April 2008 Archives

NMS Communications today unveiled the NMS Partner Network, a new partner program aimed at enhancing new product innovation, broadening efficient support services to customers and growing the company's global sales channel. The network establishes a community of technology and channel partners working together to further the development and adoption of both traditional and new value-added services. These services range from voicemail and audio conferencing to self-service speech automation interactive voice response (IVR) systems, ringback tones, voice short message service (SMS), and interactive mobile video.

The NMS Partner Network is designed for two types of NMS partners: technology partners, known as Telecom Innovators; and channel partners. Telecom Innovators include systems integrators, who develop and manage services on NMS technology for enterprises and service providers; telecommunications equipment providers, whose products interoperate within an NMS technology environment; and solutions developers, who design in NMS technology as an integral part of their applications and systems.

FierceWireless has named it’s top 15 of the most innovative and smart emerging companies in the wireless industry, FierceWireless’ annual Fierce 15 list.

1. Bluepulse - a free mobile social messenger.
2. Carrier IQ - the only company embedding diagnostic software in the phone.
3. Celltrust - enables enterprises to connect, exchange and transact mobile data securely
4. Cequint - provides technology that enables wireless carriers to offer enhanced Caller ID services which includes city ID.
5. ChaCha - “mobile answers” text message service.
6. DeviceAnywhere - database of devices for developers.
7. Firetide - 70 Mbps wireless backhaul for data, VoIP, and real-time video.
8. Loopt - LBS coupled with social networking.
9. mFoundry - mFoundry is becoming the platform for mobile banking: Motorola and PayPal are among its investors.
10. Pelago - Pelago’s first product, Whrrl, allows you to discover the world through the eyes of your friends and other people you trust..
11. Sequans Communications - WiMAX silicon provider.
12. SkyCross - specializes in advanced antenna technology.
13. Ubiquisys - femtocell innovator.
14. uLocate - LBS specialty and the proud owner of www.where.com.
15. vLingo - voice recognition engine.

“One thing all our Fierce 15 companies have in common is a bright executive team and the potential to advance the wireless industry. Here are the firms that we think will become great success stories.” wrote editor Sue.

Hands-On Mobile and Marvel Entertainment, announced the availability of the mobile game and personalization content around the forthcoming big-screen adaptation of Marvel’s legendary Super Hero, Iron Man. The game and content is currently available on select carriers around the world, and will continue to roll out to additional carriers in the coming weeks.

In the vertically scrolling shoot-‘em-up Iron Man mobile game, players take control of the invincible Iron Man while fighting through four levels of nonstop action based on the upcoming movie starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and Terrence Howard. Equipped with repulsor rays and the devastating unibeam, players will visit many locations, including those from the movie, while at the same time blasting away at enemy forces equipped with the weapons Tony Stark had himself developed. Iron Man must collect power-ups to increase the effectiveness of each weapon and destroy relentless waves of enemy units en route to a climactic confrontation with the world’s greatest new foe: Iron Monger!

Iron Man is set to be released by Paramount Pictures in theaters May 2. For information and other exciting Marvel Mobile content, visit www.MarvelMobile.com. Iron Man the mobile game may be downloaded in the U.S. by text messaging IRON to 46966.

AdMob announced the introduction of AdMob Mobile Analytics. AdMob Mobile Analytics delivers a solution for understanding user behavior and makes it easy to measure the usage of mobile websites and advertising 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 advertising 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.

Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications announced plans to release a new technology that, for the first time, bridges the Abobe®Flash Lite and Java ME development platforms. The new technology and tools, referred to as Project Capuchin, make it possible to combine the richness of Flash Lite and Java ME technologies allowing developers to utilize the best attributes of both software stacks to create content-rich mobile applications.

Sony Ericsson has plans to make the technology available during the second half of 2008 and will demonstrate Project Capuchin enabled applications at the JavaOne Developer Event in San Francisco, May 6 - 9, booth 718 in the Pavilion.

Project Capuchin will allow pure Flash Lite content to be encapsulated in Java ME applications with the help of Sony Ericsson Developer World tools, making content created by Adobe Flash technology appear as Java ME applications.

