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Administrator on April 27th, 2006
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Mobile Monday - Breaking News: Sony Ericsson ships 13,3 million phones in Q1
Sony Ericsson Thursday reported first-quarter net profit more than tripled, thanks largely to the continued popularity of its Walkman-branded music phones and delivery of new advanced phones in Japan.
Sony Ericsson also increased its forecast for the overall market in 2006, to 900 million units from the 860 million.
The company said net profit jumped to EUR109 million in the three months to March 31 from EUR32 million a year earlier. The pretax profit more than doubled to EUR151 million. Sales rose 55 percent to EUR1.99 billion.
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Administrator on January 24th, 2006
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Mobile Monday - Breaking News: Nokia adds Bluetooth to two clamshell phones
Updates to popular models
Nokia adds Bluetooth to two clamshell phones
Ilya Poropudas
6 Jan 2006 at 11:06
The new models are based on the Nokia 6101.
The new models are based on the Nokia 6101. Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia announced on Thursday updates for two of its popular clamshell handsets. The major addition to the mid-range fold-style phones is Bluetooth capability.
The Nokia 6102i is an update of the Nokia 6102 model, while the new Nokia 6103 is a revision of the Nokia 6101, and features a updated design. Both models feature VGA cameras, dual color screens, integrated FM radios, and support for MIDI and MP3 ring tones.
The Nokia 6102i and Nokia 6103 phones will be available in a GSM 900/1800/1900 version primarily for markets in Europe, Africa and Asia while a GSM 850/1800/1900 version will be available primarily for markets in the Americas. Both phones are planned to be available during the first quarter of 2006 and are expected to retail for approximately 200 euros, before applicable taxes or subsidies.
Nokia offers a wide array of Bluetooth technology-enabled enhancements such as wireless car kits and wireless headsets as part of its line of mobile enhancements. On Thursday, Nokia also announced three new wireless headsets.
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Administrator on January 24th, 2006
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Mobile Monday - Breaking News: Nokia adds Bluetooth to two clamshell phones
Updates to popular models
Nokia adds Bluetooth to two clamshell phones
Ilya Poropudas
6 Jan 2006 at 11:06
The new models are based on the Nokia 6101.
The new models are based on the Nokia 6101. Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia announced on Thursday updates for two of its popular clamshell handsets. The major addition to the mid-range fold-style phones is Bluetooth capability.
The Nokia 6102i is an update of the Nokia 6102 model, while the new Nokia 6103 is a revision of the Nokia 6101, and features a updated design. Both models feature VGA cameras, dual color screens, integrated FM radios, and support for MIDI and MP3 ring tones.
The Nokia 6102i and Nokia 6103 phones will be available in a GSM 900/1800/1900 version primarily for markets in Europe, Africa and Asia while a GSM 850/1800/1900 version will be available primarily for markets in the Americas. Both phones are planned to be available during the first quarter of 2006 and are expected to retail for approximately 200 euros, before applicable taxes or subsidies.
Nokia offers a wide array of Bluetooth technology-enabled enhancements such as wireless car kits and wireless headsets as part of its line of mobile enhancements. On Thursday, Nokia also announced three new wireless headsets.
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Administrator on October 4th, 2005
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MobSharing - Coming to a StarBucks near you
Sony Ericsson W800i
2005 is clearly the year of the music mobile phone. SonyEricsson has branded its new W800i with the legendary Walkman brand; Motorola is teaming up with Apple to bring an iPod phone; and Nokia, musically brandless but with its finger on the jugular, let alone the pulse, is offering the N91, with a hard-disk, and the ability to share music files using Bluetooth, Email, EDGE, GPRS, 3G, and even WLAN.
These devices, and the path they’re leading mobile phones down, have an unprecedented opportunity to reshape not just the MP3 device industry, but the music industry and even the high street shopping experience. Forget Flash-Mobs, forget filesharing: brace yourself for the new concept of MobSharing - it’s only a matter of time before it’ll be coming to a Starbucks near you.
Mobile Phones, the great MP3 device killer
These new devices are just the first wave of handsets to offer complete MP3 playing abilities. The current crop of standalone MP3 devices now have a shelf life of what…a year, maybe two, before they become worthless commodities, with a value of no more than £5. The music-playing functionality of these devices is being completely integrated into mobile phones, and now it’s started in earnest with this year’s must-haves, the technology will soon be in every mobile phone.
