March 2008 Archives
Before we head across the desert to Las Vegas, we'd like to summarize the pre-almost-show buzz for CTIA Wireless 2008.
- Motorola Q9c from three new carriers.
- Verizon's release of the Moto Q9c, enV2, BlackBerry Curve 8330, Verizon XV6900, and Saumsung Alias.
- AT&T's release of the 3G HSPA, Sony Z750a in hot pink, purple and basic black.
Open source OS LiMo 1 is ready to go.
Kid's MVNO Kajeet now has GPS locator services.
Sony offers films/PIX via AT&T, 6 new mobile games, and play-during -show Jeopardy!
Cricket will offer unlimited mobile broadband in Oklahoma.
New phones that will be on view:
- The LG Vu -an iPhone-like touchscreen phone will be on view at the LG booth.
- The 3G Moto Z9 from AT&T will be revealed.
At CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas, kajeet (www.kajeet.com), the cell phone service made for kids, today announced a new GPS Phone Locator service to help both kids and parents find the kajeet phone. This makes kajeet the only pre-paid operator to offer a GPS phone locator to both parents and kids.
The kajeet GPS Phone Locator uses satellite technology to help find your child’s phone and gives subscribing families easy-to-use information regarding the location of their kajeet phone via Web-based maps. Parents can schedule automatic location checks at specific times of the day, so they know where their kid’s kajeet phone is at any given time - whether the phone is in their child’s backpack on the school bus or in their sports bag at soccer practice. Kids can also use the service to help find their phone, addressing another concern of parents and kids who want to find a misplaced kajeet phone.
Starting April 13, 2008, kajeet will offer GPS Phone Locator with a free three-month trial to all kajeet customers who subscribe to the service. Thereafter, the service will cost just $9.99/month per phone. To subscribe and activate the service, kajeet customers simply log into their account at www.kajeet.com.
Sony Pictures Television announced PIX, the first film network for mobile phones available via AT&T’s Mobile TV that will launch in May. .
Sony properties, Columbia, TriStar, Screen Gems and Sony Classics will
supply the films for PIX. First ttitles available will be Ghostbusters,
Philadelphia and Stand by Me. Films wil run for one month and new titles will be added weekly.
Sony Pictures Televisionannounced a slate of six new mobile games to be released in 2008 today at the CTIA convention in Las Vegas. The games, based on some of the studio’s feature films and television shows, and PSP system games, are scheduled to come out from June through November of this year. Other titles, not yet announced, may also join the line up. They include Hancock, Afterworld Global Contact, Rock and Roll Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune Road Trip, Quantum of Solace, and LocoRoco.
Nuance Communications, announced that
the Nuance Mobile flagship VSuite application is shipping on the
Palm Centro smartphone from AT&T. Palm has expanded its use of Nuance Mobile speech solutions to
deliver hands-free voice control capabilities to its broad portfolio
of mobile devices.
Palm has selected Nuance VSuite to enable hands-free,
one-step access to mobile applications and content. VSuite offers a
speech-based user interface for hands-free, eyes-free access to
smartphone features. In addition to being included on the Centro from
AT&T, VSuite is provided on the Treo 755p from Verizon Wireless.
VSuite is also supported on all Palm OS based Palm Treo
smartphones.
Cricket Communications debuted the UTStarcom UM100C tri-band USB modem in Tulsa, Okla, bringing its unlimited wireless broadband services to new Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) markets across the country, The UM100C mobile broadband USB modem provides high-speed, wide-area wireless connectivity enabling Cricket customers to freely use their laptop computer or PC within Cricket’s existing broadband wireless markets and new AWS markets offering Cricket Wireless Internet Service.
Cricket customers can purchase the new modem for just $99 using a combination of instant and mail-in rebates. The Cricket monthly broadband service plan is just $35 per month for users who also subscribe to one of Cricket’s low-cost unlimited voice plans, and only $40 per month without the voice plan.
The LiMo Foundation, a global consortium of mobile leaders delivering an open handset platform for the whole mobile industry, announced today the on-schedule availability of LiMo Platform Release 1. The LiMo Platform is the world’s first globally competitive, Linux-based software platform for mobile devices.
