Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news
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All entries are written by Anders Borg, CEO and Consultant of Abiro, that has a long experience in strategic planning, developing embedded and Java software, usability aspects, and the mobile phone industry in general. You can also read the latest Mobile News entries on your phone via wap.abiro.com, and we provide many News Feeds from popular news services. For advertising and contribution queries, please use the feedback form. News feed (local) FeedBurner Feed
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Friday, September 30, 2005
Mobile gaming evolves to non-violence and social interaction
I'm wondering why there are so few multi-player mobile games out there, considering the following. Too high traffic fees?
Trip Hawkins, Digital Chocolate: One surprise is that the most popular games on phones are casual, nonviolent games played predominantly by women, a far cry from the norm in PC gaming, Glaser said.
...consumers have proved they will pay to interact with people. The success of voice, text messaging, and e-mail is evidence of this, he said.
IDC mobile device analyst David Linsalata agreed that interaction is a key driver for mobile games.
Yahoo! News - Cell Phone Games Evolve
Trip Hawkins, Digital Chocolate: One surprise is that the most popular games on phones are casual, nonviolent games played predominantly by women, a far cry from the norm in PC gaming, Glaser said.
...consumers have proved they will pay to interact with people. The success of voice, text messaging, and e-mail is evidence of this, he said.
IDC mobile device analyst David Linsalata agreed that interaction is a key driver for mobile games.
Yahoo! News - Cell Phone Games Evolve
Sony Ericsson going down
In price, that is. Sony Ericsson has traditionally been the business person's choice, but realizes there's too much opportunity in the low-end market to stay out of it.
MobileBurn - Sony Ericsson to Expand Mid to Low-End Handset Range
MobileBurn - Sony Ericsson to Expand Mid to Low-End Handset Range
Music is the future
Discussed at the Cellphone Show in San Francisco:
Some analysts say the cost of adding music-organizing software and more memory will be as little as $30 a phone.
Indeed, he (Edward S. Snyder at Charter Equity Research) says he believes that over time, the huge size of the cellphone market, which he said could reach 780 million new phones sold worldwide this year, gives carriers and handset makers a chance to become the main source of portable music players.
Maybe, but then phones need to be competitive with music players. ROKR is a bad attempt at that, that can't even be used to download music from a music service.
At Cellphone Show, the Talk Is About Music - New York Times
Some analysts say the cost of adding music-organizing software and more memory will be as little as $30 a phone.
Indeed, he (Edward S. Snyder at Charter Equity Research) says he believes that over time, the huge size of the cellphone market, which he said could reach 780 million new phones sold worldwide this year, gives carriers and handset makers a chance to become the main source of portable music players.
Maybe, but then phones need to be competitive with music players. ROKR is a bad attempt at that, that can't even be used to download music from a music service.
At Cellphone Show, the Talk Is About Music - New York Times
Ringtone preferences
M:Metrics has noted there are considerable differences between what types of ringtones male and female consumers prefer. Maybe not so strange, as it should reflect the general music preferences. There are though also differences in the uptake of mobile services overall.
...whereas females are significantly less likely to use most mobile data services compared with male counterparts, they are about 6 percent more likely to download ringtones...
Females predominate in certain music genres for ringtones and are 60 percent more likely to purchase a pop ringtone than are males, for example. Males are 68 percent more likely to choose a hard rock or heavy metal ringtone. Overall, hip-hop is the most popular genre across both genders...
M:Metrics found that males are 16 percent more likely to have subscribed to a ringback subscription in August, and were 25 percent more likely to have previously subscribed to a ringback subscription that they had since canceled at the time of the survey.
M:Metrics News
...whereas females are significantly less likely to use most mobile data services compared with male counterparts, they are about 6 percent more likely to download ringtones...
Females predominate in certain music genres for ringtones and are 60 percent more likely to purchase a pop ringtone than are males, for example. Males are 68 percent more likely to choose a hard rock or heavy metal ringtone. Overall, hip-hop is the most popular genre across both genders...
M:Metrics found that males are 16 percent more likely to have subscribed to a ringback subscription in August, and were 25 percent more likely to have previously subscribed to a ringback subscription that they had since canceled at the time of the survey.
M:Metrics News
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Limited keypads bad for services
If it's hard to enter text information, then you are more reluctant to use information services.
Similarly, over 25 percent of those people responding to the survey said they would access wireless Internet services more frequently with a better keyboard, while 21 percent said they would engage more frequently in picture messaging and nearly 20 percent said they might play more games.