Project Capuchin will provide developers with an intuitive tool to create applications with a cleaner user interface (UI) without sacrificing the strong, feature rich and widely deployed Java ME infrastructure, including secure, well-developed content distribution. Project Capuchin’s bridging software will empower two distinct developer communities to leverage their respective expertises to create the next generation of highly engaging and immersive mobile content.

More advanced capabilities will allow Flash Lite technology to handle an entire presentation layer and make it possible to create Java ME applications where some or all UI components are defined in Flash.

Verizon Wireless, builder and operator of the nation’s most reliable wireless network, today announced the enV2 by LG will be available on April 30 at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores across the nation. The new phone, revealed at CTIA WIRELESS 2008, features a redesign of the original enV by LG and will also be sold at Circuit City and online at www.verizonwireless.com.

The enV2 is geared towards on-the-go texters and music and video fans. In addition to its pocket-sized good looks, the phone is available in two sleek finishes - black and maroon.

Check out Wireless and Mobile News Review of Reviews of the LG enV2.

The Associated Press announced that wireless customers with video-capable phones will be able to view video on the soon-to-be launched Mobile News Network. To deliver this capability, The Associated Press has selected Transpera, a leading provider of mobile video services, which provides the first comprehensive platform to monetize Web video.

The Mobile News Network, scheduled to launch later this quarter, provides mobile users with a single point of access to local, national and international news. The multimedia news service is the first product released by AP’s Digital Cooperative, an initiative aimed at finding new digital outlets for the news and information produced by its members. AP announced the creation of the Mobile News Network at its annual meeting.

The Mobile News Network will include local news specifically contributed by AP members as well as national, international and content from the AP, such as sports, entertainment, business news, photo galleries and video clips. The network offers participating AP members the ability to generate revenue through local and national advertising.

For the first time, mobile phone users across the United States and Canada now have the ability to provide anonymous crime fighting tips through the power of SMS text messaging. mBlox,, and Anderson Software, LLC,  have joined together to provide this service which allows citizens to send anonymous tips by sending a text message from a mobile phone.

Using TipSoft SMS, tips may be anonymously received and securely replied to with complete confidence. Anderson Software has built this service specifically to allow text messaging informants to remain anonymous by encrypting the text messages and routing them through several secure servers, protecting the personal details of the informant.

TipSoft SMS also allows police to respond by text message to the originating cell phone without ever knowing the identity of the individual who left the tip. The user’s information is always given an alias and a unique ID before being sent. This secure application allows the tipster and the investigator to have two-way dialog while always keeping the user’s identity completely anonymous.

TipSoft is currently launching in 32 cities in the United States and will soon be available throughout the UK. Sixteen cities in Canada have already launched the program. Additional information on TipSoft SMS can be found on the Web site at http://www.smscrimetips.com.

Approximately 12 million households currently opt for a wireless-only phone connection, with that number expected to increase to about 26 million in 2012 (equal to about 22% of market share) reports SNL Kagan.

"The maturing of the younger, more tech-savvy demographic combined with emerging technologies (such as femtocell) set to improve wireless coverage and reduce costs, will further promote the position of wireless services," says Ian Olgeirson, Senior Industry Analyst for SNL Kagan.

Verizon Wireless and Vodafone announced they are teaming up to deliver the first ever live global mobile simulcast, with performances from Madonna’s exclusive up-close and personal show at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City where she will debut songs from her new “HARD CANDY” CD. On April 30 (morning of May 1 in the UK).

Verizon Wireless and Vodafone will broadcast four songs live from Madonna’s historic performance. Available exclusively in the U.S. to Verizon Wireless V CAST Music customers.

This mobile broadcast will reach hundreds of millions of Madonna fans via their mobile phones, celebrating the release of Madonna’s 11th studio album for Warner Bros. Records, “HARD CANDY.” The mobile broadcast is currently scheduled to begin at 10 p.m. EST via Verizon Wireless V CAST Performances and 3 a.m. GMT on May 1 on Vodafone Live. The four songs will be archived on the V CAST Performances channel so fans that are unable to join live can enjoy this exclusive performance for 30 days.

Nearly 1.3 billion mobile users - 30% of the subscriber base - are expected to utilize local mobile search services by 2013, according to a new report from industry analysts, Juniper Research.