The LiMo Platform—leveraging standards and open-source projects—is a modular, plug-in, hardware-independent architecture built around an open operating system, with a secure run-time environment for support of downloaded applications. All of the enabling technology within Release 1—created by the foundation’s Founder members—has now been commercially deployed and proven within multiple handsets enjoyed by consumers today, as well as in several reference and pilot devices that will be on the market later this year. This represents hundreds of millions of dollars of technology investment to date.
Release 2 of the LiMo Platform is now being specified and developed within a collaborative process involving a range of LiMo members and is planned to be completed in a late 2008 timeframe.
Verizon Wireless announced the XV6900 will be available in April. The Verizon Wireless XV6900 is a touch-screen phone, optimized for easy navigation with the swipe of a finger. It has touch access to local weather reports, navigating to the Internet, flipping through photos, or one-touch dialing
of loved ones, they can interact with a myriad of the XV6900's features
with just a flick of their fingers.The Verizon Wireless XV6900 leverages the broad functionality and communication capabilities of Windows Mobile 6 Professional with access to Outlook Mobile for smooth e-mail integration, Office Mobile and the ability to run a bevy of third-party applications. Verizon Wireless customers will also have the ability to surf the Web through Internet Explorer(R) Mobile, send and receive e-mails or chat on popular Messenger services including AIM, MSN, Yahoo!. Designed with the sophisticated customer in mind, the Verizon Wireless XV6900 allows customers to view and edit Microsoft Wordand Excel files, as well as view Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Reader LE PDF Viewer and view, extract and create new ZIP files and attachments.
The home screen on the XV6900 provides one-touch access to e-mail, text messages, calendar appointments and contacts, as well as current weather conditions and forecasts for hundreds of cities around the world.
The XV6900 will be available online and in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores, including those in Circuit City, for $349.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. An additional $100 credit toward the purchase of the handset is available for customers who sign up for qualifying voice and data plans at the time of purchase.
Verizon Wireless and Samsung announced the Alias by Samsung
will be available in mid-April. The successor to the popular Samsung
SCH-u740, sports the familiar dual-hinge design of the SCH-u740 but is
packaged in a silver finish and features an updated easy-to-read
full-QWERTY keyboard, making the phone ideal for sending text messages and
e-mails. When customers open the Alias vertically, the phone is a sleek and stylish clamshell phone. When the Alias is opened horizontally, the QWERTY keyboard is revealed to show its new color-defined numbers and letters. In addition to sending text messages, customers can use Wireless Sync, Verizon Wireless' proprietary personal information management solution, to synchronize their phones with their home or office PCs for easy access to e-mail, calendar, contacts and task information.
The Alias will be available in mid-April for $129.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.
Today at CTIA in Las Vegas, Motorola is expanding its mobile device portfolio in the US with the introduction of new smartphones that deliver must-have features and the style consumers’ desire. MOTO Q gets extended reach with the addition of the Q9c at Verizon Wireless, and Alltel and US Cellular will offer the QWERTY device in two color options, MOTO Q9 licorices and MOTO Q9c lime.
The first HSPA phone will be available from AT&T -the new clamshell Sony Ericsson Z750a. As Sony Ericsson's first 3G/HSDPA handset for the U.S. market, the Z750a features mobile broadband for a high-speed Internet connection and access to multimedia content that complements its multimedia player, 2.0 megapixel camera, Internet browser and e-mail capability using AT&T's Mobile Email application.
The Z750a offers features such as data download transfer
speeds from 600 to 1400 kbps from AT&T's
High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) 3G network, support for AT&T's
Mobile Email, a 2.0 megapixel camera, full HTML web browsing
capabilities and stereo Bluetooth
support (A2DP).
The Z750a also offers 3D gaming capabilities, a media player that supports numerous media file types for listening to your favorite music tracks and video. The phone has up to 26MB of internal memory and is Memory Stick Micro (M2) compatible - currently upgradeable to 8GB - providing ample storage space for photos, videos, music, games and more.
The Sony Ericsson Z750a will be available at AT&T stores and authorized dealers in early April for $49.99 after a $100 mail-in-rebate and new two-year service contract.
