future potential for mobile phone accessory products. It discusses the various types of mobile phone accessories, their features and pricing, key suppliers, market outlook, and vendor market share analysis for key accessories, as well as in-depth analysis for both in-box and aftermarket mobile phone accessories.

Fuel cell maker Angstrom Power and mobile phone maker Motorola have teamed up to create a prototype mobile phone that runs on a hydrogen fuel cell. The hydrogen fuel cell that extracts hydrogen from water and then extracts electrons from the hydrogen.

The company claims that the fuel cells will offer a runtime approximately twice that of a traditional lithium battery.

The prototype has been running for six months.

Key findings of the survey:

• 90 percent of respondents who play games felt that gaming on a BlackBerry device or other smartphone device was a superior experience to that of a traditional feature-phone device
• 91 percent of respondents who prefer playing games on a BlackBerry device or other smartphone device said that they would be unlikely to switch back to a traditional feature phone for entertainment products, citing the better image quality, larger screen size, easier controls and easier product downloading all as important factors
• Over half (51 percent) of respondents said that they played games on their BlackBerry device or other smartphone device more than on any other type of gaming platform/hardware (computer, console, handheld, arcade, etc.); among women only, this figure was 60 percent
• 83 percent of respondents fell within the 22-49 age segment

"This survey speaks volumes about the powerful riptide smartphone and BlackBerry devices are creating in the mobile entertainment market," said Nicholas Reichenbach, executive vice president of publishing for Magmic Games. "The results suggest that positive entertainment experiences on devices are a critical factor in product adoption and loyalty. As a result, it is important for mobile carriers, OEMs and entertainment publishers to continue efforts to offer compelling entertainment products to mobile customers."

Rave Wireless, announced the introduction of its upgraded Rave Guardian product. Rave Guardian is a personal safety tool that lets students use their mobile phone to instantly share location and critical safety information with campus security, whenever and wherever they’re in distress. With the new release, available later this spring, Rave Guardian will become accessible to all students at participating universities, on any cell phone or service provider of a student’s choice. The new Rave Guardian utilizes location information from various sources including GPS data when available.

Rave Guardian is simple to use both for students and campus security staff. For example, a student who’s walking across campus late at night can activate the Rave Guardian timer directly from his cell phone if/when he’s feeling uncomfortable or unsafe. When the student reaches his destination safely, he deactivates the Guardian timer and campus police will not be alerted. If the student hits the Rave Guardian panic button or the timer expires prior to deactivation, however, campus police are immediately notified. Rave Guardian provides “best available” student location information to campus police. If the student uses a carrier that provides GPS data access, Rave Guardian will automatically display the student’s location on a big-screen console in the campus safety center and/or on Windows Mobile devices for officers in the field. This allows campus police to know when a student needs help, and to respond to the situation more quickly and with more information.