The report argues that the best equipped regions for the delivery of mobile local search are currently Western Europe and North America, as all countries within these regions have good local digital information suppliers (yellow and white pages, city guides, restaurant and entertainment guides, traffic information, etc.) and also good mapping data (both on and off road) with good coverage of points of interest (POI).

Advertising supported local search will be the key to driving this sector according to Juniper Research, but the firm cautions that the effectiveness of advertising in this sector will vary widely according to local conditions. The availability and quality of locally based directories and content will be a key factor, as well as the presence of the necessary location based infrastructure. In the end it will be the quality of the user experience that will be of paramount importance, the report states.

BlackBerry’s and iPhones are the major contenders in the smartphone market and ChangeWave Research is trying to figure out why they are liked and disliked. ChangeWave  looked at the features users love and hate about their iPhones and BlackBerrys as part of their March 2008 survey of 864 smartphone owners.iPhone users loved the Web/iPod functionality of the phone while BlackBerry users loved their push email. iPhone users hated EDGE speeds and BlackBerry users disliked their Internet browsing.

The Apple iPhone

By far the most lauded feature of the iPhone among owners is its seamless integration of a Phone, iPod and Internet browser (36%). One respondent puts it, “The feature I use most is the iPod, but it’s the integrated whole that makes it so much fun to use. “

Another respondent adds, “I love the iPhone. It is revolutionary. I love being able to jump on the Internet, send email, get maps, weather forecasts, instant message, and make phone calls.”

The second most popular feature is the iPhone’s touch screen interface, followed by its ease of use.

The market for premium mobile content platforms grew almost 20% in 2007, resulting in a $3.4 billion share of the $18.5 billion of revenue generated by the mobile premium content market, according to recent research by MultiMedia Intelligence (http://www.MultiMediaIntelligence.com). As cellular subscribers worldwide increasingly look for personalization and enhanced entertainment content on their mobile handsets, subscribers are continuing to purchase more premium content, such as ringtones, music, mobile games and video. Mobile content platform companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Ericsson, Motricity NMS Communications and Qualcomm provide key systems and tools to in-take, catalog, store, and deliver content.

“Many industries would be thrilled with 20% growth. While the mobile content platform and digital commerce services companies find it disappointing, much of the issue is out of their hands,” according to Frank Dickson, Chief Research Officer with MultiMedia Intelligence. “The ringtone market is softening while other content categories are failing to live-up to expectations. Additionally, the mobile content platform and digital commerce services companies sit in the mobile content ecosystem stuck between the more powerful operators and content owners. The operators have tremendous power as they own the subscriber. The content companies have power as they own the content that individuals want. The revenue distribution among the different industry segments reflects this power imbalance.”

Wireless customers who subscribe to plans that offer additional services such as in-network calling and unlimited text and picture messaging are typically more satisfied and exhibit greater loyalty than subscribers without unlimited plans, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 U.S. Wireless Contract Regional Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) StudySM-Volume 1.

The study finds that more than 25 percent of current wireless customers purchase plan upgrades, which typically offer unlimited use of text messaging, downloads, and picture and video services for a flat rate. Overall customer satisfaction with wireless carriers is notably higher among these customers, compared with those whose plans have usage limits. On average, unlimited messaging plan customers are 33 percent less likely to switch service providers in the next year compared with limited plan customers.

comScore, Inc. in the results of a study evaluating the behaviors and attitudes of wireless phone subscribers. found that price is important.

The study - conducted from February 29 to March 5, 2008 - found that price has become an increasingly important factor in the purchasing decision and that the use of Mobile Internet among existing subscribers continues to grow, with of the majority of these users accessing the Web at least once a day.

“Overall study results indicate that cellular phones are quickly transitioning from being viewed by consumers as a simple communication device to a multi-functional media and entertainment consumption device,” said Serge Matta, senior vice president of comScore Telecommunications Solutions. “There is a significant opportunity for mobile carriers, advertisers and product developers to capitalize on the industry’s continued trend toward consumer dependence on cell phones.”