Tiny Keyboards Biggest Obstacle for Handheld Users - Yahoo! News
Similarly, over 25 percent of those people responding to the survey said they would access wireless Internet services more frequently with a better keyboard, while 21 percent said they would engage more frequently in picture messaging and nearly 20 percent said they might play more games.
Tiny Keyboards Biggest Obstacle for Handheld Users - Yahoo! News
Blackberry 8700
New model with support for GPRS/EDGE. Blackberries would be ideal if they supported MS Exchange 2003 directly, and without need for the RIM gateway (yet I guess RIM's business would then disappear). No doubt an alphanumeric keypad is needed for proper messaging, so the form factor is right. What I don't understand is why they don't make a wide clamshell model with a thin keypad as protection for both the keypad itself and the display.
Blackberry FAQs database: - NEW Blackberry 8700
Blackberry FAQs database: - NEW Blackberry 8700
More music than games
In-Stat estimates that music will oversell mobile games soon, simply because music appeals to a broader audience than games.
My spin is that this requires music services supported by the operators and phones enabled for DRM-protected downloading of music and a fast and cheap wireless connection. E.g. Motorola ROKR doesn't fulfill this, as you can't download any music via the network (only from a a PC) and hence the operator can't get any music download revenue on that phone. Obviously operators don't get any revenue from downloading music to PCs from iTunes and similar "off-limits" services.
Music Could Beat Mobile Game Sales - Mobile News - Designtechnica
My spin is that this requires music services supported by the operators and phones enabled for DRM-protected downloading of music and a fast and cheap wireless connection. E.g. Motorola ROKR doesn't fulfill this, as you can't download any music via the network (only from a a PC) and hence the operator can't get any music download revenue on that phone. Obviously operators don't get any revenue from downloading music to PCs from iTunes and similar "off-limits" services.
Music Could Beat Mobile Game Sales - Mobile News - Designtechnica
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
No more Treo's with Palm OS?
I initially thought they would continue using Palm OS in some models, but they might not:
In announcing the Treo phone on Monday, Palm CEO Ed Colligan said Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system was chosen because it offered features that PalmOS could not.
Colligan said the PalmOS will remain part of Palm's future, but industry insiders say that a successful Palm-Microsoft partnership could mean that PalmSource will lose its most significant and oldest customer.
It remains to be seen if Microsoft software will also be used in volume phones. In the short term it won't.
PalmSource Loses Out With Treo - Yahoo! News
In announcing the Treo phone on Monday, Palm CEO Ed Colligan said Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile 5.0 operating system was chosen because it offered features that PalmOS could not.
Colligan said the PalmOS will remain part of Palm's future, but industry insiders say that a successful Palm-Microsoft partnership could mean that PalmSource will lose its most significant and oldest customer.
It remains to be seen if Microsoft software will also be used in volume phones. In the short term it won't.
PalmSource Loses Out With Treo - Yahoo! News
Monday, September 26, 2005
Palm partners with Microsoft for new Treo
Treo is a headache pill in Sweden. Whatever...
In the wake of the Access acquisition of PalmSource, Palm now introduces Windows Mobile in a coming Treo smartphone.
Windows Mobile is a nice and powerful system, but Microsoft has to do something about the usability of everyday tasks.
I don't applaud Microsoft, as Windows Mobile 5.0 is just the last in a very long row of Windows CE based OSs aimed for mobile phones (read: PDA/smart phones). Microsoft has never understood the mobile market, and it's a pity they now get success out of sheer lack of competition in the smartphone area. Microsoft is still completely absent from the more volume-based featurephone market, where Symbian OS via Nokia Series 60 has taken a smaller slice, and Linux will too, but still most featurephones are based on proprietary systems, where focus is on voice telephony and messaging, and not information services.
Palm, Microsoft to Launch New Smart Phone - Yahoo! News
In the wake of the Access acquisition of PalmSource, Palm now introduces Windows Mobile in a coming Treo smartphone.
Windows Mobile is a nice and powerful system, but Microsoft has to do something about the usability of everyday tasks.
I don't applaud Microsoft, as Windows Mobile 5.0 is just the last in a very long row of Windows CE based OSs aimed for mobile phones (read: PDA/smart phones). Microsoft has never understood the mobile market, and it's a pity they now get success out of sheer lack of competition in the smartphone area. Microsoft is still completely absent from the more volume-based featurephone market, where Symbian OS via Nokia Series 60 has taken a smaller slice, and Linux will too, but still most featurephones are based on proprietary systems, where focus is on voice telephony and messaging, and not information services.