The successor to the popular enV by
LG, the new enV2 gets a makeover with a new slim redesign and sophisticated black or maroon finish. The enV2
supports V
CAST Music and Video, VZ Navigator, Bluetooth
capabilities, dual speakers and a 2.0 megapixel camera. The phone's
spacious QWERTY keypad with large sized external keys makes messaging
easy, while its 2.4-inch internal screen offers crisp, crystal-clear
videos and images. The enV2 by LG will be available for $129.99 after a $50 rebate with a new two-year customer agreement.
What game will you be able to play on your mobile phone while you watch it on TV and ask questions?
Sony’s quiz show, Jeopardy!, and AirPlay, developer of multiplayer TV games, announced today that they have entered into an agreement to develop a multiplayer mobile game that will allow users to play along live with Jeopardy! contestants while the show airs.
RIM and Verizon Wireless announced the BlackBerry Curve 8330 - a robust, lightweight device backed by Verizon Wireless’ EV-DO network. The BlackBerry Curve 8330 will be available through Verizon Wireless in May.
The BlackBerry Curve 8330 features advanced multimedia capabilities, premium phone features, a rapid HTML browser and support for VZ Navigator, Verizon Wireless’ location-based GPS service. The smartphone is supported by the renowned BlackBerry e-mail solution, giving customers access to up to 10 supported personal and corporate e-mail accounts, including most popular ISP e-mail accounts. It is also supported by the BlackBerry Enterprise Server for enterprise deployments and BlackBerry Professional Software for small businesses, enabling advanced security and IT administration within business e-mail environments.
Autonet Mobile's patent pending TRU Technology leverages a new
cellular data module from Novatel Wireless to deliver an IP Platform
specifically designed for cars on the move. The combined solution
provides significant performance gains with multiple users connecting
to the Internet at the same time, while in the car. The technology
enables passengers to easily surf the Web, check email and play games
on-line, as well as access personal content using any Wi-Fi enabled
device within close proximity to the vehicle.
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The video spokesguy on Sling Media Mobile says he likes to watch the game on his mobilephone and pretends that he is texting, because “Texting in a meeting is not nearly as rude as watching TV in a meeting.”
Now there are more handsets that support Sling Media Mobile that lets you watch the programming from your TV on any Sling compatible device. At CTIA they will be adding Sony Ericsson and Nokia device support.
Sling Media nnounced SlingPlayer Mobile for UIQ on Symbian OS that will bring their mobile TV experience
to this popular smartphone platform. Separately, Sling Media is
announcing that its existing SlingPlayer Mobile for S60 on Symbian OS
will soon support Nokia’s popular N95 8GB, which will also be
demonstrated at CTIA.
Microvision will be showing its palm-sized, ultra-thin mobile laser projector prototype, code named SHOW and a micro scanner at CTIA.
Based on the company’s PicoP display engine technology, SHOW has already attracted the interest and joint development initiatives of mobile handset device manufactures, carriers and content providers. As either a mobile device accessory—or embedded module in a handset—mobile devices that integrate Microvision’s PicoP display engine into their products will be able to project any kind of digital content in a large, full-color, high-resolution format onto any surface.
“No more squinting at images and text on small mobile device screens. Consumers want a great big display that lets them project and share TV, digital photos, movies, and games—as well as browse the web—directly from their cell phones and other mobile devices. We invite CTIA attendees to experience the difference that a pocket-sized projector can make,” says Alexander Tokman, president and CEO of Microvision.
Cricket Communications, a provider of unlimited wireless services, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. announced two new CDMA AWS handsets from Samsung, the MyShot and Spex.
Starting tomorrow, the Samsung MyShot, the world’s first CDMA AWS camera phone, and the Samsung Spex mobile phone will be commercially available at Cricket retail stores in Tulsa, Okla., and will be available soon in all Cricket markets nationwide.
Designed to operate on the new AWS spectrum band, the tri-band Samsung MyShot and Samsung Spex also operate on the PCS and cellular bands, enabling them to work in all existing Cricket wireless markets stretching from California to New York. These new phones will also work in new Cricket markets slated to begin launching this year including Oklahoma City, Okla. and Las Vegas, Nev.