Primary Reason For Switching to Current Cellular Carrier Source: The comScore Wireless Report
	Percent of Survey Respondents
Primary Reason for Choosing Carrier	Oct-Nov 2006 Study	Feb-Mar 2008 Study
Better Coverage	27%	22%
Lower Prices	14%	19%
Family/Friends Subscribe to Carrier	13%	17%
Plan Features	9%	12%
Promotional Offer	8%	9%
Better Minute Level Plan	9%	7%
For a Specific Phone	4%	3%
Other Reason	16%	11%

According to Palluxo.com:

"Apple Inc is in talks with Immersion Corporation to licence Haptic Technology for its iPhone. Immersion Corporation on Thursday announced that they have appointed former Apple executive Clent Richardson to the position of President and CEO."

A source (Apple Inc employee), who chose to remain anonymous, told Palluzxo that senior executives of the two companies had already met.

Wacom announced a major innovation in capacitive touchscreen technology, called Reversing Ramped Field Capacitive (RRFC™) touch, that will be publicly unveiled at the International Society for Information Display Exhibition, booth #1129, May 20 to 22, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

Wacom’s patent-pending technology employs newly designed low-power circuitry and r reversing ramped electro-static fields to deliver pinpoint precision and drift-free performance to touchscreen users. The technology can be integrated into platforms that require only a finger touch interface.

“Wacom’s latest capacitive touch innovation is truly another technology breakthrough for Wacom,” said Masahiko Yamada, President and CEO of Wacom Company Ltd. “It demonstrates our calling and commitment to bringing human interface products to market that make computing more natural, easy and fun.”

Intuitive Integration
Wacom’s RRFC touch technology overcomes many limitations that are inherent in surface capacitive touchscreens available today. For starters, Wacom employs new static field engineering for increased stability and drift-free performance. With advanced ASIC design and high resolution signal processing, RRFC touch is effectively immune to noise. It is also the only surface capacitive touch technology that can demonstrate excellent accuracy, stability and sensitivity even when working on battery power. As an additional benefit, both Wacom’s RRFC touch and EMR pen input technologies can work together off of a single ASIC and MCU pair, significantly reducing overall bill of materials and manufacturing costs.

Nokia unveiled a trio of minimalist lmobile devices: the Nokia 6600 fold, the Nokia 6600 slide and the Nokia 3600. The devices are expected to start shipping during the third quarter of 2008.

"There is a strong consumer demand for mobile handsets that blend elegant looks with modern features," said Mikkel Drucker, Director, Connect Devices. "Each of the three devices introduced today offers a slightly different take on a core design language. We believe they are both beautiful to use and beautiful to behold - and offer a range of choice."

Nokia 6600 fold - Taps into Motion Sense Control
With one touch of a button, the elegant Nokia 6600 fold opens to reveal a bright 2.13" OLED screen displaying up to 16 million colors. With its seamless design, the signature "smooth back" of the Nokia 6600 fold creates a comfortable contour when open, and remains subtle and compact when closed. The high-gloss surface of the Nokia 6600 fold comes to life when tapped twice to "wake up" the hidden outer display that reveals time, incoming messages, missed calls and more. A double tap on the Nokia 6600 fold also snoozes alerts and silences or rejects incoming phone calls.

Greystripe, ad-supported mobile games and applications distributor, announced the results of a mobile advertising campaign with New Line Cinema for the film, “The Golden Compass”.

The users exposed to “The Golden Compass” ads on the Greystripe network exhibited the following: 

• Significant increases in awareness of and interest in film — a +19.3 percentage-point increase in awareness
  of the film’s title
• Increased interest — exposure resulted in a +9.5 percentage-point increase in interest in seeing the
  film among overall respondents
• Intent to see the movie in theaters increased by +14.5 percentage points among respondents ages
  18-24

The concept of mobile social networking is catching on in the U.S., as all tier-I and tier-II operators now offer social networking applications. Support from mobile operators expects to directly impact application discoverability, provide marketing support, and drive growth in the U.S. mobile social networking markets.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.mobileandwireless.frost.com), An Insight into U.S. Mobile Social Networking Markets, finds that revenue from on-deck mobile social networking services in the U.S. expect to reach $ 412 million in 2012. Additional revenues can also be expected from mobile advertising.

“While the extension of popular online social networking communities onto mobile phones is a major growth driver, it is unreasonable to expect the same level of functionality as is offered through the PC,” notes Frost & Sullivan Senior Analyst Vikrant Gandhi. “Mobile social networking services clearly need to be targeted toward mass-market phones in order to gain traction.”