Palm, Microsoft to Launch New Smart Phone - Yahoo! News
Music in every phone
Well, almost. Informa estimates:
Digital Media Europe: News - Portable audio, video players market to reach 13.3n in 2010 � report
- audio player revenue 3/4, volume 90% (as opposed to video players)
- music phones 478M by 2010 (76M in 2005)
Digital Media Europe: News - Portable audio, video players market to reach 13.3n in 2010 � report
Nokia optimistic about music phone sales
Nokia expects sales to quadruple during 2005, reaching 40M.
The described Nokia 3250 looks more promising than the 6630 Music Edition. A recommendation to Nokia is to put music/media playing buttons on coming phones. The Koreans have understood this, but not the rest of the world.
The handset, with a memory of one gigabyte, can store up to 750 songs and plays some 10 hours of music, Nokia said. It also features a two-megapixel digital camera with a 4-X zoom, a radio and recording features. The 3250 is expected to retail for the equivalent of $420 US.
Nokia expects to quadruple sales of music player mobile phones in 2005 - Yahoo! News
The described Nokia 3250 looks more promising than the 6630 Music Edition. A recommendation to Nokia is to put music/media playing buttons on coming phones. The Koreans have understood this, but not the rest of the world.
The handset, with a memory of one gigabyte, can store up to 750 songs and plays some 10 hours of music, Nokia said. It also features a two-megapixel digital camera with a 4-X zoom, a radio and recording features. The 3250 is expected to retail for the equivalent of $420 US.
Nokia expects to quadruple sales of music player mobile phones in 2005 - Yahoo! News
O2 trials mobile TV
Nokia 7710 with a DVB-H backpack is used. Not the most portable phone, but at least pilot testers get a feel for how well (or not) mobile TV can work. The users don't have to pay for using the service.
Nokia has provided the handsets and is working on a new range of devices for the future with in-built DVB-H.
Digital Media Europe: News - O2 trials mobile TV
Nokia has provided the handsets and is working on a new range of devices for the future with in-built DVB-H.
Digital Media Europe: News - O2 trials mobile TV
Qualcomm combines 3G and WiFi
A coming chipset will support W-CDMA, cdma2000 1X, 802.11g (54Mbps) and 802.11b (11Mbps). This is crucial to keep costs down on phones sporting both licensed and unlicensed radio.
Qualcomm To Integrate Wi-Fi Into 3G Phones - Yahoo! News
Qualcomm To Integrate Wi-Fi Into 3G Phones - Yahoo! News
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Free VoIP enhances gaming
Recent multiplayer games already support in-game VoIP for communicating between gaming peers. This article talks about VoIP in gaming in a wider scope, yet seems to not be aware that this is already a fact.
This estimate is also a bit odd: IDC said it expects the VOIP market to explode to more than 27 million U.S. users by 2009. Others see the worldwide market ballooning to more than 100 million users by the end of the decade.
Consider that Skype alone has had 172M downloads of its client. Even though this is not equal to the amount of active users, this clearly indicates all services in total (Vonage, Net2Phone, Skype etc) are already well beyond 100M users.
VoIP is nothing peculiar, and has existed for over 10 years. Yet, not until now has Internet and broadband performance been so high and reliable that you can effectively use it. Not that VoIP takes much bandwidth, but it needs enough headroom to safely go through. If you have a flatrate broadband connection, peer-to-peer telephony is already free. This is not the case for VoIP over mobile networks, as the air-time cost is still prohibitive, but I'm sure that will change. I'd like to see a Java/MIDP-based Skype client for phones.
Playing Games with VOIP - Yahoo! News
This estimate is also a bit odd: IDC said it expects the VOIP market to explode to more than 27 million U.S. users by 2009. Others see the worldwide market ballooning to more than 100 million users by the end of the decade.
Consider that Skype alone has had 172M downloads of its client. Even though this is not equal to the amount of active users, this clearly indicates all services in total (Vonage, Net2Phone, Skype etc) are already well beyond 100M users.
VoIP is nothing peculiar, and has existed for over 10 years. Yet, not until now has Internet and broadband performance been so high and reliable that you can effectively use it. Not that VoIP takes much bandwidth, but it needs enough headroom to safely go through. If you have a flatrate broadband connection, peer-to-peer telephony is already free. This is not the case for VoIP over mobile networks, as the air-time cost is still prohibitive, but I'm sure that will change. I'd like to see a Java/MIDP-based Skype client for phones.
