Entries tagged with “iphoneapps” from WIRELESS AND MOBILE NEWS
Google Latitude for iPhone and iPod touch is a location-based web app running in Safari.With the Google Latitude web app users can see the location of friends on a map and modify r
privacy settings.
Google worked closely with Apple to bring Latitude to the iPhone in a way Apple thought would be best for iPhone users. After Google developed a Latitude application for the iPhone, Apple requested that they release Latitude as a web application in order to avoid confusion with Maps on the iPhone, which uses Google to serve maps tiles.
Consumer Cellular announced that it now offers data services plans for
new and existing customers.
With its new wireless web feature, Consumer Cellular customers, many of whom are limited
cell phone users, will be able to send picture messages, check news from
their phones, as well as download ringtones, wallpaper images, screen
savers and games.
With Consumer Cellular’s messaging service, customers can send and receive both text and photo messages. Messaging service is available on a pay-per-use basis or packages can be purchased to reduce the cost for individuals planning to use the service regularly.
Consumer Cellular’s wireless web service allow customers to access news (CNN and USA Today), financial information, entertainment stories, sports highlights and weather updates from their phone, as well as ringtones, wallpaper images and games. Billing is based on the amount of data transferred and several packages are available to meet various usage needs. Purchased content is charged separately.
Boost Mobile has launched a new low flat rate of 10
cents per minute for all calls, no matter what time of day, for its Pay
As You Go Basic Plan. Their website has a poetic explanation:Just a dime, all the time..
As a Basic PAYGO customer, you will be charged just one low rate of 10c/minute, anytime - day or night. You can also send and receive standard text messages for just 10¢ per message.
Boost Walkie-Talkie is a $1/day. Boost Mobile offers pay by the minute, day and month pricing options.
"No traveling charges, no long distance charges and no peak/off-peak per minute pricing... it's simple to understand and a great value," said Neil Lindsay, vice president of marketing, Boost Mobile.
Cricket PAYGo customers choose one of three rate plans ($1, $2 or $3 per day). At each level, customers will receive unlimited service 24/7 for the features offered at that level. For all three levels of service, customers are charged only for the days they use and customers can easily transition between plans at any time throughout the week or month.
| Cricket PAYGo | $1/day Plan | $2/day Plan | $3/day Plan | |||
| Unlimited Local Calling | √ | √ | √ | |||
| Unlimited Text and Picture Messaging | √ | √ | ||||
| Unlimited U.S. Long Distance, International Text to 100+ Countries, Mobile Web and Directory Assistance | √ | |||||
| Voicemail, Caller ID and Three-Way Calling | √ | √ | √ |
The Lifeline program helps
low-income Floridians maintain essential telephone service through a
monthly credit on their telephone bills. Under the Lifeline program,
residents who participate in certain public assistance programs are
eligible to receive a monthly discount of at least $13.50 - or more
than $160 per year.
TracFone's Lifeline
offering provides a free E911-compliant handset to eligible consumers
and 68 minutes of airtime per month. If a customer exceeds the first
68 minutes, TracFone provides an option to purchase additional minutes.
TracFone will begin offering $2, $5, and $10 cards that are strictly
for use by certified Lifeline customers. These prepaid cards will not
expire, and customers will receive a $0.20 a minute rate. Any unused
minutes will carry over to the next month.
Customers
can apply for Lifeline through the Florida Department of Children and
Families, the PSC, or by contacting a service provider directly.
Kajeet, the cell phone service made for kids, and Turner Broadcasting System’s Cartoon Network today announced a deal to bring mobile content from Cartoon Network to kajeet handsets. The deal brings some of the top names in kids’ entertainment to the unique pay-as-you-go cell phone service.