Mobile social networking represents an additional monetization opportunity for the mobile communication value chain participants. The convergence of three main trends - emergence of popular social networking services on the Internet, increasing penetration of the mobile web, and emergence of mobile advertising - drives mobile social networking.

Sony Ericsson introduced two new HSDPA phones into its line-up; each clearly designed to take its range of web-enabled phones in a different direction. The Z780 expands the company’s range of devices for markets outside of Europe and the compact G502 brings the power of the web to a mainstream audience.

The Z780, a sister product to the recently announced Z770, is set to broaden the range of web-enabled phones into more markets across the globe. It packs tri-band 3G and HSDPA into its stylish clamshell frame, letting you receive email or browse the web at high speed in countries across the world. It also introduces built-in aGPS, giving users the opportunity to carry their navigation solution with them on their phone.

The new G502 is the latest in an established line of classic Sony Ericsson phones that cram a wealth of time-saving features into an affordable, pocket-sized phone.

The G502 is the first such model, however, to feature high-speed HSDPA capability. This means that more users can now benefit from faster browsing and downloading capabilities in a phone that has a feature-set that is impressive and incredibly easy to use - perfect for those who want to stay in control of their lives.

Following recent moves to extend Skype conversations to a wide variety of new mobile and wireless devices, Skype is taking another major step as it continues to merge its internet communications software with mobile phones. The company released a beta version of Skype for your mobile, a mobile “thin” client that works on about 50 of the most popular Java-enabled mobile phones from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson.

The beta version of Skype for your mobile is available worldwide with a feature set that includes chat, group chat, presence (seeing when your contacts are online), and receiving calls from Skype users, and through SkypeIn.* Additional features, which include the making of Skype-to-Skype and SkypeOut calls from the mobile handsets, are initially supported in seven markets: Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

There are two ways to get the beta version of Skype for your mobile: as a direct over-the-air download to a compatible mobile phone, or it can be downloaded to a computer and then transferred to the phone. For instructions, please visit www.skype.com/go/mobiledownload. This Web page also includes a directory of currently supported mobile phones and the list of markets where the full feature set is available. Additional phones and markets will be added over time.

AT&T and Starbucks today announced the beginning of the rollout of AT&T Wi-Fi service at company-operated Starbucks stores, kicking off a nationwide effort that will continue through 2008. At the 2008 AT&T Inc. Annual Meeting of Stockholders in San Antonio, chairman and chief executive officer Randall Stephenson announced that the companies have already started the deployment of AT&T Wi-Fi service at Starbucks locations in San Antonio, making it the first market to deliver the complete AT&T Wi-Fi experience in the U.S.

Also, as of May 1, qualifying AT&T high speed Internet and Wi-Fi customers will have complimentary Wi-Fi access at more than 7,000 Starbucks locations nationwide. For millions of AT&T customers, that means more speed in more places — and for free. Qualifying AT&T customers can connect to the Internet from Wi-Fi enabled company-operated Starbucks locations nationwide by simply selecting “ATTWiFi” after powering up their computers. Free AT&T Wi-Fi service is currently offered with AT&T’s three higher-speed residential broadband packages, all small business broadband packages and with all AT&T U-verse(SM) offerings with high speed Internet service.

For other customers, AT&T Wi-Fi service will reach company-operated Starbucks locations on a market-by-market basis throughout the year. The experience will include a mix of free and paid connection options for both frequent and occasional Wi-Fi users and qualifying Starbucks customers. Once AT&T Wi-Fi service is available, customers will be able to shop and surf both Starbucks’ and AT&T’s respective home pages for products and services.

As we promised, early in April we have updated the Review of the Reviews for the LG enV2 enV(2) VX9100 from Verizon. The enV (2) will be released April 30,2008.

According to RCR Wireless News,   a report from research and banking firm ThinkPanmure revealed that AT&T Mobility plans to sell up to 7 million femtocells from ip.access Ltd., a  femtocell vendor in Cambridge, England.

ThinkPanmure, notes that  AT&T signed a contract with the firm and will sell the devices for about $100 each.