Plusmo (www.plusmo.com), the leading provider of mobile widgets, announced today the launch of free mobile widgets for this year’s NCAA basketball tournament. Using Plusmo’s widget service, devoted fans of NCAA college basketball will have instant access to the latest scores, schedules and news using their mobile device.
The NCAAB Plusmo widget will automatically update, eliminating the need for constant web page refreshes and long waits, and can be accessed at: http://ncaab.plusmo.com using a mobile device. Plusmo’s NCAA basketball service is supported on all the major mobile device platforms, including off-the-shelf feature phones and smartphones such as iPhones, Symbian phones, RIM Blackberry devices, Windows Mobile smartphones, Palm Treos and Pocket PC-enabled PDAs.
A live summary of all the games in progress at-a-glance is available on the Plusmo widget’s home page. From the home page, a simple user interface allows users to easily navigate and get one-click access to schedules, standings, breaking news and team rosters for any team, region or match. Fans can easily customize the widget to follow their favorite teams. With such in-depth and personalized coverage at their finger-tips, fans will never be out of touch with the latest developments of the tournament.
A new survey of US consumers from Bamboo MediaCasting, Inc. indicates that the mobile media industry still needs to resolve a few nagging problems matters like image quality, bandwidth limitations and the overall consumer experience.
In association with Chicago market researcher Synovate, Bamboo MediaCasting1,000 online consumers, What do you think is apt to be the most frustrating part about viewing video on a cell phone?
According to the Bamboo/Synovate eNation study, conducted in early March, 51 percent of total respondents expect that mobile video subscriptions will be too expensive. Among those who did not cite cost, 45.5 percent anticipate that image quality will be poor; 27 percent expect speed will be an issue that is, they expect that content will be slow to load; 17 percent say the process will be too complex too many steps will be involved to make things work; and 10 percent anticipate that content choices will be limited.
Verizon Wireless and Loopt, a social-mapping service, announced today Loopt will be available next month on select Verizon Wireless phones.
With Loopt, Verizon Wireless customers can leverage their phones’ location-based services capabilities to share location information, status messages and geo-tagged photos with their community of friends. Loopt users can view where friends in their private network are located via a map displayed on their mobile phones and connect and share their locations with anyone in their address books or AIM buddy lists. Detailed Loopt maps that show Verizon Wireless users where friends are, what they are doing, and how to meet up with them, transform their Verizon Wireless phones into active social tools to connect, share and explore the real world.
Verizon Wireless customers will be able to purchase Loopt beginning in April in the Tools on the Go and Featured Applications shopping aisle in the Get It Now(R) virtual store. Loopt will be available for $3.99 monthly access.
AT&T and MediaFLO USA Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated announced today the launch of AT&T Mobile TV with FLO, a mobile television service featuring high quality live programming. The mobile TV service will launch in May 2008 on two new exclusive handsets, the LG Vu and the Samsung Access. AT&T Mobile TV will also feature two exclusive channels, which will be announced soon.
AT&T Mobile TV will deliver full-length television content and sporting events from top networks, including programming from leading entertainment brands CBS Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, FOX Mobile, MTV, NBC 2GO, NBC News2Go and Nickelodeon.
“AT&T Mobile TV is a powerful new mobile entertainment offering, which will give our customers a formidable lineup of sports, news and primetime shows, including two channels exclusive available to AT&T customers,” said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data for AT&T’s wireless unit. “We are thrilled to team with MediaFLO USA to offer our customers an unmatched mobile entertainment experience that is changing the way we all look at TV.”
Aircell announced the completion and full operational readiness of the nation’s first wireless network designed specifically to provide mobile broadband services to commercial and business airline passengers while flying over the U.S. The company’s wireless network enables full corporate and personal email, VPN access, web surfing and much more. Aircell, a 16-year leader in business aviation communications, now marks another historical milestone in the company’s history by placing into full operational service the nation’s first mobile broadband network built for aircraft operating in the continental U.S.