“As the only cell phone service focused on super-serving kids, it makes perfect sense for us to join forces with Cartoon Network,” said Daniel Neal, CEO and founder of kajeet. “We think it’s important to offer kids mobile content that they love and which reflects their varied interests. Cartoon Network helps us with that goal. “
Drawing from the world’s largest cartoon library, the deal with Cartoon Network will bring select mobile content from the network’s original television shows, such as Ben 10: Alien Force, Chowder, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, The Powerpuff Girls and more, to kajeet handsets. kajeet users will be able to easily access the best in ringtones, wallpapers and games from Cartoon Network through their phone’s browser.
Boost Mobile y announced that it has launched exclusive retail stores. In addition to offering the company’s complete product line-up, the new retail locations also offer products from Boost Mobile’s “Boosted” division, including distinctly styled, multi-device stereo headphones and lifestyle accessories.
Located in Huntington Park, Calif., Hialeah, Fla. and in Houston, Tex., the new retail stores are enabling Boost Mobile to interact with customers, identify trends in the marketplace, and respond with new wireless products and services designed to meet consumers’ evolving lifestyle needs. Each store is approximately 1,500 square feet, and features furniture and interiors constructed of recycled materials. Conceptualized as “home bases” for the Boost brand, all three retail locations offer customers the chance to learn about Boost Mobile products and lifestyle in a hands-on, contemporary environment.
Boost Mobile announced a new daily pay as you go offer enabling customers to talk and text to more people for a dollar a day.
Boost Mobile’s dollar a day Chat Plan offers unlimited nights and weekends and unlimited mobile-to-mobile calling. Boost Mobile’s mobile-to-mobile calling includes more than 40 million Boost®, Sprint® and Nextel® subscribers. Plus, lower daytime rates are provided for 10 cents a minute. Customers still have the option to use Boost’s Nationwide Walkie-Talkie for an additional dollar a day.
With the Chat Plan, unlimited domestic text messaging is also included at no additional charge.
$1/DAY CHAT PLAN INCLUDES: * Unlimited Nights: Mon - Sun 9pm - 7am * Unlimited Weekends: Fri 9pm - Mon 7am * Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile * Unlimited Text Messaging * 10¢ Daytime Minutes: Mon - Fri 7am - 9pm .
Movida, the United State’s largest Latino-focused MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), was purchased by Cozac, LLC a subsidiary of APC Wireless. The acquisition of Movida and Liberty Wireless (acquired January 2008) enhances APC Wireless’s commitment to growing its MVNO strategy.
Backed by APC Wireless, Movida is now a stronger organization. Samuel Bahreini, COO, of APC Wireless stated, “APC Wireless is dedicated to Movida’s subscriber base and setting industry-wide benchmarks for superior service.” While the company, the rate plans, and subscriber contracts remain the same, the user experience will improve. Through its expertise in hand set fulfillment, software customization services, expansive buying power, and strong balance sheet; Movida subscribers can expect increased satisfaction in services dedicated to the Latin market. “Our strong growth plans for Movida in the Latino market should signify another vote of confidence in the MVNO market” says Samuel Bahreini.
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.
Virgin Mobile USA has unveiled a host of new Monthly and Pay As You Go Plans Without Annual Contracts that offer consumers even better value and more flexibility. Information about the new plans — with clear comparisons to the competition - is online at www.virginmobileusa.com and materials are currently rolling out across Virgin Mobile’s retail partners. With no annual contracts, Virgin Mobile USA allows its more than 5 million customers to change plans at any time without hassle or extra charges.
“There is no reason for consumers to lock themselves into the restrictive terms of a postpaid contract plan to get real value,” said Dan Schulman, chief executive officer, Virgin Mobile USA, “especially at a time when many people need greater control over their spending and use of credit. We’re closing the gap between those features traditionally offered by postpaid carriers and the value available from our plans without annual contracts.”
MVNO Helio has dropped the price for its unlimited plan with GPS and 3G to $99 a month. After Sky Dayton stepped down as CEO, last week.
The negative reports about the MVNO market fail to acknowledge that the global MVNO subscriber base grew by 24% in 2006, to reach 84m users notes.