According to several reports the new 3G iPhone (HSDPA) is expected to be launched June 9 during Steve Job’s keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The iPhones should then arrive in stores a few months later.

“Operators and distributors continued to top up their inventories in 1Q 2008 after a particularly strong 4Q 2007,” says ABI Research vice president Jake Saunders. “Year on year, 1Q 2008 was up 13.7%, but 2Q 2008 is likely to be softer than in previous years.” Shipment volumes in the developed markets have softened slightly due to the credit crisis, but emerging markets such as Asia-Pacific, South America, and the Middle East/Africa are delivering growth rate percentages in the mid-20s. Mobile devices have proved to be a “lifestyle necessity,” rather than a mere luxury accessory.

Despite all the global concern about price inflation in food, rent, clothing, oil, and utility bills, device manufacturers are not benefiting. The ASP (Average Selling Price) has shown comprehensive price erosion for all manufacturers.

In the market-share stakes, Nokia increased its share to 39.9% while Samsung and LG were also net winners with 16% and 8.4%, respectively. Motorola continued to lose market share (falling 2.6%) to 9.5%, while it was more of a surprise that Sony Ericsson lost market share (down to 7.7%). It may be the case that that Sony’s Walkman and CyberShot lineups are in need of a substantial refresh.

Infineon Technologies AG  announced that Samsung Electronics, Inc., Seoul, Korea, has chosen Infineon’s HSDPA Platform XMM 6080 for their new family of HEDGE (HSDPA/EDGE) mobile handsets. Samsung is introducing a comprehensive family using the Infineon XMM 6080 platform. The platform includes the HSDPA/EDGE baseband, power management, single chip 3.5G RF transceiver and is complemented by Infineon’s protocol stack for HEDGE phones.

This  solution enables customers to significantly reduce their component count, footprint, complexity and cost of designs. The XMM 6080 platform will enable Samsung to introduce a wide range of new HEDGE (HSDPA/EDGE) phones reusing the proven Infineon core architecture.

Infineon has already started volume shipments of its platform. The Samsung HEDGE phones with the XMM 6080 are expected to be available in the second quarter of calendar year 2008.

New figures from analyst firm Juniper Research estimate that almost 3 billion mobile coupons will be issued to Mobile Users by 2011, with just under $7 billion of discounts redeemed.

The new Juniper study finds that mobile coupons are becoming an increasingly important tool for brand owners and retailers to provide a ‘push to purchase’ capability for mobile marketing and advertising campaigns. The key issues driving the move to mobile coupons include:

• Cost savings on campaigns
• An increase in ARPU
• One-2-one marketing opportunities
• An increase in customer retention for mobile operators — lower churn
• Higher conversion rates
• The expansion of mobile value added services
• Reduced fraud

According to Dow Jones Newswire:

At the Wireless Innovations 2008 conference in Redwood City, Calif.,  Joe Sims, vice president and general manager of T-Mobile's broadband and new business division, said he had already seen prototypes of the company's Android-based phone, which are scheduled to ship in this year's final quarter.

The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), (www.mmaglobal.com), which represents more than 600 companies across the mobile marketing ecosystem, today announced the release of its global Mobile Advertising Guidelines.

The first set of global guidelines issued by the association, are designed to encourage the uptake of mobile advertising by brands worldwide whilst enhancing and protecting the customer’s experience, by creating a framework for brands and media companies to deliver mobile advertising in a positive and consistent way. The guidelines have received industry endorsements from associations such as IAB UK and Mexico, dotMobi Advisory Group (MAG), ADMA and others.

In its quarterly report, Apple admitted that quarterly iPhonesales were 1,703,000 higher than first quarter shipments of 1.1 million units.

Reports say that Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer  says the company is still committed to reaching 10 million iPhone sold during 2008

NextWave Wireless Inc. announced that it is offering for sale its extensive spectrum holdings in the United States. NextWave's U.S. spectrum footprint covers over 251 million people, or pops, in the United States and includes major markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Houston, and Detroit.

The company's holdings include licenses and lease rights for a total of 4.7 billion MHz/pops of spectrum comprised of 154 Advanced Wireless Service ("AWS") licenses in the 1.7/2.1 GHz band, 30 Wireless Communication Service ("WCS") licenses in the 2.3 GHz band, and 39 Educational Broadband Service ("EBS") and Broadband Radio Service ("BRS") licenses and spectrum leases in the 2.5 GHz band.