The remorseless power of Convergence
But the incorporation of digital cameras into mobile phones hasn’t killed off the stand-alone digital camera market, you may think. No, but that market is different: stand-alone digitial cameras can add value with enhanced technology and end-results that a mobile phone camera cannot match. Aside from the increased resolution (the latest crop of mobile phones offer 2 MegaPixels - the entry level digital camera is currently 5 MegaPixels, with the top-of-the-line models offering 8+ Megapixels), digital cameras offer a wide range of lens and flash options, optical zooms rather than digital zooms, etc. This functionality is far removed from the requirements of a mobile phone’s camera, leaving room in the market for these devices. Not so with the humble MP3 player, however.
MP3 players, particularly those based on solid state flash memory, offer nothing that cannot be provided by a mobile phone. Worse, the mobile phone offers something that a stand-alone MP3 device cannot provide: connectivity. Download your music without having to hook your device up to your PC. Download music directly from online music stores without first having to download it onto your PC. Share your music files instantly with your friends via Bluetooth, or even WLAN. So much more convenient than an increasingly old-looking stand-alone MP3 device. Worse, given that today’s new mobile phone technology is quickly incorporated into all subsequent handsets, in a year or two, all mobile phones will have music playing abilities that at least match today’s MP3 device. So, you have a mobile phone that plays MP3 files better than your stand-alone MP3 player - you buy an MP3 player because…? Convergence in action!
The trembling music exec
Now, this might be a problem for the MP3 device manufacturers (apart form those selling their technologies to the mobile phone manufacturers, of course), but it’s an even bigger potential headache for the music execs. The new devices all focus on connectivity: the ability not just to download and listen to your music, but to share it with your friends. Bluetooth, Email, even Wireless LAN, can all be used to share music on the new Nokia N91, and it can’t be long before other manufacturers follow suit. So, completely untraceable file sharing between two devices - music exec’s ears prick up, but sharing between two devices does not mean panic-induced law suits just yet.
But hold on, music exec: think of many people together in a crowd. Picture the same crowd in a WLAN hotspot, each member of the crowd with a mobile phone with WLAN connectivity, and a big menu option on every device saying ’share music files to anyone over WLAN: ON’. You want new music? Go to Starbucks, hook up to their WLAN, see what everyone else has on their mobile phone. Not got what you want? Come back in an hour, see what the new crowd has. Still not got what you want? Try another hotspot - there are hundreds to choose from!
MobSharing - the convergence of file sharing and flash-mobs
Flash mob
What these new devices provide, if not now then in the very near future, is the ability for people to come together and form their own ad hoc Personal P2P file-sharing network. It’s the Perfect Storm of two converging phenomena - File sharing and Flash-Mobs (crowds of people spontaneously coming together to perform some arbitrary task arranged by some media-hungry controller - see image, right) - that together lead to the new concept of MobSharing: crowds of people lurking round WLAN hotspots, becoming part of an extremely local, transient P2P file-sharing network. What’s that? The sound of a music exec’s throat constricting? Completely uncontrollable ubiquitous ad-hoc file-sharing - hmmm, sounds more like a heart-attack to me!
Transforming the Shopping Experience
From a societal perspective, this has the potential to open up a completely new dimension to the high street shopping experience. Think of the main reasons people engage in file-sharing: it’s not just the almost-unlimited access to the music and other files, it’s the way that access is provided. You have an always-on broadband connection. You type in a search term, and hundreds of files are revealed, but crucially, you can’t access them all immediately. So you select a large set of the files you want, and go to work, or to school, leaving your computer on to download what it can. What you get when you come back from work is a random collection of surprises, all of which are what you’d like. It’s like the music postman, but without the bills: you never know what�s going to be delivered, but all of it’s good! The element of surprise, and the constant novelty of the shifting collection of files is what makes file-sharing so appealing. Don’t like what you see today? Then try again tomorrow, hook up to a different set of servers, and see what else can be found with the same search term. Glorious!
MobSharing - coming to a Starbucks near you!
Now apply the same logic to MobSharing. Go to your local shopping mall, drift into Starbucks, see what files are there. Always different, always changing. Don’t like what’s there? Do your shopping, come back for a coffee, see what files are there now. Constant novelty, constant surprise. Hunter-gatherer in the 21st century! Music industry transformed, shopping malls transformed, society enriched, and all thanks to the humble mobile phone.