In January of this year, the company completed its nationwide wireless Air-To-Ground (ATG) network, bringing for the first time coast-to-coast, border-to-border, mobile broadband coverage over the U.S. to commercial airlines and business aircraft. Unlike all other wireless networks in the nation, the Aircell network can provide air travelers with seamless connectivity when using their inflight mobile broadband Internet service, called Gogo — a first for the communications industry and a first for the U.S. aerospace industry. The world’s largest airline, American Airlines and one of America’s newest airlines, Virgin America, have already signed agreements with Aircell to deploy its service in 2008.
BMI has released its annual projection for U.S. ringtone sales and for the first time released a U.S. ringback tone market projection for 2007, estimating that the 2007 music ringtone market will dip to $550 million in retail sales, down $50 million from calendar year 2006. BMI pegged the market at $600 million in calendar year 2006, $500 million in 2005, $245 million in 2004 and $68 million in 2003.
BMI projects that ringbacks will generate approximately $65 million in retail content revenues in 2007, the company’s first market estimate of the long-awaited rollout of the ringback tone market. A ringback tone is a musical work that is performed to the caller when they place a call to a participating mobile subscriber.
BMI’s estimates are based on more than 520 million individual, detailed ringtone transactions analyzed by the organization over the past 12 consecutive quarters. BMI tracks census sales data on more than 325 outlets for the sale of mobile entertainment in the U.S.
NTT DoCoMo announced that in experiments with the University of Tokyo, it has successfully demonstrated the world’s first molecular delivery system for molecular communication. This system could one day be incorporated into cellphones enabling instant remote diagnosis of the user’s health and emotional state.
A cell phone could be equipped with a small biochip for analysis that would be able to extract single molecules from the user’s sweat, or blood. After analyzing the data could alert the user to a range of diseases, or simply the person’s level of stress, anxiety or excitement.
The data generated from the biochip would be transmitted to a medical specialist over the cellular network. DoCoMo says the system could be used, for example, for remote health checks or preventive medicine.
Wireless and Mobile News just received a phone call from Bob
Hafner, Managing VP at Gartner, regarding Gartner’s speculations on the new
iPhone.
“Gartner speculates that the new iPhone will have 3G,” said Hafner, “Steve Jobs has hinted at the possibility previously.” It would be a natural progression for Apple’s leading edge trendsetting, notes Hafner.
Apple’s early adoption style, leads Gartner to also predict that the new iPhone will have an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display which would reduce power consumption, weight, and thickness of the phone. If or when China manufacturers get orders for the new iPhones, Gartner expects an order of 10 million units would be a reasonable number.
Nokia Siemens Networks launched their downlink Dual Carrier EDGE software solution, ushering the first steps of EDGE Evolution into Nokia Siemens Networks’ GSM/EDGE radio portfolio. This solution offers double data speeds of up to 592 kbps to existing EDGE-capable GSM networks, thus enabling a mobile broadband experience, such as maintaining relationships in virtual societies, posting video clips to blogs in real time or streaming the latest news in mobile TV.
Nokia Siemens Networks’ Dual Carrier EDGE solution, which will be available as a software upgrade from Q3 2008 onwards is the first step in evolving EDGE. As a strong innovator of EDGE Evolution, Nokia Siemens Networks already has additional plans to introduce in its networks the next substantial step, the so called EGPRS 2, to further boost end user experience in up- and downlink performance. This will result in downlink speeds of up to 1.2 Mbps and will double uplink speed to up to 473 kbps, thus quadrupling the capabilities of EDGE today. EDGE Evolution is based on the 3GPP release 7 standard.
Comment from Wireless and Mobile News: This product could make iPhone users very peppy and happy if adopted by AT&T.
AT&T announced the immediate availability of two new music
applications — mSpot’s Make-UR-Tones and Remix — and plans to
significantly expand offerings for Napster Mobile over-the-air
downloads.
- Make-UR-Tones allows customers to customize ringtones by using their mobile phone.
- The Remix application gives customers
access to their PC-based music collections directly from their phone.
- Napster will debut this summer and allowing more AT&T customers tobe able to search a catalog of more than 5 million songs from their AT&T wireless phone,
Alltel ranks highest in wireless call quality in two regions and ties with T-Mobile to rank highest in a third, while Verizon Wireless leads in two regions and U.S. Cellular ranks highest in one region, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Wireless Call Quality Performance Study(SM)-Volume 1.