Playing Games with VOIP - Yahoo! News
Friday, September 23, 2005
Jamster in trouble again
ASA has ordered that a post-9pm restriction now applies to all Jamster advertising in the future. Of particular concern were complainants reporting that children had run up large phone bills as a result of the ads.
Revolution Web Site
Revolution Web Site
Ringtones driving mobile downloads
Mobile phone users are expected to spend a total of £740m ($1.3bn) downloading ringtones, music, games and other content to their handsets this year, according to market analysts Mintel.
Surprisingly though games are fairly close to ringtones revenue-wise (26% and 33%).
"The challenge facing the industry is to produce more substantial products that will attract older people, supplying products that can compete with other sophisticated leisure activities."
BBC NEWS | Business | Ringtones fuel craze for mobile downloads
Surprisingly though games are fairly close to ringtones revenue-wise (26% and 33%).
"The challenge facing the industry is to produce more substantial products that will attract older people, supplying products that can compete with other sophisticated leisure activities."
BBC NEWS | Business | Ringtones fuel craze for mobile downloads
PalmSource in trouble
Palm OS is losing ground, so I more and more think the reason Access acquires PalmSource is due to China Mobilesoft and that the target are the Chinese and Indian mobile markets. Let's see.
PalmSource Reports Declining Revenues, Unit Shipments - Yahoo! News
PalmSource Reports Declining Revenues, Unit Shipments - Yahoo! News
VoIP over WiFi competitor to 3G?
At least it might in areas with good WiFi coverage, and Azulstar Networks wants it that way.
“All the big handset guys are working on it," Van Houwelingen said, adding that the handsets should have improved antennas and power consumption savings for mobile use.
VoIP Over Wi-Fi Poised To Spread Quickly, VON Conferees Told - Yahoo! News
“All the big handset guys are working on it," Van Houwelingen said, adding that the handsets should have improved antennas and power consumption savings for mobile use.
VoIP Over Wi-Fi Poised To Spread Quickly, VON Conferees Told - Yahoo! News
More juice, please
A survey done by TNS indicates that what people want the most is longer battery life in their phones.
Forget 3G, mobile TV, GPS and MP3 capability. What users really want in their mobile phones and PDAs is two days’ worth of battery life for active use.
Other interesting revelations:
After battery life the next most important features for U.S. users were high-resolution camera and video camera (50 percent of respondents), the availability of full versions of Microsoft Office applications on the device (42 percent), and a device with 20 GB of memory (41 percent).
Of course 20 GB memory (currently only possible to achieve via a hard drive) would be used for multimedia, and typically uploaded from a PC. Downloading 20 GB worth of e.g. music from a pay site would obviously be a bit prohibitive.
Mobile Users Top Priority Is Better Batteries: Survey - Yahoo! News
Forget 3G, mobile TV, GPS and MP3 capability. What users really want in their mobile phones and PDAs is two days’ worth of battery life for active use.
Other interesting revelations:
After battery life the next most important features for U.S. users were high-resolution camera and video camera (50 percent of respondents), the availability of full versions of Microsoft Office applications on the device (42 percent), and a device with 20 GB of memory (41 percent).
Of course 20 GB memory (currently only possible to achieve via a hard drive) would be used for multimedia, and typically uploaded from a PC. Downloading 20 GB worth of e.g. music from a pay site would obviously be a bit prohibitive.
Mobile Users Top Priority Is Better Batteries: Survey - Yahoo! News
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Mobile games grow up
"The mobile phone game has to be quick-in, quick-out," Kirsi said. "Users are not expecting you to be able to play on your mobile phone like you play on your PC."
As they are so inexpensive (relatively speaking) it also makes sense to have several games on the same phone.
"After the market passed the $1 billion mark it is clearly being noticed more ... Everybody wants to get into this market in the early phase," said Matti Airas, chief executive of Finnish gaming firm Fathammer.
Games on cellphones becoming serious business - Yahoo! News
As they are so inexpensive (relatively speaking) it also makes sense to have several games on the same phone.
"After the market passed the $1 billion mark it is clearly being noticed more ... Everybody wants to get into this market in the early phase," said Matti Airas, chief executive of Finnish gaming firm Fathammer.
Games on cellphones becoming serious business - Yahoo! News
Nokia 2652, 100 EUR phone
I'm not sure why this is exciting. It's very far from the Motorola $40 phone, and if the 2650 is any clue it contains more features than most need anyway.