Posted on Friday, September 2nd, 2005 at 4:57 am by admin
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Administrator on September 19th, 2005
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Germans Host Mobile Phone Throwing Contest
June 09, 2005 - Blog: Germans Host Mobile Phone Throwing Contest
Germans Host Mobile Phone Throwing Contest
Ever wanted to hurl your phone away from you in frustration? Unless you’re Russell Crowe in a New York hotel lobby, chances are, you generally restrain yourself. But now’s your chance to do it officially, with chances to win prizes. On June 25th, Germany will play host to an expected 160 contenders in the mobile phone throwing championships. The winner will, of course, be eligible for the world championships to be held in Finland this August. (No, I’m not making this up.)
You’d better start working on your throw now, however…the world record is 82.55 meters…that’s over 270 feet for those of us who are metric-challenged. (And by the way…perhaps Russell Crowe was just practicing for the championship, did anyone think of that?)
TES
BERLIN: Germans will bring new meaning to the term “long-distance call” when they compete in the country’s first mobile phone throwing championships later this month.
At least 160 competitors are expected to take part in the contest in Bielefeld, on June 25, with the winners qualifying for the world championships in Finland in August.
The organiser of the German event, Virpi Staar, said on Thursday: “People often get annoyed with their mobile phones and want to chuck them as far as they can. Now is their chance.”
The competition phones must weigh between 200 and 400 grams.
“Opinions differ on which brands and what weight is best for throwing,” Staar said.
The German competitors have some way to go to beat the world record which currently stands at 82.55m.
The best by a German is the 67.50m achieved by Nico Morawa last October.
* Wireless-> Germans Host Mobile Phone Throwing Contest
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Administrator on September 8th, 2005
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March 22 2004
Enhancing Usage of Mobile Phones
THE rising popularity of the multi-colour, polyphonic, high memory, fast processor handset provides a compelling platform to develop for. Deloitte Research’s Mobile and Wireless Predictions 2004 Report explores how the inclusion of these innovative elements will enhance the mobile phone’s personality and drive revenues.
MOBILE subscribers will continue to rise as new customer targets are identified. New devices that are tailored to meet the demands of currently under-served customers, such as the over 55s, will provide a rich source of revenue, as will the uptake of colour handsets that incorporate cameras.
Simultaneously, machines that traditionally have not included mobile characteristics will have embedded mobile devices, improving their productivity.
* Colour and polyphony will enhance the mobile phone’s personality and drive revenues. By the end of this year, the majority of handsets being shipped into developed countries will feature colour screens and polyphonic ringtones. The inclusion of colour screens and polyphonic sound will allow the handset to become totally personalised.
Every element of the phone bar its shape, from the cover to the ringtone, can now be changed to the owner’s taste.
The market for thematic mobile phone e-personalities, comprising a suite of wallpaper, screensaver, polyphonic ringtones and caller tones will gather pace over 2004. While built-in cameras will generate much of the imagery gracing phone screens, there will always be demand for professional content.
The growing availability of colour mobile phones with polyphonic sound, along with the improved processing power accompanying their introduction, is increasing the opportunity to sell content to phone owners. The industry must ensure that an infrastructure exists that offers a wide range of quality content, simple downloads, secure and transparent billing, and fair revenue shares. Only with these elements in place can colour’s revenue opportunities be realised.
* Push applications will be far more effective than pull applications for cellular mobile. The year 2004 will see the launch and the continue use of a mix of both push and pull data applications.
The most successful applications will be push applications such as SMS (short message service), MMS (multimedia messaging service) and push e- mail. Data applications such as WAP (wireless application protocol) and mobile browsing will continue to under- perform both in term of usage and revenues.
Push - the communication of small-sized, relevant information suits the narrowband, variably available mobile network; pull - the selection and downloading of a wide spread of information - is more suited to a broadband environment. However, the industry in general will mostly fail to note the difference between push and pull, and will continue to offer pull-based mobile solutions that invariably flounder.
The industry should evaluate carefully the performance of mobile data applications and understand what prerequisites for success are. It is important to recognise the inherent, fundamental differences between the fixed and the mobile network, and the implications this has for applications that can be supported.
Adhering to this approach will lead to both a better return on investment for the industry and a happier customer. Carriers with mobile data portals should include content based on push technology to balance demand on the network. For example, customers could be encouraged to purchase regular subscriptions to ringtones - to be pushed out on a weekly basis.
* The mobile Internet, as a major revenue stream, remains an aspiration. Mobile phones will increasingly support Internet browsing, although this will remain a frustrating and expensive experience, with content downloaded in long strips, until content providers develop content specifically for the smart-phone format.