The semi-annual study measures wireless call quality based on seven problem areas that impact overall carrier performance: dropped calls; static/interference; failed connection on the first try; voice distortion; echoes; no immediate voice mail notification; and no immediate text message notification. Call quality issues are measured as problems per 100 (PP100) calls, where a lower score reflects fewer problems and higher quality.
Motorola Inc., whose share of the worldwide mobile phone market has been in a downward spiral for several quarters, announced Wednesday morning its intention to split the company into two publicly traded entities. One company will focus on mobile handsets and accessories while the other will concentrate on its remaining businesses, which include wireless broadband and enterprise communications.
There are many uncertainties remaining around this announcement, none more apparent than, will the split actually happen and when? Motorola’s public statement confirmed that its board has commenced a process that would split the company, but included a caveat saying “if” the split is consummated, it is not likely to happen before next year.
Also in question is how the Motorola brand - critical to its handset business as well as its home and enterprise networking products - would be leveraged across both companies. How will intellectual property, systems and services be divided or shared? But the main unanswered question - which goes to the root of the announcement - is, how will spinning off the handset division help bring its handset business back onto stable ground?
Gadfly activist investor Carl Icahn has a lot of questions about Motorola’s decision to split into two entities. yesterday, Icahn sent Motorola’s board a letter call the decision “much
delayed and long overdue” and”step in the right direction.”
However Icahn is concerned about the timeframe for the split, asking for it to happen quickly. He questions the statement made in the conference call, “there can be no assurances that any transaction will
ultimately occur.”
Verizon Wireless saidit has filed a lawsuit to stop unknown telemarketers from calling its customers and employees with an offer of an extended car warranty. The lawsuit, filed in New Jersey Superior Court, alleges the telemarketers illegally used an autodialer to reach Verizon Wireless customers and used “spoofing” techniques to mask the origin of the calls.
The lawsuit alleges that Caller ID showed calls were made from a variety of numbers with 281, 614, 801, and 562 area codes. But, when Verizon Wireless customers and employees attempted to call the numbers found on Caller ID, they generally heard a fast busy signal, indicating a non-working number.
“Telemarketers are using increasingly sophisticated methods, such as illegal autodialing, to harass our customers,” said Steven E. Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel of Verizon Wireless. “Whatever the method, these unlawful telemarketing calls are an annoyance to our customers and invade their privacy, and we will continue to use every weapon in our legal arsenal to stop this activity and protect our customers.”
BlackLine GPS offers Geo-socializing for BlackBerry ussers with Blip Friends, family, and co-workers can now share their location with any GPS-enabled BlackBerry smartphone. BlackLine GPS Inc. (“BlackLine”), released Blip, a free geo-social networking platform for GPS-enabled BlackBerry smartphones that allows users to share their location amongst friends, family members, and co-workers. Blip adds a new dimension to social networking through location-based awareness which effectively enhances users’ degree of connectedness, life efficiency, and geographic awareness of their social circle.
Blip is available now for a free download at http://www.blacklinegps.com/blip/ . Users install Blip over-the-air from their Internet browser on their BlackBerry smartphone. From within the Blip application, the user can create an account, activate their BlackBerry smartphone, share their location, and interact with other devices shared to their account. No computer is necessary.
AskMeNow announced they will be showcasing their groundbreaking mobile solutions for consumers, publishers, advertisers and distributors at CTIA Wireless 2008 .
On display at CTIA will be AskMeNow’s beta mobile site which features a natural language search of Wikipedia, along with easy lookup of a wide range of information including directory assistance, sports scores, weather forecasts, stock quotes, horoscopes, travel info, movie times, news headlines and comparison shopping.
Wayfinder the leading supplier of innovative location and navigation services for mobile phones, today announced that it is introducing its Wayfinder Active application in the U.S. and Canada. Wayfinder Active is a free GPS application for mobile phones with a unique combination of maps, GPS recording and statistics that is designed for people who enjoy running, hiking, skiing, biking or other outdoor activities.