The new 2652 model, a revamped version of its 2650 phone, will retail for about 100 euros from next month in China, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Nokia aims new 100-euro-phone at emerging markets - Yahoo! News
The new 2652 model, a revamped version of its 2650 phone, will retail for about 100 euros from next month in China, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
Nokia aims new 100-euro-phone at emerging markets - Yahoo! News
3G growing in Europe
This is a good sign:
"The usage statistics for 3G content services are particularly encouraging," Declan Lonergan, Yankee Group's director of wireless and mobile research for Europe, said in a statement.
"Mobile TV is one of the most promising of these services."
Which I translate as video streaming via UMTS, which of course is not proper Mobile TV.
3G Adoption Speeding Up, Study Says - Yahoo! News
"The usage statistics for 3G content services are particularly encouraging," Declan Lonergan, Yankee Group's director of wireless and mobile research for Europe, said in a statement.
"Mobile TV is one of the most promising of these services."
Which I translate as video streaming via UMTS, which of course is not proper Mobile TV.
3G Adoption Speeding Up, Study Says - Yahoo! News
Monday, September 19, 2005
Positive outlook for BenQ
Despite the acquisition of Siemens, that can't be said to have been a very profitable phone business, it still looks good for BenQ for 2006.
While analysts say BenQ will have a tough time turning around the unit, the Siemens deal, which will be closed later this year, catapults the relatively obscure Taiwan firm into the world's top 10 handset makers.
BenQ sees 2006 revenue at US$10 billion - Yahoo! News: "Chief marketing officer Jerry Wang told Reuters BenQ would gain Siemens's handset revenue stream, while sales of liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors would also grow."
While analysts say BenQ will have a tough time turning around the unit, the Siemens deal, which will be closed later this year, catapults the relatively obscure Taiwan firm into the world's top 10 handset makers.
BenQ sees 2006 revenue at US$10 billion - Yahoo! News: "Chief marketing officer Jerry Wang told Reuters BenQ would gain Siemens's handset revenue stream, while sales of liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors would also grow."
Vodafone on VoIP: Join instead of beat them
This note indicates Vodafone doesn't intend to inhibit VoIP over their networks, but rather will compete on the same turf with their own VoIP offerings in the future. I believe this is what IMS will be for, even though operators today talk about PoC, push-video etc.
Vodafone sees no long-term case for blocking VoIP - Yahoo! News: "Vodafone sees no long-term case for blocking VoIP"
Vodafone sees no long-term case for blocking VoIP - Yahoo! News: "Vodafone sees no long-term case for blocking VoIP"
Nokia 6630 Music Edition
It looks like an afterthought ("Yikes, Sony Ericsson and Motorola have released music phones! We must too!!!"). To connect a normal earphone you need an adapter that looks like it could easily come off. It ships with 256 MB Flash, yet can be upgraded to max 1 GB. The 6630 has always supported MP3 and open AAC, so there's nothing new on the technical side. It's got new colors though.
"You can carry a good portion of your music collection with you where ever you go..."
A very small music collection maybe.
I'm sure Nokia will get more seriously on the music bandwagon too, but it needs more optimised devices than this with standard earphone connector, DRM etc. Support for OGG and WMA would be nice too.
Nokia - Rock And Roll On The Go With the Nokia 6630 Music Edition - Press Releases - Press - About Nokia
"You can carry a good portion of your music collection with you where ever you go..."
A very small music collection maybe.
I'm sure Nokia will get more seriously on the music bandwagon too, but it needs more optimised devices than this with standard earphone connector, DRM etc. Support for OGG and WMA would be nice too.
Nokia - Rock And Roll On The Go With the Nokia 6630 Music Edition - Press Releases - Press - About Nokia
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Nokia fights RIM/Good
Nokia introduces its own mobile corporate mail solution called Nokia Business Center.
...only now beginning to expand beyond select professions such as lawyers and investment bankers into the business mainstream.
Finally! Everyone with a mobile phone and an email account (which is pretty much everyone with a white-collar job) have use for this. Even so very few are utilizing any such service. Costs might be one reason. Arguable productivity gains might be another, but I would certainly love to be able to check on my emails at any time on trips, in customer meetings etc, without having to start my notebook, log in, dial up, log in again, etc etc. Of course the phone must also have a full keypad. 0-9 keypads might be enough for SMS, but not for business communication.