Mobile phones with Internet browsers tend to be targeted at Web sites optimised for personal computers (PCs). As content is paid for by the megabyte, downloading Internet pages onto mobile phones remains an expensive activity. A short browse could hence end up costing a few dollars. The majority of consumers won’t want to pay for all-you-can-eat usage.
Operators should encourage content providers to develop content formatted specifically for mobile phones; this would ideally be pushed to customers wherever possible.
Operators should offer revenue share in return for the re- purposing of existing content. For this to happen, operators have to incorporate the facility to charge according to the value of content. Each page of content downloaded has a unique value; charging strictly per megabyte is equivalent to paying for a basket of supermarket purchases by its weight alone.
The mobile Internet could be a boon to operators - who could earn revenue both from network traffic and also from content charges; and also for content providers - who may not be able to charge for content over the PC-based Web.
* Wi-Fi hotspots will remain more froth than substance. Throughout 2004, the majority of Wi-Fi hotspots will remain unused for the majority of the day. Many Wi-Fi hotspot sites are located in areas where there is only occasional demand for wireless broadband access.
The majority of laptop PCs and PDAs (personal digital assistants) in 2004 will not feature wireless LAN (local area network). Wi-Fi hotspots will not generate significant traffic in public spaces until portable, always-on Wi-Fi devices are available, for example, when Wi-Fi access is largely integrated into PDAs.
However, this will not have happened by the end of 2004. Wi-Fi will compete only infrequently with either 2.5G or 3G. In 2004, the former will be used mostly for mobile specific downloads; the latter will be used predominantly for voice in 2004.
Operators, and any other party considering deployment of Wi-Fi hotspots, should study the business case for Wi-Fi hotspots vigorously. It is important to remember that throughout 2004, in most countries, only a minority of PCs will be laptops of which only a minority will be Wi-Fi enabled; only a minority of laptop owners will expense Wi-Fi usage.
* Wireless LAN will have most impact in non-office enterprise environments and homes. The major growth for wireless LAN, in terms of both number of deployments and volume of data carried, will be for private deployment in businesses and homes.
Wireless LAN will cause most disruption where it allows a broadband network to reach where the wired LAN currently cannot reach, that is, where it is not technically, practically or economically feasible to deploy a wired LAN.
In enterprises, this means the non-office, campus-based environment. This might be a hospital ward (to allow medical staff access to patient records on the go); it might be a retail space (to allow stock checks, product checks and ubiquitous point of sale); it might be an aircraft carrier to allow any time e-scheduling, technical reference, and other processes for engineers.
Wireless LAN has the potential to be disruptive in the home as it will facilitate the broadband enabling of multiple devices in the home, from the PC to home security cameras.
The industry should focus on deploying WLAN to those who will be most positively affected by it. In the enterprise and government space, WLAN provides only limited benefit to office workers. However, it allows significant process change for information workers that currently have little access to a network, due to the roaming nature of their work.
In the home, WLAN is a cost-effective way of deploying broadband connectivity within the house (most households could not justify flood deployment of CAT 5 cabling). Operators should understand how WLAN can justify or catalyse broadband connection to the home, and price WLAN base stations accordingly.
* Compiled by Deloitte’s Telecommunications, Media and Technology Group (TMT) and Deloitte Research. Input was provided by clients, leading industry and financial analysts, and the 4,000-strong global Deloitte TMT team.
WIRELESS PREDICTIONS * Colour and polyphony will enhance the mobile phone’s personality and drive revenues. * Push applications will be far more effective than pull applications for cellular mobile. * The mobile Internet, as a major revenue stream, remains an aspiration. * Wi-Fi hotspots will remain more froth than substance. * Wireless LAN will have most impact in non-office enterprise environments and homes.
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Administrator on August 26th, 2005
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August 18, 2005
Telstra unveiled its latest high-speed mobile service offering which will give customers a range of new video features and the widest choice of Australian information and entertainment content.
On 5 September, Telstra will introduce these customer services with its new range of handsets - Motorola V975, Samsung Z500, Sony Ericsson K600i and the i-mode NEC N600i.
Telstra Consumer and Marketing, Group Managing Director, Mr David Moffatt said: “If you were a sports fan wanting to re-live the final goal or on the train wanting to watch the latest news, locate a restaurant or buy art over e-bay then these Telstra services made it easier and faster.”
“Telstra’s new offering will provide video services including video calling and video MessageBank, which enables callers to leave a video message after seeing a pre-recorded video greeting,” he said.