Wayfinder Active is a simple, fun, safe and social way to stay connected to others with similar outdoor interests. Once the application is installed on a mobile phone, each user will have access to a world wide map and the ability to record and share routes with a single keystroke. Users can follow in the footsteps of friends’ adventures and training routes by importing routes and tracks directly from and to their mobile phone.
Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc. are beived to be in discussions to fund a new wireless Internet WiMAX venture thatwith Sprint. and Clearwire, reported The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Comcast would contribute up to $1 billion, while Time Warner Cable would add another $,500 million, the Journal reported.
Alltel Wireless, announced that customers with video-capable phones now have
exclusive access to Alltel Social Video, a new application that
allows customers to share and rate videos from a wide range of online
outlets. To deliver the application, Alltel Wireless has teamed with
Transpera, a leading provider of mobile video services, which provides
the first comprehensive platform to monetize Web video on mobile phones.
Customers can subscribe to the service for $2.99 per month and access videos from sources such as Break.com, the leading online entertainment channel for men; AtomFilms, one of the world’s leading brands for independent entertainment; and GrindTV.com, a site widely recognized as the top online destination for action-oriented videos and content. After viewing the videos, customers have the option to rate the video or share the content via the “Send-to-Friend” feature. In addition, customers can search for videos across channels, create custom playlists and manage distribution lists.
"One of our prototypes - a 3.5G BlackBerry. It's very fast over third-generation networks that have HSDPA," said Lazadaris.
A new service online service Skydeck helps people to take control of their cell phones and their cell phone bills. Skydeck unlocks the information hidden in a cell
phone bill. Their software fetches bills from the cell phone
company and combines that information with the customer's address book to show the name with the phone number, allowing customers to search and organize calls the way their email is searched and organized. There is also a social networking feature.In the future, Skydeck plans to introduce a range of products and services that will help consumers and small businesses to get maximum value out of their cell phones and we will charge a fee for some of these. But the current version of Skydeck is free to individual consumers and always will be.
Mobile music services company,mSpot, has teamed with NAVTEQ’s Traffic.com to bring live traffic content to mSpot Radio. mSpot subscribers will receive a mobile optimized version of Traffic.com’s live JamCast audio traffic reports for more than 30 U.S. cities. mSpot is implementing an ad-based model offered by Traffic.com and will receive a share of advertising revenue in return for distribution across mobile operators carrying mSpot Radio.
“The structure of this deal is the right model for mSpot going forward, allowing us to keep improving content programming without budgetary constraint,” said Daren Tsui, co-founder and CEO of mSpot. “It marks mSpot’s initial move into ad supported content, which allows us to provide our listeners with more options, while also providing mSpot an additional revenue stream.”
MultiMedia Intelligence reports the worldwide unit shipments of music phones exceeded ½ billion units in 2007, outnumbering shipments of personal media players like the iPod by almost 300 million units. In 2011, over half of all mobile phones can be considered music phones with 941 million units shipped. MultiMedia Intelligence defines a music phone as a phone with two features: (1) Music codec functionality: MP3, AAC, etc. and (2) memory slot which allows for a full featured music experience by allowing the user to carry a personal music library. This is really only possible with expandable memory.
“Voice commoditization and falling voice ARPU are driving a shift in wireless operators to focus on data revenue models and services,” according to Frank Dickson, Chief Research Officer for MultiMedia Intelligence. “Music has been the first ‘killer app’ for the operators to drive the consumption of premium content on the handset. As polyphonic ringtones gave way to realtones, operators found consumers desire to personalize their handsets as a way to enhance ARPUs. Music companies discovered a way to sell a form of music which was less susceptible to piracy and provides incremental revenue.”
The CEO of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Rolf Schmidt-Holt in an interview said that the company is developing an online music subscription service that would give users unlimited access to its music and be compatible with most digital music players.
The interivew was in the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
published Monday. No date was set for the service.
Google is asking the US government to allow the unlicensed frequencies of TV “white space” (the unused blocks between broadcast TV and analog waves) to be used for broadband access by writing a open letter.
Google would like to see the white space used to bring “ubiquitous wireless broadband access to all Americans”. TV broadcasters previously opposed the use of white space because it could interfere with television programming.
Google has said that devices designed to take advantage of the white space spectrum could be on the market by the end of 2009.