RIM ... reported in June that there were 3.1 million BlackBerry users, a gain of nearly 600,000 in a three-month period.
Rather steep curve.
Nokia Wades Into Crowded Blackberry Market - Yahoo! News
...only now beginning to expand beyond select professions such as lawyers and investment bankers into the business mainstream.
Finally! Everyone with a mobile phone and an email account (which is pretty much everyone with a white-collar job) have use for this. Even so very few are utilizing any such service. Costs might be one reason. Arguable productivity gains might be another, but I would certainly love to be able to check on my emails at any time on trips, in customer meetings etc, without having to start my notebook, log in, dial up, log in again, etc etc. Of course the phone must also have a full keypad. 0-9 keypads might be enough for SMS, but not for business communication.
RIM ... reported in June that there were 3.1 million BlackBerry users, a gain of nearly 600,000 in a three-month period.
Rather steep curve.
Nokia Wades Into Crowded Blackberry Market - Yahoo! News
Bang & Olufsen makes simple high-end phone
Making a phone that is simple to use and simple in terms of features, yet with a highish price tag, sounds like a very good idea, both for users that want simple and for B&O.
"This will be super simple," said Torben Balegaard Sorenson, CEO of Bang & Olufsen. "We are emphasizing what the phone is meant for, which is talking."
More Bang...er, More Bucks for Your Phone! - Mobile News - Designtechnica
"This will be super simple," said Torben Balegaard Sorenson, CEO of Bang & Olufsen. "We are emphasizing what the phone is meant for, which is talking."
More Bang...er, More Bucks for Your Phone! - Mobile News - Designtechnica
Europe late with mobile TV
At least that is what research firm Screen Digest guesses. Asia, logically, will be the early adopter. It's a fact, as phones with digital TV are already out in at least Korea.
Europe is in serious peril of falling behind other global markets in the mobile television race. This is due to the absence of regulatory frameworks, an inability to agree on standards and difficulties in securing a suitable pristine spectrum allocation for either DVB-H or T-DMB throughout Europe.
Digital Media Europe: News - Europe to lag behind in mobile digital TV adoption � report
Europe is in serious peril of falling behind other global markets in the mobile television race. This is due to the absence of regulatory frameworks, an inability to agree on standards and difficulties in securing a suitable pristine spectrum allocation for either DVB-H or T-DMB throughout Europe.
Digital Media Europe: News - Europe to lag behind in mobile digital TV adoption � report
No ads please
In-Stat is at it again, and this time they've surveyed users for their willingness to receive advertisements. 20% claimed interest for some form of ads of opt-in type. 80% didn't want any ads at all.
Regarding service use: The survey found that 40 per cent of mobile users are paying for non-voice communication services such as text messaging, picture messaging and mobile e-mail as part of their wireless phone service.
Surely most of this must be SMS.
Digital Media Europe: News - 80 per cent of mobile users find mobile ads unacceptable - report
Regarding service use: The survey found that 40 per cent of mobile users are paying for non-voice communication services such as text messaging, picture messaging and mobile e-mail as part of their wireless phone service.
Surely most of this must be SMS.
Digital Media Europe: News - 80 per cent of mobile users find mobile ads unacceptable - report
Nano technology for mobile phones
Jeong Kim at Bell Labs claims that by using nano technology we will get phones that can "smell" (sense chemicals) and have eye-following cameras and superthin microphones.
Yet, this might not happen over night:
Eventually, he added, phones will no longer need to be touched or even spoken to, but will instead respond to mental commands.
INSIDE JoongAng Daily
Yet, this might not happen over night:
Eventually, he added, phones will no longer need to be touched or even spoken to, but will instead respond to mental commands.
INSIDE JoongAng Daily
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Sanyo W31SA II, reads text and barcodes
Despite the weird name this phone sports reading/interpreting of text (OCR) and QR barcodes shot with the built-in camera.
A phone which can read English ! - Phoneyworld.com
A phone which can read English ! - Phoneyworld.com
Samsung's 16 Gbit Flash memory
The chart from Samsung (showing 32 Gb end 2006, 64 Gb end 2007) clearly indicates 1" micro hard drives might become obsolete very fast. Flash has several advantages compared to hard drives: less power consumption, less sensitive to shock, longer life span, smaller size etc, which are very strong arguments when used in mobile devices. Disadvantages are that cost per Gb is still higher and you simply can't use Flash if there's need for much higher storage capacity. E.g. iPod nano is Flash-based even though the capacity is up to 4 GByte, but my iAudio X5 with 20 GB capacity would be way too expensive if based on Flash memory.