Summary details of NextWave's U.S. spectrum licensed portfolio are contained in the table below.

		AWS		WCS		EBS/BRS		Total
Frequency Band		1.7 GHz / 2.1 GHz		2.3 GHz		2.5 GHz
Licensed Pops (millions)		62.2		209.8		34.4		251.0
MHz-Pops (millions)		946.8		2,807.2		972.3		4,726.3
Number of Licenses		154		30		22		206
Number of Leases		0		0		17		17

Nokia announced an multimedia film production with Academy Award nominated director, Spike Lee. Nokia Productions will create the world’s first social film built entirely by everyday people using their mobile devices to generate and submit original content which will then be combined into one artistic multimedia film created by Spike Lee.

The program will evolve around a central theme of humanity, specifically the way music tells the story of humanity. The film will consist of three acts each of which will include an “assignment” for participants which Spike Lee will announce throughout the program. To participate in Nokia Productions, consumers can submit their original content consisting of any combination of text, music, video or images during certain time periods between now through August 21 at http://www.nokiaproductions.com.

Each act of the production will last for four weeks. Spike Lee will direct the collaboration digitally from the Web site, guiding and critiquing creative submissions throughout the production. There will also be online assistant directors that will personally help participants revise their entries and then repost for consideration. After each act closes, Nokia will choose the “Top 25” submissions, and visitors will vote for their favorite submission creating the “Top 10” from which Spike Lee will then choose the winning submission from each act to be integrated into the final film. Five randomly selected contestants from each act will win a Nokia N95 and the opportunity to travel to the film’s premier in Los Angeles and meet director Spike Lee.

There will also be weekly giveaways including a new Nokia device and free music download cards.

The final collaborative film containing the three winners’ submissions along with other contributed content, will premiere this fall at the soon to open Club Nokia in Los Angeles.

go2 Media (www.go2.com) announced the debut of its mobile website dedicated to providing basketball fans up-to-date information on the NBA Playoffs (NBA.go2.com). The mobile website offers users game and telecast schedules, up-to-the-minute scores of the entire 2008 NBA playoffs and links to purchase tickets to the games.

The go2 NBA Playoffs site is accessible through the main menu of go2 (wap.go2.com) or by visiting NBA.go2.com directly on a mobile phone. Visitors to the go2 NBA Playoffs mobile site will find content generated by go2 correspondents, including game previews and top stories of the week. Correspondents and site producers will also be sending SMS alerts embedded with a link back to the NBA site.

Revenue from mobile media and entertainment (MME) services in the US will more than double during the next five years, according to the latest research from Analysys, the global advisers on telecoms, IT and digital media (www.analysys.com).

US MME services (excluding messaging, and mobile browsing and data charges) generated US $3.1 billion in revenue in 2007, and Analysys Research forecasts that revenue will grow to $6.6 billion in 2012, at a compound annual growth rate of 16.3%. The strongest growth will not occur until after 2010, as the technical and market environment for MME services improves, according to the latest Analysys report, Mobile Media and Entertainment in the US: forecasts 2007-2012.

Key trends that are driving market growth include:
• Improvements to service accessibility: mobile Web browsing platforms will improve and facilitate access to off-deck content, and presentation of off-deck content will become more streamlined and user friendly.
• Wider availability of content, driven in part by higher-generation network and device penetration: “As 3G, 3.5G and Qualcomm’s MediaFLO network coverage increases, a greater range of services will become available to a wider audience, and off-deck content markets (both operator-billed and non-operator-billed) will develop,” said Katrina Bond, co-author of the report. “Non-operator-billed revenue from MME content and services will increase significantly during 2007-2012, and will account for $1.3 billion, or nearly 20%, of MME revenue by 2012.”
• Improvements to service usability: providers have not focused enough on the end­-user experience for MME services, and users’ frustration when the experience does not meet their expectations has inhibited the growth of some services.
• Simplified and more attractive pricing of MME content and applications, as well as mobile data access: complex pricing, high data charges, and unfavorable revenue­ sharing arrangements for content providers have inhibited growth in the MME market.