“Our aim is to take ‘technology speak’ out of the equation for the customer. It’s not 3G that matters to them but great voice coverage and a wide variety of information and entertainment services available on the latest handsets. It’s only with Telstra that you will get this unique combination.
“Also, depending on which handset a customer buys, you can use video ringtones and choose from 50 Telstra Active or more than 200 specifically designed i-mode content sites including the NRL, AFL, V8 Supercars, Australian Idol and 3D games from the latest game developers.”
Telstra customers can view video news reports from National Nine News, CNN and Sky News. They can also use Telstra’s location based services such as Whereis, which delivers information such as restaurant locations, based on the proximity of the caller. Another popular service will be mobile email from sites including Yahoo! and Hotmail.
Mr Moffatt said Telstra had made these new mobiles more affordable with two new capped plans, both with a two-month introductory free video call offer. Customers, who take up the $49 and $79 caps, get up to $250 and $550 worth of standard voice calls, MessageBank, and text messages. (£1 = Aus$2.38)
“To help our customers avoid nasty surprises, Telstra has new ‘Mobile Surf and Email Packs’ that allow customers to purchase their mobile data usage in bulk,” Mr Moffatt said. “These packs range from $5 to $15 per month.
“An online tool will also enable customers to preview an estimate of their current mobile data usage and charges.”
Telstra customers can access video services in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Canberra. Telstra’s services will be available through selected Telstra Shops and dealers from 5 September 2005.
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Administrator on July 22nd, 2005
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By Charles Arthur
Published Thursday 21st July 2005 09:38 GMT
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The music and ringtone business is being ripped off to the tune of £75m per year, as people grab free previews of ringtones via PCs and transfer them to their phones, says software company QPass.
The company studied 100 “leading” download sites - 42 mobile carrier portals, and 58 “online entertainment” and music stores offering full-track music downloads - and found that the preview files could be downloaded and used as ringtones at one-third of them. Two-thirds of the sites offered preview files between 15 and 30 seconds long, “the perfect length for a ringtone”.
Click Here
In some cases, the sites didn’t have the the rights to distribute artists’ ringtones, while others are ringtone specialists which are “inadvertently giving away their products for free”, Qpass says.
The trouble is that many sites want customers to have the chance to listen to a ringtone before they buy. However, “this is the mobile and cyber-equivalent of test-driving a car and then not having to give it back to the garage,” said Steve Shivers, a senior veep at Qpass. “When the trial is as good as the actual product, why should consumers spend money buying it? It’s so simple to shoplift ringtones that even a 12 year old child could do it.”
The comment reminded us initially of the Marx Brothers; our initial efforts to find a price-free lunatic amphibian came to naught, until we recalled its origin. Bingo, an MPEG from which we could strip the soundtrack. Take that, Jamster!
Qpass points out that the ringtone market presently accounts for between 6 and 10 per cent of music industry revenues, and estimates that by the end of 2007 the “lost revenue” through this loophole - if left unsecured - could total £230m, “making this a significant revenue leakage problem”.
Actually, you can dispute the significance. The worldwide music business is worth $30bn, so presently this is just 0.2 per cent, a rounding error. And research company Strategy Analytics reckons ringtones will be worth $9.4bn (£5.2bn) in 2008, which makes this level of stealing from insecure sites look trivial.
But be assured that the record labels are always looking for ways to plug such leaks, and so pull in more cash one way or another.
For an example, look no further than South Korea (OK, it is a fair way to look), where ISPs used to offer bloggers a choice of three “welcome music” songs, consisting of tracks that would greet the casual surfer on visiting the blogger’s page. Those songs - picked from a wider range of big-name artists’ repertoire - weren’t licensed from the record companies; the ISPs just used them. Oh, and charged the bloggers for them.
Enter the record labels, which heard about this and thought that actually they’d like a cut of the action, despite South Korea’s general indifference to IP law. After some considerable pressure a deal was signed: bloggers for their money now get a choice of 10 tracks that may greet the happy surfer, and the labels are getting a cut. How big a cut? Well, our source wouldn’t say, but did point out that it was more than zero. “Artists might look at their royalty statements and wonder why they’re getting money from Korean blogs,” he said. “Well, that’s why.” Even if it is less than £230m.
Which brings us back to Qpass, which says unsurprisingly that the sites should secure their content, and should do it using Flash, which is pre-installed on 98.3 per cent of computers. Jamster already seems wise to this: its preview function uses Flash, and the software checks for Flash up to version 20. As we’re only on version 7.2, it looks like we may have many more years of that accursed amphibian to come.
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