To avoid confusion: 16 Gb(it) = 2 GB(yte).
The Korea Times : Samsung Develops 16 Gb NAND Flash
To avoid confusion: 16 Gb(it) = 2 GB(yte).
The Korea Times : Samsung Develops 16 Gb NAND Flash
Nokia fighting back
Nokia expects a better result than initially estimated for Q3. Nokia is also gaining market share.
The company cited greater demand for mobile devices and a smaller-than-expected decline in the average sales price of its handsets — a key benchmark for financial analysts.
Nokia Ups 3Q Forecast on Mobile Devices - Yahoo! News
The company cited greater demand for mobile devices and a smaller-than-expected decline in the average sales price of its handsets — a key benchmark for financial analysts.
Nokia Ups 3Q Forecast on Mobile Devices - Yahoo! News
Monday, September 12, 2005
Bango partners with PayPal
This will enable mobile content buyers to pay via their PayPal account. For those that can't pay via the phone bill this is considerably more handy and safe than paying via credit card.
Press Release: Bango Enables Mobile Phone Users to Pay for Content Using PayPal (MobileBurn)
Press Release: Bango Enables Mobile Phone Users to Pay for Content Using PayPal (MobileBurn)
eBay acquires Skype
Another surprising acquisition. Niklas Zennstrom will move to eBay management rather than exit, which is good for the continuation of the Skype-related business.
The bid is $2.6M, with an additional $1.5M if results are good the coming years.
EBay to acquire Internet communications company Skype - Yahoo! News
The bid is $2.6M, with an additional $1.5M if results are good the coming years.
EBay to acquire Internet communications company Skype - Yahoo! News
Mobile phones for birds
I wrote earlier about mobile phones for dogs, but this is a bit more extreme. The intention is to make phones (or rather autonomous radio transmitters) so small and light (0.07 ounces) that they can be fastened to a bird's leg. Of course the birds will not use them to call Mother Goose or anything like that. Rather they will be used for identifying and positioning birds.
There's a tiny issue though: Creating a stripped-down cell phone that weighs so little (for the tiny birds) will not be easy, and may take years, said OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science assistant professor Huaping Liu, who is working with Robinson on the project.
Wired News: Teeny Phones for Tweety Birds
There's a tiny issue though: Creating a stripped-down cell phone that weighs so little (for the tiny birds) will not be easy, and may take years, said OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science assistant professor Huaping Liu, who is working with Robinson on the project.
Wired News: Teeny Phones for Tweety Birds
Friday, September 09, 2005
1.5B GSM users
That's ... a lot.
The group (unnamed industry group) claims that the number of new GSM subscribers added every year is greater than the sum of all CDMA customers. It claimed that 82 percent of all new cellular customers in the first half of this year subscribed to a GSM operator.
GSM Group Boasts 1.5 Billion Users Worldwide - Yahoo! News
The group (unnamed industry group) claims that the number of new GSM subscribers added every year is greater than the sum of all CDMA customers. It claimed that 82 percent of all new cellular customers in the first half of this year subscribed to a GSM operator.
GSM Group Boasts 1.5 Billion Users Worldwide - Yahoo! News
Access acquires PalmSource
Access provides applications for embedding into set-top boxes, mobile phones etc. The main product is a web browser.
PalmSource provides the PalmOS, which should be known by all.
PalmSource earlier acquired China Mobilesoft that provides a range of featurephone applications.
All in all this means there's a new competitor in the complete smart/feature phone system market, competing head-to-head with Symbian, Microsoft and Montavista/Trolltech.
Japan's Access Buys PalmSource for $324 Mln - Mobile News - Designtechnica
PalmSource provides the PalmOS, which should be known by all.
PalmSource earlier acquired China Mobilesoft that provides a range of featurephone applications.
All in all this means there's a new competitor in the complete smart/feature phone system market, competing head-to-head with Symbian, Microsoft and Montavista/Trolltech.
Japan's Access Buys PalmSource for $324 Mln - Mobile News - Designtechnica
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Motorola Rokr, the long-awaited iPod phone
I apologize for sounding a bit cynical, but this was not what I had expected.
- It doesn't support downloading music from the iTunes site, it's rather exactly like an iPod Shuffle, using a PC as host.
- It's got stereo speakers, but who would use that for music? Stereo earphones are needed for that.
- 512M Flash is included, but the 100 song limit is supposedly still applicable when adding more memory. In other words, an intentional limitation (but why?).