According to Research and Markets MVNO models can be made to work, and there are MVNOs with proven track records of success, according to our their research study Rethinking MVNO and MVNE Economics. A review of the performance of MVNOs over the past five years yields a number of salient lessons on the business model, and provides enough material to establish what works — and what does not appear to work.
Fry’s is selling the AT&T GoPhone Motorola C168i for $14.99 with $10.00 worth of airtime, a good phone at a very cheap price. This phone looks so good; pirates (I mean entrepreneurs) are unlocking them for replacement phones and selling them on eBay. I also would not be embarrassed using the C168i at any coffee house where they talk on their iPhones and RAZRs. Although Web access is slow and limited, text message search is a viable less expensive method.
There are some good features about the C168i. It is nice looking, operable with one hand, and the keys are tactile keys and don’t trip up easily by mistake. The 128 x 128 pixel 1.5 inch diagonal screen color scheme is easy to read and clear. There are Windows-like icons to find and activate features such as the phone book and Web browsing. It has SMS and MMS messaging capabilities with pre-defined templates. Text entry with the small keyboard is not that difficult if you choose your type of entry mode and play with it for a while.
The San Diego chapter of the American Electronics Association (AeA), has announced that the Jitterbug cell phone and service is a finalist in the Communications Product and Services category.
Jitterbug phones are easy-to-use with a friendly, 24/7 operator service that have been designed for anyone seeking a simplified cell phone experience. Jitterbug is also affordable with service as low as $10 a month and no contracts. The phone service is geared towards seniors and people with disabilities.
Tweens can now play popular Gameloft games on their simple flyPhones. Gameloft, publisher
and developer of video games for mobile phones, and Firefly Mobile, the first
pay as you go service provider and designer of phones for kids and tweens, announced a partnership to distribute Gameloft's mobile
games for the new flyPhone.
The flyPhone is the first phone created
exclusively for tweens, and will launch in October 2007. The games that will be
available at launch are: Shrek the Third, Dogz, Bubble Bash, Pirates Adventure,
Rayman Kart, Meteos, Horse Riding Academy and Naval Battle.
The flyPhone has a MSRP of $124.99 and comes with flyKicks software,
USB cable, instruction manual and stereo hands-free headset. Additionally, the
flyPhone phone book holds up to 500 parent approved numbers (inbound and
outbound). The price for minutes can be 25 cents down to 10 cents a minute depending on the plan.
The Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG), will
cease operations of its U.S.-based mobile virtual network (MVNO) phone
service later this year and will instead explore a new business model
for its content and services that might include offering its popular
Family Center product through a partnership with a major U.S. carrier.
The Family Center suite allows users the ability to display the location of a child's handset on a map, to limit when and how the child's phone is used, and to set limits on expenditures in terms of voice and data.
All service will end by December 31, 2007.
Comment from Wireless and Mobile News:
This could be good news for kids who have been tracked by their parents, and bad news for parents who need to know where their kids are.
This is the second MVNO to go under this year. The first was the now defunct bankrupt Amp'd Mobile. The MVNO was one of the top purveyors of content for the young and broke. The Hollywood Reporter reported, "The bankruptcy filing said that nearly 80,000 of its 175,000 subscribers were "non-paying."
Blyk, a new mobile network for 16 - 24s that's funded by
advertising launched Monday. Blyk links young people with advertising and gives
them free texts and minutes every month. It offers subscribers 217 free texts and 42 free minutes in exchange for
accepting MMS (picture messaging) and SMS (text) advertising after that it's 0.15 (BP) a minute.
In order to join users have to be 16-24 years old, live in
mainland Britain, own a phone with MMS and be invited. After
registering the teen gets a new SIM for his/her phone. Blyk
expects to launch in other parts of Europe in the future.
Comment from Mobile & Wireless News:
Knowing teens, those free minutes should run out in about 42 minutes after receiving the SIM.
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