The iPod nano, released at the same time, is much more of an eye-opener. Yet I'm still quite happy with my iAudio X5V. Read on...
BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple unveils iPod phone hybrid
And for some hands-on testing:
Motorola ROKR E1 Gallery (MobileBurn)
- It doesn't support downloading music from the iTunes site, it's rather exactly like an iPod Shuffle, using a PC as host.
- It's got stereo speakers, but who would use that for music? Stereo earphones are needed for that.
- 512M Flash is included, but the 100 song limit is supposedly still applicable when adding more memory. In other words, an intentional limitation (but why?).
The iPod nano, released at the same time, is much more of an eye-opener. Yet I'm still quite happy with my iAudio X5V. Read on...
BBC NEWS | Technology | Apple unveils iPod phone hybrid
And for some hands-on testing:
Motorola ROKR E1 Gallery (MobileBurn)
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
CASIO W31CA, new highres camphone
3.2 Mp camera, large display and document viewers. After that I didnt understand more (in Japanese). It's supposedly only for the Japanese market.
CASIO [ Products ] - au???? W31CA
CASIO [ Products ] - au???? W31CA
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Nokia's embarrassing Bluetooth keyboard
Why embarrassing?:
* It's huge and hardly portable in a true sense.
* Why Bluetooth in the first place, considering the phone must be right beside it anyway? IrDA or cable would be sufficient and much less expensive.
It costs $120. A size/price-optimised keypad that used cable or IrDA would cost max $30, with a production cost of maybe $5.
Nokia makes a lot of nice and good things, but this is not in that category.
Sadly though, the PIM/productivity features of S60 phones are hard to use without an alphanumeric keypad, so I hope someone else will release one that makes sense.
CoolTechZone::First Look: Nokia Wireless Keyboard
* It's huge and hardly portable in a true sense.
* Why Bluetooth in the first place, considering the phone must be right beside it anyway? IrDA or cable would be sufficient and much less expensive.
It costs $120. A size/price-optimised keypad that used cable or IrDA would cost max $30, with a production cost of maybe $5.
Nokia makes a lot of nice and good things, but this is not in that category.
Sadly though, the PIM/productivity features of S60 phones are hard to use without an alphanumeric keypad, so I hope someone else will release one that makes sense.
CoolTechZone::First Look: Nokia Wireless Keyboard
SMS still going strong
As mobile markets are still evolving and SMS is fairly new to US etc, there's still a lot of potential for further increase.
By 2010 (according to Portio Research):
* SMS: 40B EUR, 2.38T messages
* MMS: similar revenue due to higher price
* MIM/IMPS: expected to pass SMS in US
Digital Media Europe: News - Worldwide SMS revenue to reach �40bn by 2010 � report
By 2010 (according to Portio Research):
* SMS: 40B EUR, 2.38T messages
* MMS: similar revenue due to higher price
* MIM/IMPS: expected to pass SMS in US
Digital Media Europe: News - Worldwide SMS revenue to reach �40bn by 2010 � report
Monday, September 05, 2005
T-Mobile provides real flat rate
For 9.50 EUR per month you can communicate as much as you want. This is probably an industry first, as previous flat rate subscriptions have been limited in terms of a "megabyte roof". I'm not sure what actually Google provides to the offering, except its brand. Also people that call often will love this, as they can have a Skype (or other free service) session open (voice, video, chat) continuously without added cost.
Digital Media Europe: News - T-Mobile Netherlands offers unlimited internet on mobile phones
Digital Media Europe: News - T-Mobile Netherlands offers unlimited internet on mobile phones
Vodafone failing in Japan
That it hasn't gone well lately has been in the news several times, but that it's due to basic functions like voice calls and SMS was new to me.
A Major Backfire in Japan Deflates Vodafone's One-Size-Fits-All Strategy - New York Times
A Major Backfire in Japan Deflates Vodafone's One-Size-Fits-All Strategy - New York Times
Friday, September 02, 2005
Samsung E888, the world's smallest phone
It's 43 mm by 87 mm when closed.
It's a slider form factor phone, yet you only need to open it when making calls, not when answering.
The camera is 1 Mp.
Samsung breaks new record: Worlds smallest handset announced - Phoneyworld.com
It's a slider form factor phone, yet you only need to open it when making calls, not when answering.
The camera is 1 Mp.
Samsung breaks new record: Worlds smallest handset announced - Phoneyworld.com
